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Total Eclipse


John Brunner - 1974
    Successive space crews determine that the native culture evolved & disappeared mysteriously after a mere 3000 years of existence. It's now 2028. Another mission reaches the planet with just one goal--to discover why the civilization disappeared--& with just one hope--that this knowledge will prevent the same thing from happening on earth. Exhibiting that rare sense of sf mystery that distinguished Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, John Brunner weaves a haunting tale of how 30 people attack the nearly insuperable task of unriddling the mysteries of a long-buried culture. Was it a fatal virus, an internecine war, a religion of lunatic brutality or a deleterious mutation that destroyed an entire civilization? All remains hypothesis until Ian Macauley unravels the riddle. But does it provide a solution to human problems & will the answer reach earth in time?

Next


Michael Crichton - 2006
    Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions, and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.

Cities in Flight


James Blish - 1970
    Named after the migrant workers of America's Dust Bowl, these novels convey Blish's "history of the future," a brilliant and bleak look at a world where cities roam the Galaxy looking for work and a sustainable way of life.In the first novel, They Shall Have Stars, man has thoroughly explored the Solar System, yet the dream of going even further seems to have died in all but one man. His battle to realize his dream results in two momentous discoveries anti-gravity and the secret of immortality. In A Life for the Stars, it is centuries later and anti-gravity generations have enabled whole cities to lift off the surface of the earth to become galactic wanderers. In Earthman, Come Home, the nomadic cities revert to barbarism and marauding rogue cities begin to pose a threat to all civilized worlds. In the final novel, The Triumph of Time, history repeats itself as the cities once again journey back in to space making a terrifying discovery which could destroy the entire Universe. A serious and haunting vision of our world and its limits, Cities in Flight marks the return to print of one of science fiction's most inimitable writers.A Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club

Death Troopers


Joe Schreiber - 2009
    But when a boarding party from the Purge is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back–bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours nearly all aboard the Purge die in ways too hideous to imagine.And death is only the beginning. The Purge’s half-dozen survivors–two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers, and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board–will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting aboard the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn’t really empty at all. For the dead are rising: soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.

The Space Opera Megapack: 20 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Tales


John W. Campbell Jr. - 2014
    "Doc" Smith and John W. Campbell, Jr. to modern interpretations by Jay Lake, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Tim Sullivan, and more! Included are:BREATH’S DUTY, by Sharon Lee and Steve MillerSPAWN OF JUPITER, by E. C. TubbKILLER ADVICE, by Kristine Kathryn RuschTHE WORLD WITH A THOUSAND MOONS by Edmond HamiltonTHE SKYLARK OF SPACE, by E.E. “Doc” SmithDEADLINE IN SPACE, by John Russell FearnPLANETESIMAL DAWN, by Tim SullivanTHE WEIGHT OF HISTORY, THE LIGHTNESS OF THE FUTURE, by Jay LakeBIG PILL, by Raymond Z. GallunWHERE ARE YOU, MR. BIGGS?, by Nelson S. BondTHE SKY TRAP, by Frank Belknap LongCHANGE OF COMMAND, by Jean LorrahTULAN, by C.C. MacAppTHE BLACK STAR PASSES, by John W. Campbell, Jr.THE GALAXY PRIMES, by E.E. “Doc” SmithTARRANO THE CONQUEROR, by Ray CummingsTHE SARGASSO OF SPACE, by Edmond HamiltonSALVAGE IN SPACE, by Jack WilliamsonTHE ULTIMATE WEAPON, by John W. Campbell, Jr.INVADERS FROM THE OUTER SUNS, by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.

Gene Wolfe's Book of Days


Gene Wolfe - 1981
    Brandon (excerpt from "Peace") (1975)Beautyland (1973)Car Sinister (1970)The Blue Mouse (1971)How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion (1973)The Adopted Father (1980)Forlesen (1974)An Article about Hunting (1973)The Changeling (1968)Many Mansions (1977)Against the Lafayette Escadrille (1972)Three Million Square Miles (1971)The War beneath the Tree (1979)La Befana (1973)Melting (1974)

Cemetery World


Clifford D. Simak - 1972
    Ravaged 10,000 years earlier by war, Earth was reclaimed by its space-dwelling offspring as a planet of landscaping and tombstones. None of them fully human, Fletcher, Cynthia, and Elmer journey through this dead world, discovering human traits and undertaking a quest to rebuild a human world on Earth.

