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The Multiple Man by Ben Bova


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Earth Has Been Found


D.F. Jones - 1979
     Alien horror becomes a living nightmare as the xenos, meaning “strangers”, inflict mayhem on earth. International distress alerts are sent out when planes first seem to disappear, disturbing concepts of space and time and leaving a trail of death and disillusionment. This bizarre series of “cosmic skyjackings” is shrouded in secrecy by a baffled and frightened military. Intense surveillance fails to reveal the cause of a seemingly hostile yet invisible enemy. Aircraft continue to disappear, plucked out of the sky without warning, only to reappear months later, thousands of miles off course. National and global security is under threat and the ICARUS committee is formed to investigate. Military officials, the government and the FBI work alongside physician Mark Freedman and Soviet scientists to uncover the supernatural mystery that lies behind these unexplainable events. Earth has been found by a horde of creatures that not even the wildest imagination could invent – sinister parasitic creatures that took to their human hosts with deadly speed and bloodthirsty precision. The terror that unfolds has terrifying consequences for all involved, and the invasion reveals something much more frightening and final than ever suspected. Earth Has Been Found is a gripping and chilling first contact sci fi novel, from classic science fiction author D. F. Jones.

Inherit the Stars


James P. Hogan - 1977
    They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him. All they knew was that his corpse was 50,000 years old; and that meant that this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed!

Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card


Orson Scott Card - 1990
    For those readers who have followed this remarkable talent since the beginning, here are all those amazing stories gathered together in one place, with some extra surprises as well. For the many who are newly come to Card, here is chance to experience the wonder of a writer so versatile that he can handle everything from traditional narrative poetry to modern experimental fiction with equal ease and grace. The brilliant story-telling of the Alvin Maker books is no accident; the breathless excitement evoked by the Ender books is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In this enormous volume are forty-six stories, plus ten long, intensely personal essays, unique to this volume. In them the author reveals some of his reasons and motivations for writing, with a good deal of autobiography into the bargain.Contents: Introduction (Book 1: The Hanged Man, Tales of Dread) • essay by Orson Scott Card Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory (1979) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Quietus (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card Deep Breathing Exercises (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card Fat Farm (1980) / short story by Orson Scott Card Closing the Timelid (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card Freeway Games (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card A Sepulchre of Songs (1981) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Prior Restraint (1986) / short story by Orson Scott Card The Changed Man and the King of Words (1982) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Memories of My Head (1990) / short story by Orson Scott Card Lost Boys (1989) / short story by Orson Scott Card Afterword (Book 1: The Hanged Man, Tales of Dread) • essay by Orson Scott Card Introduction (Book 2: Flux, Tales of Human Futures) • essay by Orson Scott Card A Thousand Deaths [Tales of Capitol] (1978) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Clap Hands and Sing (1982) / short story by Orson Scott Card Dogwalker (1989) / novelette by Orson Scott Card But We Try Not to Act Like It (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card I Put My Blue Genes On (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card In the Doghouse (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card and Jay A. Parry The Originist [Foundation] (1989) / novella by Orson Scott Card Afterword (Book 2: Flux, Tales of Human Futures) • essay by Orson Scott Card Introduction (Book 3: Maps in a Mirror, Fables and Fantasies) • essay by Orson Scott Card Unaccompanied Sonata (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card A Cross-Country Trip to Kill Richard Nixon (1980) / novelette by Orson Scott Card The Porcelain Salamander (1981) • short story by Orson Scott Card Middle Woman (1981) / short story by Orson Scott Card The Bully and the Beast (1979) / novella by Orson Scott Card The Princess and the Bear (1980) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Sandmagic [Mither Mages] (1979) / novelette by Orson Scott Card The Best Day (1984) / short story by Orson Scott Card A Plague of Butterflies (1981) / short story by Orson Scott Card The Monkeys Thought 'Twas All in Fun (1979) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Afterword (Book 3: Maps in a Mirror, Fables and Fantasies) • essay by Orson Scott Card Introduction (Book 4: Cruel Miracles, Tales of Death, Hope, and Holiness) • essay by Orson Scott Card Mortal Gods (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card Saving Grace (1987) / short story by Orson Scott Card Eye for Eye (1987) / novella by Orson Scott Card St. Amy's Tale (1980) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Kingsmeat (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card Holy (1980) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Afterword (Book 4: Cruel Miracles, Tales of Death, Hope, and Holiness) • essay by Orson Scott Card Introduction (Book 5: Lost Songs, The Hidden Stories) • essay by Orson Scott Card Ender's Game [Ender Wiggin] (1977) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Mikal's Songbird (1978) / novelette by Orson Scott Card Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow [The Alvin Maker Saga] (1989) • poem by Orson Scott Card Malpractice (1977) / short story by Orson Scott Card Follower (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card Hitching (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card Damn Fine Novel (1989) / short story by Orson Scott Card Billy's Box (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card The Best Family Home Evening Ever (1978) / short story by Orson Scott Card Bicicleta (1977) / short story by Orson Scott Card I Think Mom and Dad Are Going Crazy, Jerry (1979) / short story by Orson Scott Card Gert Fram (1977) / short story by Orson Scott Card Afterword (Book 5: Lost Songs, The Hidden Stories) • essay by Orson Scott Card

