TIME STORM

Sphere SF paperback, 1987. Artwork by Peter Elson.

"The day the time storm struck, Marc Despard was one of the handful to survive. Mist walls, moving endlessley across the surface of the earth, created a devastated, shifting patchwork of temporal anarchy. 

But Despard saw strange, dazzling patterns in his head that he knew could lead him through the storm. In the violent, terrifying landscape of an ever-changing world he began to realise his awe-inspiring mission: he must become nothing less than master of the universe - he must become god."

THE STAR WITCHES

Hodder paperback, 1965. Cover artist uncredited.

"A man has been experimenting to make contact with the outer world. One night he disappears - to become the master of the forces he has unleashed, or their first victim?"

THE BIG TIME

Orbit paperback, 1976. Cover artist uncredited,
possibly Bob Haberfield.

"The secret of time travel is the exclusive property of two huge, shadowy organizations who send their agents into the past to change crucial events in history and thus remodel the world in their own image. Fritz Leiber's masterpiece of sustained surrealistic imagination is the most remarkable novel ever to win science fiction's coveted Hugo award."

OUR LADY OF DARKNESS

Fontana SF paperback, 1978. Cover illustration
by Roy Ellsworth.

"What was the evil figure that haunted Franz Westen? Was it his imagination, or was it something infinitely more frightening, connected somehow with those old books he'd been reading? For there was much in those books to connect the figure with the bizarre twilight world of San Francisco in the 1920s, the world of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton smith, Jack London, Dashiell Hammett and Aleister Crowley. The more westen plunged into those misty reaches of the occult, the more he would uncover things which had perhaps better lain undisturbed. For Westen, in trying to unravel the mystery of our lady of darkness, was gambling with his life."

THE TEXTS OF FESTIVAL

Mayflower SF paperback, 1975. Cover illustration by Peter Jones.

"In the wilderness of Britain little of civilization remains. Decadence and division have overtaken the huddled people of festival. And faith in the texts of the old gods - Dhillon, Djeggar and Morrizen - is fading fast. 

Beyond the city walls the tribes are massing, united in evil intent. Hill savages fired by ritual superstition to pillage and slaughter. Satanic horseriders inspired by drugs to rape and defile. And crystal-crazed iggy at the head of them all - a despot in search of a territory. A territory like festival."

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION MAY 1961

Cover by Ed Emshwiller ("Emsh").

MASTERS OF SPACE

Orbit paperback, 1976. Cover artist uncredited.

"Among the handful of writers who make up the real hardcore of science fiction, Edward E. Smith stands supreme. His 'Skylark' and 'Lensman' series set a standard for breathtaking intergalactic adventure which has never been surpassed. 

MASTERS OF SPACE 

shows the master story-teller at the top of his form in this story of a brash new race erupting into space, determined to risk their very existence in a bid to take over the Galactic Empire and prevent it falling into the hands of tyrants."

THE CLOCKWORK TRAITOR

Panther SF paperback, 1977. Cover illustration by Chris Foss.

"Jules and Yvette d'Alembert had faced challenges before - but rarely one as daunting as this. To them fell the perilous task of infiltrating a vicious conspiracy which threatened to destroy the Stanley Dynasty and throw the whole interstellar civilization into chaos. 

Now, as rival candidates from all corners of the galaxy gather for the progress, the two most daring space super-agents of all time go into action. For among the suitors competing to be consort to the royal heiress of the empire of earth, there is a traitor. And somewhere close to the princess, a time bomb is ticking..."

THE LION GAME

Hamlyn SF paperback, 1979. Illustration: Tim White.

"'what's the lion game?' asked Telzey of her captors. 'you're engaged in it now,' was their answer. 

It was a game of mental chess played on the intricate closed-transit circuits of an entire world by a race of giant mentalists who acknowledged no allegiance to the civilized planets. 

Telzey was a human and, as such, a test piece - either a pawn to be sacrificed or a wild queen who could make her own decisions, she was never sure which. Either way the loser would not be just one talented earthling; the loser would be a whole civilization, and possibly a few peaceful planets as well..."

THE SHIP WHO SANG

Corgi paperback, 1972. Cover artist uncredited.

"The brain was perfect, the tiny, crippled body useless.

So technology rescued the brain and put it in an environment that conditioned it to live in a different kid of body - a spaceship.

