Thursday 31 March 2011

EARTHWORKS

Four Square paperback, 1967. Cover artwork by Karel Thole.

"Disease-ridden, overpopulated; robots and prison-gangs tending the bare, poison-drenched countryside; the people near starvation. This is the world Knowie Noland, ex-convict, ex-traveller, and captain of the tramp freighter trieste star knows and accepts - because there is nothing better to hope for. 
To the beautiful girl named Justine it is a degrading and inhuman condition which can be overcome by global war - a war she wants knowie to start. 
Knowie has always believed that war was a futile and senseless answer to man's problems. But under Justine's persuasive logic he begins to hope that a shot he can fire will lead to the ultimate death of millions and be the start of a better world for the survivors."

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION JUNE 1960

Artwork by Ed Emshwiller ("Emsh's version of a soft landing").

GALAXY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1968

Cover by John Pederson, Jr. from Fritz Leiber's One Station Of The Way.

GALAXY MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 1962

Cover by Jack Gaughan illustrating The Martian Star Gazers.

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION MAY 1954

Cover by Ed Emshwiller ("Emsh"), illustrating Granny Won't Knit.

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION JANUARY 1953

Cover by Ed Emshwiller ("Emsh"), illustrating The Defenders by Philip K. Dick.

Friday 18 March 2011

Wednesday 16 March 2011

A CENTURY OF GREAT SHORT SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS

Mayflower paperback, 1970 reprint. Cover art by Josh Kirby.

"The themes which constantly reappear in novels and stories of fantasy and the future are explored in this unique volume with dazzling imagination. Among them are: the co-existence in man of good and evil; the shape and substance of a superman; the time machine; and the manufacture of god in a chemically pure form."

Contents:

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Absolute At Large by Karel Capek
Gulf by Robert A Heinlein
E For Effort by T L Sherred
Hunter, Come Home by Richard Mckenna

Tuesday 15 March 2011

TIME OUT OF MIND

Orbit paperback, 1976. Cover artist uncredited.

"Kill! 
Young Laurie hears the voices, but he doesn't understand. Why? Who? Is there any connection with the ghost he saw this morning? 
Only years later, when he has grown up, does he find the answers - and then it's almost too late. As a U.N. narcotics security agent, he investigates the case of a girl addicted to a drug which enables her to teleport objects. He is led to a secret government research establishment where a fascist megalomaniac has harnessed the strange powers of this girl and others like her for a terrifying project of his own..."

CLONE

Pan Science Fiction paperback, 1981. Cover by Ian Pollock.

"Alvin isn't very clever and his ears stick out. But despite all that, he's a very important person. Or rather, a very important quarter of a person. Or even four people. It's all very confusing being a clone... 
It all started when he was kidnapped by the universal anthropoid brotherhood just after the marble arch massacre. They aren't aware of his amazing telepathic powers yet - but other sinister government agencies are... 
Will Norbert the Chimpanzee, Alvin's valuable friend and advisor, and the lesbian professor poynter find him before they do? Or will Alvin discover his powers and, in between dreaming about the luscious Cheryl, spread his wings a little deep beneath Pall Mall...?"

Friday 4 March 2011

KULDESAK

Orbit paperback, 1976. Cover artwork by Chris Achilleos.

"Earth, 2000 years after the final holocaust which drove man deep underground; a ghostly, deserted planet peopled only by the diligent robots who, century after century, silently harvest grain which no man will eat. 
Up into this eerie world comes Mel, a questioning young roamer who has disobeyed the Law which says he must never venture into or beyond the Lost Levels. Together with three companions, and a companion not of this Earth, Mel takes on the awesome task of freeing human beings from the tyranny imposed on them by their remote ancestors; of justifying the agonized cry of Barney as he died in a Forbidden Level: 'I am a man! Everything is for man!'"

Wednesday 2 March 2011

THE SOLARIANS

Paperback Library Edition. First printing, July 1966.
Cover by Ed Valigursky (thanks, Mark).

"Earth was programmed for destruction in the mad war of the computer worlds - unless the Solarians could stop the machines! 
Three hundred years ago the solarians retreated to the safety of their Fortress as Earth became embroiled in the first of the computer wars with the dread Duglaari Empire. 
The solarians' final word to all humanity was a promise to reappear one day and bring it to victory. Suddenly, with Earth on the verge of becoming a helpless victim of the merciless Duglaars, the Solarians made contact with fleet commander Jay Palmer. It was an offer of aid. 
But the Solarians' plan was so cunning, so fraught with danger, that Jay faced the greatest decision of his life - and that of Earth's: 
Accept their ingenious strategy as a stroke of genius or reject it as a trick designed to destroy human life forever."