Weatherman


Lois McMaster Bujold - 1990
    When the commander orders his men to enter a facility that is leaking poisonous radiation, the men revolt, and it's up to Miles to use his wits to avoid a massacre. A story later incorporated into the Hugo Award-winning novel THE VOR GAME.NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORBujold's "work remains among the most enjoyable and rewarding in contemporary SF."- Publishers Weekly“Bujold has a gift, nearly unique in science fiction, for the comedy of manners.” - Chicago Sun Times“Bujold is not just a master of plot, she is a master of emotion.”- SF Site"Bujold is one of the best writers of SF adventures to come along in years."- LocusLois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.

Year's Best SF 3


David G. HartwellGreg Egan - 1998
    Hartwell returns with this fifth annual collection of the year's most imaginative, entertaining, and mind-expanding science fiction.Here are works from some of today's most acclaimed authors, as well as visionary new talents, that will introduce you to new ideas, offer unusual perspectives, and take you to places beyond your wildest imaginings. Contents ix • Introduction (Year's Best SF 3) • (1998) • essay by David G. Hartwell 1 • Petting Zoo • (1997) • short story by Gene Wolfe 9 • The Wisdom of Old Earth • (1997) • short story by Michael Swanwick 23 • The Firefly Tree • (1997) • short story by Jack Williamson 29 • Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City • (1997) • short story by William Gibson 41 • The Nostalginauts • (1997) • short story by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer ] 53 • Guest Law • (1997) • novelette by John C. Wright 77 • The Voice • (1997) • short story by Gregory Benford 95 • Yeyuka • (1997) • short story by Greg Egan 117 • An Office Romance • (1997) • short story by Terry Bisson 135 • Itsy Bitsy Spider • (1997) • short story by James Patrick Kelly 151 • Beauty in the Night • (1997) • novelette by Robert Silverberg 197 • Mr. Pale • (1997) • short story by Ray Bradbury 205 • The Pipes of Pan • (1997) • novelette by Brian Stableford 233 • Always True to Thee, in My Fashion • (1997) • short story by Nancy Kress 249 • Canary Land • (1997) • novelette by Tom Purdom 277 • Universal Emulators • (1997) • short story by Tom Cool 295 • Fair Verona • (1997) • novelette by R. Garcia y Robertson 331 • Great Western • (1997) • novelette by Kim Newman 363 • Turnover • (1997) • short story by Geoffrey A. Landis 369 • The Mendelian Lamp Case • [Dr Phil D'Amato] • (1997) • novelette by Paul Levinson 415 • Kiss Me • (1997) • short story by Katherine MacLean 421 • London Bone • (1997) • novelette by Michael Moorcock

Yurth Burden


Andre Norton - 1978
    Yet tow races shared it with no love between them. The Raski were the first people, the Yurth the late comers.This is the story of Elossa, the Yurth girl who followed the Call that every Yurth sensitive must follow when the time came. And this is the story of Stans, the Raski, who had to achieve manhood by blood rite against the hated Yurth.This is a novel of a world where ancient injustice had been done and never righted, where brooding evil and age-old vengeance awaited peace-makers-- and of two who brought this terror down upon their own heads.

