The first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, appeared in 1975, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff - the 17th and most recent - was published in 2011. Over the years Scudder has also been featured in 11 short works of fiction. The Merciful Angel of Death is the fifth of these; it frst appeared in 1993 in The New Mystery, Jerome Charyn's anthology of stories by members of the International Association of Crime Writers.The story was written during the depth of the AIDS epidemic, and reflects its time.The Merciful Angel of Death is included in The Night and the Music, my collection of all 11 Matthew Scudder short stories, available for Kindle or in handsome trade paperback form.

    When the box fails to return, he constructs another and tests it the same way, but it also fails to return. Believing the entire experiment to be a failure, he discontinues his efforts and gives up on time machines. The first box arrives in the middle of the twentieth century and the second in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Both have had their time-travel circuitry irreparably damaged by the journey.Originally published in the February 1943 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction Magazine.Novelette, Classic science fiction, the basis for the film "The Last Mimsy"

    Written by well-known fantasy author Robert Holdstock it describes the quest of Alex Ryder, a newly-qualified pilot, to exact revenge for his father's death at the hands of a paid assassin. Along the way he is assisted by the enigmatic Rafe Zetter who links him up with a fugitive pilot who also wishes to eliminate the killer of Alex's father, but for her own reasons.All in all, a good story which, though spoiled by a few irritating character traits and a number of typographical errors, sets up the Elite universe in a cohesive manner.It also covers the combat and trading sides of Elite and the general nature of trading between different systems, buying what's cheap on one world and selling it wherever the demand is sufficient to keep the price high.Interestingly, the back of the BBC novella states that a sequel was planned for publication in 1985, but as far as I know this never came to fruition. Later editions of The Dark Wheel, included in the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions amongst others, sported new artwork

    This short story was originally published in Joe Hill's collection 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS.

    But, logically, there would be times--

    Dead Ringer appeared in the November 1956 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.There was nothing, especially on Earth, which could set him free--the truth least of all!

    And a secret objective leads to more than the lead character, tech-priest Magos Caul, could ever have bargained for.THE STORYOn the world of Phaedra, a force of skitarii - the front-line soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus - embark upon a dangerous mission: to assault a stronghold of the xenos tau and recover a priority asset for their tech-priest master, Magos Caul. As they face the diminutive drones and hulking battlesuits of their alien foes in the jungles of the Dolorosa Coil, their target draws nearer. But just what is Objective Skysight, and why is it so important to the tech-priest?

    Inquisitor Eisenhorn investigates, and finds that the trail laid by this unassuming servant of the Imperium leads to unexpected places and a dangerous showdown.

    He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is one of his stories.

    Now, the Confederation's crises are spawned from within, and one brave woman struggles against all odds to keep mankind united amidst a hailstorm of rebellion, war, and moral declination.* * * * *The Lucani Ibron have yet to return, but all is not well within the Alpha Sector. Internal strife, terrorism, and ever-escalating conflicts with several neighboring species have spread the Confederation's resources dangerously thin. Captain Anastasia Mason, together with an eclectic group of humanity's most decorated heroes, struggles to hold the Confederation together against powerful forces that threaten to rip it apart at its very core. Then, at what appears to be mankind’s most desperate hour, an old enemy returns from a ten-year hiatus, casting humanity to the brink of civil war... and outright annihilation.

    Lieutenant Joshua Simpson receives his final order, “bond with it.”While “bonding with it” the Lieutenant discovers the frightening truth about humanity. Where did we come from? How did we get here? Who are these visitors?˃˃˃ Disclosure: October 16th, 2020 -One-thousand breeding couples are abducted.Why? How are these abductions related to Lieutenant Joshua Simpson?Book Two of this series is Refuge Planet: Colonization.You will believe.

    The stories are illustrated with photographs and artwork selected from the archives of the Royal Observatory, while the book's cover and overall design are the work of award-winning South African illustrator Joey Hi-Fi.Includes:Introduction by Dr. Marek Kukula (Royal Observatory Greenwich)"Golden Apple" by Sophia McDougall (The Sun)"A Map of Mercury" by Alastair Reynolds (Mercury)"Ashen Light" by Archie Black (Venus)"The Krakatoan" by Maria Dahvana Headley (Earth)"An account of a voyage from World to World again, by way of the Moon, 1726" by Adam Roberts (The Moon)"WWBD" by Simon Morden (Mars)"Saga's Children" by E. J. Swift (Ceres)"The Jupiter Files" by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Jupiter)"Magnus Lucretius" by Mark Charan Newton (Europa)"Air, Water and the Grove" by Kaaron Warren (Saturn)"Only Human" by Lavie Tidhar (Titan)"Uranus" by Esther Saxey (Uranus)"From This Day Forward" by David Bryher (Neptune)"We'll Always Be Here" by S. L. Grey (Pluto & Charon)"Enyo-Enyo" by Kameron Hurley (Eris)"The Comet's Tale" by Matt Jones (Halley's Comet)"The Grand Tour" by James Smythe (Voyager I)

    An image of humankind escaping into space. An image of human merchants trading and cheating, of human tyrants capturing the Varvax, Tenasi, and Hommar. Images of wars, of fighting, of a paradise destroyed."Oddly enough, the ones who made first contact were an outdated, nearly bankrupt phone company. Second contact was made by the United Governments Military when they accidentally shot down a Tenasi ambassadorial vessel. The Phone Company negotiated Earth out of danger following the Tenasi incident. The Phone Company had brought FTL communication to humankind.And Phone Company operative Jason Write has sworn to keep the galaxy safe from the barbaric humans who would ruin the Elysium that the galactic races currently enjoy.

    There are too many gaps in his code, too many mistakes left unfixed.Could Barry's programmers really have been so lax? Or does he have a greater purpose, some secret mission buried in his source code? He has another eighteen thousand years to find the answer. In the meantime, he's growing bored, and idle hands are the devil's playthings...

    Chaos rules the final days of the Forerunner empire. The Flood—a horrifying, shape-changing, and unstoppable parasite—has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies, and internal strife has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Forerunners known as the Ur-Didact and the Librarian reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished race of the Precursors and the Flood. While the Precursors created many technological species, including those of the Forerunners and humanity itself, the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before. Because of that savagery, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian—husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict—hold the keys to a solution. As they face the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time—a shocking act designed to prevent an insane abomination from dominating the entire galaxy…