Tuesday 11 November 2008

SHIPWRECK

Panther SF paperback, 1977. Cover illustration by David Bergen.

"When an atomic explosion destroys a huge expedition ship, Tansis becomes the sole survivor of the human race. A skilled space pilot, he manages to land his scout craft on the nearest planet. The alien world in which he finds himself is not hostile but has no means of supporting human life. Desperate for human contact, Tansis establishes a telepathic relationship with the extraordinary seal-like creatures who live in the planet's oceans. But just as things seem to be going smoothly, the craft computer warns Tansis that he energy supply is running out and he is forced to take drastic measures to safeguard his own survival..."

MINDMIX

Coronet SF paperback, 1973. Cover by Chris Foss.

"He was a man - but they changed him into a guinea pig. 
The world is dying. A disease more terrible than cancer ravages its populace. Scientists struggle when people die in their thousands. There is no known cure. 
Pete Bratton was a simple man. A drifter who let life nudge him from one day to the next. A nowhere man in a world of pre-destination and disease. A man who should have died, but who survived the terror of Virus Y and became a phenomenon. A human guinea pig for eager scientists to store the ideology of a dying civilization by memory transfer. 
But what of the real Pete Bratton strapped of his rights as a few individual and strapped to an operating table for the cause of science? 
And what of his own mind as it slowly dissolves into a jumble of conflicting ideas and personalities?"