Needle


Hal Clement - 1949
    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

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.

Out of the Dark


David Weber - 2010
    So when the Hegemony Survey Force encountered a world whose so-called "sentients" "humans," they called themselves—were almost as bad as the Shongairi themselves, it seemed reasonable to use the Shongairi to neutralize them before they could become a second threat to galactic peace. And if the Shongairi took a few knocks in the process, all the better. Now, Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity's cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, more than half the human race has died. Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize scattered survivors without getting killed. And in the southeastern US, firearms instructor and former Marine Dave Dvorak finds himself at the center of a growing network of resistance putting his extended family at lethal risk, but what else can you do? On the face of it, Buchevsky's and Dvorak's chances look bleak, as do prospects for the rest of the surviving human race. But it may well be that Shongairi and the Hegemony alike have underestimated the inhabitants of that strange planet called Earth

The Uncertain Midnight


Edmund Cooper - 1958
     After a devastating atomic holocaust, mankind had now turned to the machine to solve his problems. Which led to the androids - descended from the robot, they were hardly distinguishable from real humans. By the year 2113 they ran society - leaving man to a life of leisure. It was into this world that John Markham emerged after spending 146 years of suspended animation in an underground deep-freeze unit. But his new lease of life was likely to be a short one. A man with his outdated ideas could be very dangerous - a fact the androids realized only too well.

Cold as Ice


Charles Sheffield - 1992
    It was a suicidal spasm in which terrible weapons were created and used; in which nine billion people were killed. The rivalries that led to the war are not gone. And a few of those deadly weapons remain--some still orbiting the sun in the debris of destroyed ships,s some deliberately placed in storage.Now Cyrus Mobarak, the man who perfected the fusion engine, is determined to bring human settlement to the protected seas of Europa. Opposing him is Hilda Brandt, Europa's administrator. And caught between them are three remarkable young people: Jon Perry, Camille Hamilton, and Wilsa Sheer.

Dinosaur Planet


Anne McCaffrey - 1978
    It was a simple mission. A standard crew.THE PROBLEMKai and his beautiful co-leader Varian, the best xenob-vet in the business, followed all the standard procedures -- but the results of their investigations were totally unexpected. Not only were the planet's creatures larger than anyone had anticipated and the geological finds smaller, but the rescue ship had inexplicably disappeared.THE NIGHTMAREThen suddenly on a world of giant swamp creatures and deadly predators, a curious change had come over many of the members of the ARCT-10 crew... a change that would lead all of them, in one way or another, into the primitive darkness of a future world.

This is Not a Game


Walter Jon Williams - 2009
    And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games...Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out. Her boss Charlie has his own problems — 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore account. Austin is the businessman — the VC. He's the one with the plan and the one to keep the geeks in line. BJ was there from the start, but while Charlie's star rose, BJ sank into the depths of customer service. He pads his hours at the call-center slaying on-line orcs, stealing your loot, and selling it on the internet.But when one of them is gunned down in a parking lot, the survivors become players in a very different kind of game. Caught between the dangerous worlds of the Russian Mafia and international finance, Dagmar must draw on all her resources — not least millions of online gamers — to track down the killer. In this near-future thriller, Walter Jon Williams weaves a pulse-pounding tale of intrigue, murder, and games where you don't get an extra life.

Coyote


Allen M. Steele - 2002
    Lee and his crew travel to a distant planetary system with a habitable moon (named Coyote) with the dream of starting a colony free from governmental and social oppression.The trip lasts 226 years, but while everyone is in biostasis, one of the crew members is accidentally awakened. With his cell permanently deactivated by the ship's AI, communications officer Leslie Gillis is doomed to a solitary life (and death) aboard the starship. When the rest of the crew is eventually reawakened as the ship reaches its destination, what they find is extraordinary. Once the small colony is established on Coyote, they realize just how different their new world is from Earth. Exploration begins, and although a few colonists are killed by predators, the colony survives and even begins to thrive that is, until a strange comet appears in the sky.

The Hercules Text


Jack McDevitt - 1986
    The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular…artificial. It can only be a code.Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world—from Wall Street to the Vatican