The Best of A.E. Van Vogt


A.E. van Vogt - 1974
    Malzberg · in 11 · Introduction · in 15 · Don’t Hold Your Breath · ss Saving Worlds, ed. Roger Elwood & Virginia Kidd, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973 38 · All We Have on This Planet · ss Stopwatch, ed. George Hay, NEL, 1974 47 · War of Nerves [Beagle] · nv Other Worlds May ’50 72 · The Rull [Rulls] · nv Astounding May ’48 99 · The Semantics of Twenty-First Century Science · ar, 1976 120 · Future Perfect · nv Vertex Aug ’73 146 · Being an Examination of the Ponsian and Holmesian Secret Deductive Systems · ar The Pontine Dossier v1 #2 ’71; speech given at the annual banquet of the Praed Street Irregulars in 1971. 152 · Home of the Gods [Clane] · nv Astounding Apr ’47 178 · The Violent Male · ar, 1976; last of a series of five talks given on radio station KPFK in 1964/65. 192 · Prologue to “The Silkie” [Silkie] · ex If Jul ’64 201 · The Proxy Intelligence [William Leigh] · na If Oct ’68 253 · Final Comment · aw

Tank Farm Dynamo


David Brin - 2011
    "Tank Farm Dynamo" sure tried! What if we found the nerve, the spirit and daring to use every resource -- including those that NASA simply threw away? An unabashedly old-fashioned hard SF story with science and technology as central, problem-solving players... plus a real twist.

Changeling


Stephen Leigh - 1989
    At his side, a mysterious woman whose life and memory he saved, whose love he has won for a second time. His name is Derec; hers is Ariel. And their story has only begun to be told...In Robot City, the late science fiction genius Isaac Asimov challenged a talented group of science fiction writers to resolve the conundrums he set for them in the context of his famous Three Laws of Robotics. In Robots and Aliens, a new challenge was put forth: What would happen if the robots of Asimov's universe were to meet alien races? Would the Three Laws that protect both humans and robots still apply when dealing with a species that is neither...?This pair of adventures, enhanced with a pair of essays by Asimov himself, continue the saga of Robot City, where the finest minds in science fiction enter the most futuristic landscape in robot history!

Drunkard's Walk


Frederik Pohl - 1960
    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.

Pyramids


Fred Saberhagen - 1987
    An alternate Egyptian world awaits Tom, a world of ancient gods, uncountable treasure, and danger. A world where revenge will be had. A world very much of interest to a dangerous fugitive and time-traveler named Pilgrim.

Two Hawks From Earth


Philip José Farmer - 1966
    In this classic of alternate history by grand master Philip Jose Farmer, Native American bomber pilot Roger Two Hawks bails out over enemy territory in WWII, only to find himself on another Earth-one in which the American continents never rose from the waters, and the ancestors of the American Indians remained in Asia and Europe-an Earth embroiled in a world war of its own, with Two Hawks caught in the middle.

Cyber Way


Alan Dean Foster - 1990
    Computers will catch the killers--but not this time. One cop will unearth the truth, but it's not human. From the author of "Jed the Dead."

Destiny Doll


Clifford D. Simak - 1972
    Their ship is sealed against them and they are hurled into a wholly inhospitable desert."Assailed by strange perils and even stranger temptations, the little group stumbled towards its destiny—Mike Ross, the pilot, Sara Foster, the big game hunter, blind George Smith, and the odious Friar Tuck. Before them was a legend made flesh, around them were creatures of myth and mystery, close behind them stalked Nemesis. The doll, the little wooden painted doll, was to be their salvation. Or their damnation, for each might choose, and find, his own Nirvana."

The Shape of Space


Larry Niven - 1966
    ContentsThe Warriors (Known Space series) / Larry NivenSafe at Any Speed (Known Space series) / Larry NivenHow the Heroes Die (Known Space series) / Larry NivenAt the Bottom of a Hole (Known Space series) / Larry NivenBordered in Black / Larry NivenLike Banquo's Ghost / Larry NivenOne Face / Larry NivenThe Meddler / Larry NivenDry Run / Larry NivenConvergent Series / Larry NivenThe Deadlier Weapon / Larry NivenDeath / Ecstasy (Gil Hamilton series) / Larry Niven

The Moon is Hell!


