Constantly moving, growing and decaying, taking care of every need their inhabitants might think of, the cities have decided that humans are no longer a necessary part of their architecture, casting them out to wander in the wilderness and eke out a meager subsistence. To the exiled humans, the cities represent a paradisiacal Eden, a reminder of all they cannot attain due to their sinful and unworthy natures. But things are beginning to change. People are no longer willing to allow the cities to keep them out, choosing instead to force an entry and plunder at will. The cities are starting to crumble and die because they have no purpose or reason to continue living without citizens. One woman, called mad by some and wise by others, is the only human allowed to inhabit a city. From her lonely and precarious position at the heart of one of the greatest cities ever, she must decide the fate of the relationship between human society and the ancient strongholds of knowledge, while making one last desperate attempt to save the living cities.

    The murderer inside of his head was getting very strong and sure..."On the campus of a vast televisual university a suicidal madness locks into men's minds. If Cornut cannot resist, it is the end...for all men.

    24 stories, by the Master...

    Most of the planet's wild terrain was unexplored...and many of its peoples seclusive and secretive.But for Andrew Carr there was an attraction he could not evade. Darkover drew him, Darkover haunted him--and when his mapping plane crashed in unknown heights, Darkover prepared to destroy him.Until the planet's magic asserted itself--and his destiny began to unfold along lines predicted only by phantoms and wonder workers of the kind Terran science could never acknowledge.THE SPELL SWORD is a Darkover novel to stand with the great ones of the series.

    But there was something ... different ... about Santaroga.Santaroga had no juvenile delinquency, or any crime at all. Outsiders found no house for sale or rent in this valley, and no one ever moved out. No one bought cigarettes in Santaroga. No cheese, wine, beer or produce from outside the valley could be sold there. The list went on and on and grew stranger and stranger.Maybe Santaroga was the last outpost of American individualism. Maybe they were just a bunch of religious kooks...Or maybe there was something extraordinary at work in Santaroga. Something far more disturbing than anyone could imagine.

    Ishmael, lone survivor of the doomed whaling ship Pequod, falls through a rift in time and space to a future Earth—an Earth of blood-sucking vegetation and a blood-red sun, of barren canyons where once the Pacific Ocean roared.Here too there are whales to hunt—but whales that soar through a dark blue sky....Hugo Award-winner Philip José Farmer has spun a fascinating tale of whaling ships and seamen of the sky in a bizarre future world where there are no seas to sail and no safe harbor to call home....

    The place is Earth—in a way. The project: build a tunnel over four thousand miles in length, intended to sustain a pressure of one thousand atmospheres while accommodating cargo and passengers traveling in excess of a thousand miles per hour. The Transatlantic Tunnel will be the greatest engineering feat in the history of the British Empire, a structure worthy of Her Majesty’s Empire in this, the eighth decade of the twentieth century.If the project is a success, the credit will belong to Captain Augustine Washington, the most brilliant engineer of our age. It is Washington’s greatest hope that his success will at last erase the family shame inspired by that other Washington: George, traitor to his king, who was hanged by Lord Cornwallis more than two centuries ago.Harry Harrison, that incomparable creator of alternate worlds, has crafted a brilliant double exposure of history and a typically superb reading experience.

    When the Hunter emerged from his wreck of a ship, he soon realized that a man of earth would make a suitable host. It became obvious, too, that his quarry had already selected his host—but which human being. Then the Hunter found an excellent host in the person of young and intelligent Robert Kinnaird. He made his presence known and, in return for some clever suggestions and help with his search, he helped Robert with his problems. There follows an exciting, excellently wrought, and—you will agree—absolutely unique chase and deduction story. Tense, dramatic, and humorous, too, it's a top-drawer tale of scientific ingenuity. — From the dust jacketOriginally published in Astounding Science Fiction. Also published as From Outer Space, followed by a sequel: Through the Eye of a Needle

    . .

    Refugees of the holocaust fled beyond the bounds even of Pluto's orbit---to Sol's Tenth Planet. Grief-stricken at Earth's fate, they have also fled the adventurous spirit which at once was Earth's pride and her downfall.But their static existence under a benevolent dictatorship was about to end for the Minervans. Miraculously, from 50 centuries in the past, comes a man whose bold and daring spirit threatens to lay their very civilization on the rack of rebellion.

    Captain Mond Aton had been proud to serve in such a fleet. But now, falsely convicted of cowardice and dereliction of duty, he had been given the cruellest of sentences: to be sent unprotected into time as a lone messenger between the cruising timeships. After such an inconceivable experience in the endless voids there was only one option left to him. To be allowed to die.

    

    Heaven Belt -- the fabulous asteroid system that was, so legend said, as rich as old Earth. But before the starship Ranger could even explain its mission, it was attacked by the people of the outermost asteroid. For civil war had long since transformed the Belters into isolated societies slowly dying out for lack of technology and natural resources. Crippled, with most of its crew dead, the Ranger soon became a valuable technological prize fought over by everyone in the Belt. And for the Ranger's crew, what began as a mission of hope became a breathtaking race for survival.

    Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien inevitable.Now, in The Wind's Twelve Quarters, seventeen of her favorite stories reaffirm Ursula Le Guin as one of America's outstanding writers.CONTENTS:ForewordSemley's NecklaceApril in ParisThe MastersDarkness BoxThe Word of UnbindingThe Rule of NamesWinter's KingThe Good TripNine LivesThingsA Trip to the HeadVaster than Empires and More SlowThe Stars BelowThe Field of VisionDirection of the RoadThe Ones Who Walk Away from OmelasThe Day Before the Revolution

    After launch it mysteriously disappears. If it reaches civilian areas they'll be in big trouble. Carol Dawson, a journalist, is alerted by an unusual sight of whales in the Miami area & decides to write about it. Armed with equipment provided by her friend, Dr. Dale Michaels from the Miami Oceanographic Institute, she goes to investigate the rumors of a missing missile that could be behind the mysterious whale behavior. She hires the services of Nick Williams & Jefferson Troy, boat owners, so she can get to the Mexican Gulf to investigate. They find an unknown artifact. They have doubts about its nature, hoping it's part of a lost treasure. Old friends of Williams & Troy notice their discovery & want to steal it. In the story's background, the authors describe a submarine snake civilization on a planet called Canthor, & how they struggled to stay alive despite threats to their ecosystem. It's revealed that the artifact is actually a cradle that contains seeds with altered superhumans extracted from Earth millions of years ago & altered so they could live with other species--including the submarine snakes--on Earth. The spaceship that carries the cradle is manned by robots/cyborgs & has hidden itself on the ocean floor to make repairs. Dawson, Williams & Troy are asked to gather materials so the ship can be repaired & return to its mission. The ship...