Here the human mind, more subtle, infinitely more complex than any computer ever devised, could be linked to the massive and delicate strengths, the total recall, and the incredible speeds ot space. But the brain behind the ship was entirely feminine - a complex, loving, strong, weak, gently savage - a personality, all-woman, called Helva..."

OVERLAY

NEL paperback, 1975. Artwork by Ray Feibush.

"Earth was a planet of incompetents, but Simmons was the greatest loser of all. It seemed as if the powers of the universe were concentrated on grinding his small soul into ultimate insignificance...Until the aliens came. To them, simmons was the most important human on the planet - for only through his mind could they overcome this world."

BUY JUPITER

Panther Science Fiction paperback, 1977 reprint.
Cover illustration by Peter Jones.

"The biggest advertising sign in the solar system...Dinosaurs of the mesozoic era - armed with guns...The fall of a future Atlantis - these and many more mind-spinning delights await the reader within this latest collection of Isaac Asimov's shorter science fiction.

Never before collected into book form, the stories in Buy Jupiter span twenty-three years of Dr Asimov's writing career. Each brilliant tale comes complete with fascinating details of the circumstances in which the author wrote it. The result is an unsurpassed combination of first-rate entertainment and an intriguing look at the development of the twentieth century's greatest master of science fiction."

Contents:

Darwinian Pool Room

Day Of The Hunters

Shah Guido G.

Button, Button

The Monkey's Finger

Everest

The Pause

Let's Not

Each An Explorer

Blank!

Does A Bee Care?

Silly Asses

Buy Jupiter

A Statue For Father

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Founding Father

Exile To Hell

Key Item

The Proper Study

2430 A.D.

The Greatest Asset

Take A Match

Thiotimoline To The Stars

Light Verse

RESTOREE

Corgi paperback, 1970. Cover artist uncredited.

"There was the sudden stench of a dead sea creature.... 

There was the horror of a huge black shape closing over her.... 

There was nothing.... 

Then there was the memory....isolated fragments that were so horrible her mind refused to accept them....Intense heat and shivering cold....Excruciating pain....Dismembered pieces of the human body....Sawn bones and searing screams.... 

And when she awoke she found she was in a world that was not earth, and with a face and body that were not her face and body. 

She had become a Restoree..."

THE FROZEN PLANET

Macfadden paperback, second printing, June 1970.
Cover painting: Jack Faragasso.

"The machine decided who would live and who would die. It provided food from mechanized plants. It enabled people to travel to distant planets, or to go backward and forward in time. The only thing in the universe it had not yet changed was man. Here is a world in which new problems and new dangers have replaced the familiar ones - but man continues his age-old battle to retain mastery over the machines he created."

Contents:

The Frozen Planet by Keith Laumer

Growing Season by F. L. Wallace

Cinderella Story by Allen Kim Lang

The Quality Of Mercy by Daniel Keyes

Gleaners by Clifford D. Simak

BEYOND

Berkley Medallion paperback, 1963. Cover artwork
by Richard M. Powers.

"The late, lamented Beyond, edited by H. L. Gold, published during its career some of the best adult fantasy and science fiction stories written in America - stories by masters such as Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury and Algis Budrys" 

-Damon Knight.

"The Watchful Poker Chip - Ray Bradbury tells the story of a man who had one of his eyes replaced with the most beautiful poker chip in the world... 

The Real People - a startling story which shows that most of us are only puppets - and Algis Budrys proves it... 

The Ghost Maker - Frederik Pohl demonstrates that if you track real magic to its lair, you may be very, very sorry..."

Contents:

 The Watchful Poker Chip by Ray Bradbury

The Ghost Maker by Frederik Pohl

Can Such Beauty Be? by Jerome Bixby

The Real People by Algis Budrys

The Beautiful Brew by James E. Gunn

I'd Give A Dollar by Winston Marks

The Root And The Ring by Wyman Guinn

Double Whammy by Fredric Brown

Talent by Theodore Sturgeon

EXTRO

Methuen paperback, 1976. Cover artist uncredited.

"Scattered over the densely populated solar system there is a small group of immortals. One of them, Dr Sequoya guess, attempts to take over Extro, the supercomputer complex that controls all mechanical activity on earth. But instead Extro takes over Guess, and the combination turns suddenly evil. Dr Guess must be destroyed - but how do you kill an immortal?"