Path of the Warrior


Gav Thorpe - 2010
    When the artist Korlandril feels the call to war, he abandons peace for the Path of the Warrior. He becomes a Striking Scorpion, a deadly fighter skilled in the art of close-quarters combat. But battle is coming, as Craftworld Alaitoc comes to blows with the vengeful Imperium of Mankind, and the further Korlandril travels down the warrior's path, the closer he gets to losing his identity and becoming an avatar of war. Can he retain his sense of self and still be the weapon Alaitoc needs, or will he be consumed by one of the warrior-spirits of his race? Read it because When the eldar artist Korlandril feels the call to war, he walks the Path of the Warrior and joins the Striking Scorpions. As his craftworld is drawn into war with the Imperium, Korlandril finds that once he has begun walking that path, it may not be easy to leave it…

Shadows of the Empire


Steve Perry - 1996
    Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission including Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and a brilliant young pilot, Darth Vader pits himself against a cunning and ruthless rival. Xizor is the leader of a powerful crime syndicate who seeks to supplant Vader for the favor of their mutual master, the dreaded Emperor. Their target: Luke Skywalker. Suddenly Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy--one who wants him alive...and one who wants him dead.

Infinite Dreams


Joe Haldeman - 1978
    CounterpointAnniversary ProjectThe Mazel Tov RevolutionTo Howard Hughes: A Modest ProposalA Mind of His OwnAll the Universe in a Mason JarThe Private War of Private JacobA Time to LiveJuryriggedSummer's Lease [Truth to Tell]26 Days on EarthArmaja DasTricentennial

Lost Stars


Claudia Gray - 2015
    Resistance to the Empire has been all but silenced. Only a few courageous leaders such as Bail Organa of Alderaan still dare to openly oppose Emperor Palpatine.After years of defiance, the many worlds at the edge of the Outer Rim have surrendered. With each planet’s conquest, the Empire’s might grows stronger.The latest to fall under the Emperor’s control is the isolated mountain planet Jelucan, whose citizens hope for a more prosperous future even as the Imperial Starfleet gathers overhead…

The Collector's Book of Science Fiction by H.G. Wells


H.G. Wells - 1978
    Wells' most famous science fiction exactly as it appeared in illustrated popular magazines at the turn of the century.Presented here in their entirety - with all the original illustrations by leading artists of the day - are novels such as The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, and When the Sleeper Wakes; nearly two dozen short stories, including the well known The Country of the Blind, The Empire of the Ants, The Valley of the Spiders, and The Man Who Could Work Miracles; and as a bonus, the five unusual Stories of the Stone Age (science fiction not of the future but of the past).The Collector's Book of Science Fiction by H.G. Wells makes it possible to recapture the authentic flavor of the these thrilling stories - some not seen even by collectors for decades.

A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume One


Anthony Boucher - 1959
    Heinlein.The Father-Thing by Philip K. Dick.The Children's Hour by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore.Gomez by C. M. Kornbluth.The [Widget], The [Wadget], and Boff by Theodore Sturgeon.Sandra by George P. Elliott.Beyond Space and Time by Joel Townsley Rogers.The Martian Crown Jewels by Poul Anderson.The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van Vogt (novel).

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations


Greg Keyes - 2017
    This official prequel will be plotted and written in close collaboration with the film team. The movie's stars include Andy Serkis as the ape Caesar, Judy Greer as Caesar's wife Cornelia, and Woody Harrelson as "the Colonel."

Star Wars Tales (Omnibus): Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales from Jabba's Palace


Kevin J. Anderson - 1996
    If you've ever wanted to know more about the Bounty Hunters that appear in The Empire Strikes Back, this is the book!Contents: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina [Star Wars: Tales] (1995) 16 short stories / anthology by Kevin J. Anderson: In a far corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jazz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves... Tales of the Bounty Hunters [Star Wars: Tales] (1996) 5 novellas / anthology by Kevin J. Anderson: In a wild and battle-scarred galaxy, assassins, pirates, smugglers, and cutthroats of every description roam at will, fearing only the professional bounty hunters-amoral adventurers who track down the scum of the universe...for a fee. Tales from Jabba's Palace [Star Wars: Tales] (1996) 19 short stories / anthology by Kevin J. Anderson: In the dusty heat of twin-sunned Tatooine lives the wealthiest gangster in a hundred worlds, master of a vast crime empire and keeper of a vicious, flesh-eating monster for entertainment (and disposal of his enemies). Bloated and sinister, Jabba the Hutt might have made a good joke -- if he weren't so dangerous. A cast of soldiers, spies, assassins, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and pleasure seekers have come to his palace, and every visitor to Jabba's grand abode has a story. Some of them may even live to tell it....