John W. Campbell Jr. - 1950
    Campbell was the man who made modern science fiction what it is today. As editor of Astounding Stories (later Analog), Campbell brought into the field such all-time greats as Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon and many others, while his own writing blazed new trails in science fiction reading pleasure. The Moon is Hell is this great writer-editor's vision of the first men on the moon - written 18 years before Neil Armstrong made history. This is the story of the American space programme - not as it happened, but as it might have been.

The Preserving Machine


Philip K. Dick - 1969
    DICKRobot psychiatrists activated by $20 coinsA war veteran who keeps changing into a blob of organic jellyBusiness advice from the souls of the departedA machine that turns musical scores into small, furry animalsA dog story that recalls Kafka's 'Investigations of a Dog' These are some of the treasures of imagination in this collection of Philip K. Dick's short fiction. They display all the uncanny inventiveness & sad, quirky humanism of his wonderful novels as well as being a testing ground for many of their later themes.Comprising:The Preserving Machine (1953);War Game (1959);Upon the Dull Earth (1954);Roog (1952);War Veteran (1955);Top Stand-By Job (1963);Beyond Lies the Wub (1952);We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966);Captive Market (1955);If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1953);Retreat Syndrome (1964);The Crawlers (1954);Oh, to Be a Blobel! (1964);What the Dead Men Say (1964);Pay for the Printer (1956).

Agent of Vega


James H. Schmitz - 1960
    "Especially when she's given one of your ultimate space ships.""I can vouch for her," the Galactic Co-ordinator said casually."But supposing another people--like the Daya-Bals--came into possession of one of our ultimate ships. They could duplicate it.""Don't worry--our Agents are psychologically incapable of giving away secrets that could cause us harm.""I know," the Scientist said. "That's why I was surprised to discover that there are two other Daya-Bals secretly aboard our Agent's ship!" (From the back cover)

Barsoom Series: The Complete Collection


Edgar Rice Burroughs - 2012
    The first Barsoom tale was serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in 1912, and published as a novel as A Princess of Mars in 1917. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters. The first five novels are in the public domain in U.S., and the entire series is free around the world on Project Gutenberg Australia, but the books are still under copyright laws in most of the rest of the world. The world of Barsoom is a romantic vision of a dying Mars. Writers and science popularizers like Camille Flammarion were convinced that Mars was at a later stage of evolution than Earth and therefore much drier,took the ideas farther and published books like Les Terres du Ciel (1884), which contained illustrations of a planet covered with canals.Burroughs gives credits to him in his writings, and goes as far as to say that he based his vision of Mars on that of Flammarion.[3] John Carter is transported to Mars in a way described by Flammarion in Urania (1889), where a man from earth is transported to Mars as an astral body where he wakes up to a lower gravity, two moons, strange plants and animals and several races of advanced humans. In The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds and Lumen, he further speculates about plant people and other creatures on far away planets, elements that would later appear in the Barsoom stories. The Barsoom series, where John Carter in the late 1800s is mysteriously transported from Earth to a Mars suffering from dwindling resources, has been cited by many well known science fiction writers as having inspired and motivated them in their youth, as well as by key scientists involved in both space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life.Elements of the books have been adapted by many writers, in novels, short stories, comics, television and film this collection includes all of the books in the series: • A PRINCESS OF MARS • THE GODS OF MARS • Warlord of Mars • Thuvia, Maid of Mars • THE CHESSMEN OF MARS • The Master Mind of Mars • A Fighting Man Of Mars • Swords of Mars • Synthetic Men of Mars • Llana of Gathol • John Carter and the Giant of Mars All in one book,elegantly formatted for ease of use and enjoyment on your Kindle device.

The Quincunx of Time


James Blish - 1973
    Its transmissions could be picked up instantly, anywhere in the Universe.With an expanding interstellar empire to administer, Captain Robin Weinbaum reckoned his job would become a whole lot easier.Until the impossible happened. Someone started monitoring the Dirac transmissions - before they were made.

The Lifeship


Gordon R. Dickson - 1975
    Castaways between the stars...Trapped in the confines of their fragile lifeship, a tiny band of aliens and humans faces the awesome challenge of survival after the mysterious explosion of a giant spaceship.Giles Steel, a member of Earth's master race, assumes responsibility for erupting tempers, the dwindling food supply...and the saboteur whose ugly work has already begun!