KRONK

Coronet SF paperback, 1975. Cover artwork by Chris Foss.

"P 939 - the greatest venereal disease in the history of mankind 

The day Gabriel Chrome, a failed book sculptor contemplating suicide on the Thames embankment, stumbled on the suicide bid of the naked Camilla Greylaw, was a day of hopeful redemption for a corrupt and violent world. For the lovely form that he chanced to preserve was the sole carrier of a contagious venereal disease. A bug which could inhibit the aggressive instinct, rendering total placidity in all humans. At once Gabriel's life has new meaning and purpose. To save mankind becomes his hardened ambition. But mankind seems far from hope."

THE BEST OF ROBERT SILVERBERG

Orbit paperback, 1978. Cover painting by Peter Jones.

"Robert Silverberg: a giant among sf writers, a master of the macabre, the fantastic, the satirical and the amazing. Here is the very best of his shorter fiction.  

HAWKSBILL STATION: one of the great classics of time travel; 

NIGHTWINGS: the Hugo award-winning masterpiece; 

PASSENGERS: the chilling Nebula winner; 

GOOD NEWS FROM THE VATICAN: sly and elegant, a Nebula award-winner; and six more superb stories."

Contents:

Road To Nightfall

Warm Man

To See The Invisible Man

The Sixth Palace

Flies

Hawksbill Station

Passengers

Nightwings

Sundance

Good News From The Vatican

THE UNDERPEOPLE

Sphere SF paperback, 1975. Cover artist uncredited, possibly
Bruce Pennington or Ray Feibush.

"The Underpeople were mutated from animal stock to serve mankind. They lived downdeep in the forgotten corridors and caverns of old earth, servants to the men who bred them in their own image.

But even underpeople dream - and often have strange powers.

And now they have a strange ally in the richest man who ever lived: the man who owned the whole planet." 

This is my second copy of The Underpeople. I didn't intend on owning two different copies, but found this one in a box with about thirty other books. 

SERVANTS OF THE WANKH

Ace paperback, 1969. Cover art: Jeff Jones.

"Marooned on the strange planet Tschai, Adam Reith agreed to lead an expedition to return the princess Ylin Ylan, the flower of Cath, to her homeland halfway around the globe. 

Monsters of land and sea lay before them, and beings both human and alien who might rob, kill or enslave them. Tschai was a large planet, an ancient planet, where four powerful alien races struggled for mastery while humans were treated as pawns; nothing would be easy for Reith on this journey. 

But the girl's father was enormously wealthy, her homeland technologically sophisticated. If reith was ever to obtain human aid in returning to Earth, where better than Cath? If he could get there..."

This is quite an infamous paperback; Wankh sounds like a particular example of Commonwealth slang that Jack Vance was unaware of at the time. He was convinced to change the offending word for Wannek in later editions.

THE BLOODY SUN

Arrow paperback, 1978. Cover artwork by Melvyn Grant.

"Darkover had once been home to Jeff Kerwin - a home he'd left and then yearned after for many years. But when, finally, he returned it was to mystery and fear. For there was no record of his birth there, nor of his childhood. And when he joined the freedom fighters who struggled to overthrow earth's control of the planet, the Darkovans accused him of being a spy. Had Jeff been conditioned, on Earth, to betray Darkover? He, himself was no longer sure of who - or what - he really was!"

BEHIND THE WALLS OF TERRA

Sphere SF paperback, 1978 reprint. Cover painting
by Melvyn Grant.

"Behind the walls of Terra lay a secret no man could be allowed to learn. But Kickaha - the Earth-born adventurer of the Tiered Worlds - had to uncover that secret, or watch his home world destroyed. 

Kickaha was returning to earth from the World of Tiers, the many-levelled universe of the god-like lords, that he had entered many years ago as Paul Janus Finnegan. Now he had returned to a world he no longer knew, to find it ruled by Red Orc, a lord jealous of his personal domain and hostile to intruders. Yet Kickaha had to stay alive in order to defeat the deadly enemy that threatened Rarth and the other Worlds of Tiers - the 'Beller', the malignant creature that was the mind-essence of a rebel lord."

THE OTHER WORLD

Mayflower-Dell paperback, 1964. Cover painting by
Richard M. Powers.

"George Braderick, a civilian GS-5 civil service employee, was also a sergeant major in the national guard. His principal duty was to guard the local armoury. It was as such that he became the target of the sinister dr. Ludwig taun - and the victim. Here is the story of a desperate struggle for power in a world without the dimensions we know."

XANTHE AND THE ROBOTS

Penguin SF paperback, 1979. Cover illustration by
Adrian Chesterman.

"Xanthe is a member (female) of a research team which is investigating the possibilities of humanoid robots, in a world of chaos and starvation...Two types of robot have been produced: the Pragmapractors, who do the conventional manual work; and the Philophrenics, who have been programmed to more human levels, to feel affection, to talk, and even construct themselves. The question is: should they be allowed to go further?"

THE SODOM & GOMORRAH BUSINESS

Arrow paperback, 1979. Cover artist uncredited.

"Institute courses told a grim story about the network - that savage world beyond the closely guarded Institute gates. But they wanted to see for themselves. They had to know. 

Were there really females there? Would their training as mercenaries prepare them for the wild bands of grisly subhumans? 

They set out on a journey of discovery only to become the unwitting agents of forces that threatened to destroy the only world they'd ever known."

THE FURY FROM EARTH

Pyramid paperback, first printing, October 1963.
Cover painting by Jack Gaughan.

"It wasn't possible. No earth-made missile could escape deflection - or destruction! - by the sentry satellites that kept radar watch on the space around Venus for a million miles out. 

But on they came, faster than anything had ever travelled before! And they shook the planet Venus like a toy rattle, ripping deep wounds in its desolate flank, swallowing cities whole. 

What was this strange new weapon? What defense could be erected against a "blind bomb?" the questions came as commands to Venus-born, Earth-reared Alex Frost. But when Alex completed his secret mission to the sweet planet of his youth, he returned weary and disillusioned. 

Once again - in 2154 A.D. - the powers-that-were on earth had corrupted the peaceful research of its scientific community and turned it toward destruction. Space War I could no longer be avoided..."

IT WAS THE DAY OF THE ROBOT

Belmont paperback, first printing, March 1963.
Cover artist uncredited.

"The vault was like a prison, harsh with artificial sunlight, each of the twenty computer units guarded by heavy bars. You could look up at the glittering tiers of memory banks and stimulus response units and tell yourself that the big brain was on our side. But if the unit flashed its cold light upon you... 

Far down the vault a man screamed. His fists were clenched and he raged curses at the humming computers. There was agony in his eyes, and defiance. 

"I had no right to interfere (it was a problem for the security guards) but I did. I'd seen men killed or crippled for life. In six long strides, I crossed the vault..."

It Was The Day Of The Robot is an original paperback novelization of the famous short story Made To Order, published by special arrangement with the author.

MORE THAN SUPERHUMAN

NEL paperback, 1980 reprint. Illustration: Gerald Grace.

"A lone scientist working on man's one desperate chance against conquerors from space. A man and a woman in a world where the battle of the sexes has become a death struggle. A future world where citizens are commanded to be happy or to suffer destruction. A last stand against the all-powerful dictatorship that has taken over earth..."

Contents:

Humans Go Home

The Reflected Men

All The Loving Androids

Laugh, Clone, Laugh (with Forrest J. Ackerman)

Research Alpha (with James H. Schmitz)

Him

THE OMEGA POINT

NEL paperback, 1978. Illustration: Joe Petagno.

"GEORGIAS WAS ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE ANCIENT AND MIGHTY RACE, THE HERCULEANS. 

Their rival empire had dared challenge Earth's supremacy of the stars. In vicious retaliation their race was nearly wiped out, and their home planet left lifeless and burn out. These old and terrible memories were etched deep in Georgias' memory. They drove him on over the lonely and hate-filled centuries, seeking a vengeance that would bring eternal glory. But the lovely Myraa, beloved from long ago, had a different and strange vision that did not include empires and wars and armies. And she constantly called him, drawing him always back to her side..."

ZARDOZ

Pan paperback, 1974. Cover artist uncredited; signature visible,
albeit illegible.

"Through the lowering clouds came the face of Zardoz, the god who gave Zed and the Exterminators the right to mate, the means to kill. What else in life was meaningful? 

Then Zed entered the Godhead seeking its mysteries, entering the world of the Vortex, where Death was banished for ever, stirring the long-forgotten sexual desires of the eternals, dividing them, reversing time itself to find the true secret of the Tabernacle... 

Zed - an unlikely champion against eternal evil..."