Monday 21 January 2013

CONAN THE SWORDSMAN

Sphere paperback, 1978. Cover painting by Melvyn Grant.

Synopsis: 
"From the wild and wintry borders of Asgard to exotic Iranistan, from the perilous Pictish Marches to the awesomely-guarded stronghold of the miser-wizard Siptah, Conan the incomparable cuts his savage swathe through a matchless world of swordplay and sorcery in his most thrilling adventures yet!" 

Wednesday 16 January 2013

FIRE DANCER

Signet paperback, 1982. Cover illustration uncredited.

Rear-cover synopsis: 
"Behind them lay death, before them the universe ... The Senyas dancers - they practiced their unique skills on their home planet, Deva, their smooth skin glowing with complex energy patterns as they learned the power dances and mentally mastered the elemental forces of Nagure. And the Bre'n mentors - large, fur-covered humanoids, they were the only living beings who could control and channel the power of a Senyas dancer. Yet Bre'n and Senyas together could not save Deva from becoming a flaming inferno devoured by its own greedy sun. 
Somehow two survived - Rheba the fire dancer and Kirtn, her Bre'n companion. Their world had died but they swore their people would not, and together they set out to search the star systems for others of their kind. But the twisted trail they followed soon forced them into the clutches of the evil Loo-chim, galactic slavers from whose stronghold no one had ever escaped alive...."

DEMON IN THE SKULL

DAW paperback, 1984. Cover artwork by Don Maitz.

Synopsis: 
"Something had seized his mind, something that rode his body like a speed-maniac would drive a stolen car - for he had committed atrocities against his friends and neighbours, he had done unspeakable things - and yet his own conscious mind had only stood aside and watched in horror. For a demonic intelligence had taken over inside his skull and left him a helpless observer. 
He was not unique. It was happening all over the world - society was breaking down in an epidemic of crimes, vicious and senseless, and it would seem as if the world had been invaded by a legion of invisible devils from some interplanetary hell. 
There had to be a solution, and when at last he found a clue, he set out to pursue it to the bitter end. Frederik Pohl's Demon In The Skull is a revision and upgrading of his A Plague Of Pythins, bringing this classic science fiction shocker into the realtime world of 1984 and after...."

Wednesday 9 January 2013

THE POST READER OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Corgi paperback, 1966. Cover illustration uncredited.

Synopsis: 
"A journey with a man who is given one hour in the past - A search for the lost continent of Atlantis - A fantastic hunt with a phantom dog, and the experience of the calamitous, supernatural effects of an atom bomb test...It has become axiomatic in our time that today's fiction is tomorrow's fact. These stories demonstrate the twilight zone where fantasy becomes more real than life, and, science reveals its hidden core of fantasy..." 
Contents: 
Doctor Hanray's Second Chance by Conrad Richter
Fallout Island by Robert Murphy
The Green Hills Of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
Doomsday Deferred by Will F. Jenkins
Test-Tube Terror by Robert Standish
Island Of Fear by William Sambrot
Sinister Journey by Conrad Richter
The Place Of The Gods by Stephen Vincent Benét
The Phantom Setter by Robert Murphy
The Big Wheel by Fred McMorrow
The Death Dust by Frank Harvey
The Lost Continent by Geoffrey Household
The Trap by Ken Bennett
Space Secret by William Sambrot
The Unsafe Deposit Box by Gerald Kersh
The Second Trip To Mars by Ward Moore
The Voice In The Earphones by Wilbur Schramm
Moon Crazy by William Roy Shelton
The Little Terror by Will F. Jenkins
The Answer by Philip Wylie

Monday 7 January 2013

LORD FOUL'S BANE (THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER)

Fontana paperback, seventh impression, 1980. Cover illustration
by Peter Goodfellow.

Synopsis: 
"Cursed by a terrible disease, Thomas Covenant is an outcast in our world: shunned by his neighbours, pushed by loneliness to the edges of madness. Suddenly he is transported to a mysterious and beautiful new world - the Land - where gentle people work magic with wood and stone, and the very earth and air bring healing. Covenant is welcomed as the reincarnation of a legendary saviour: his maimed hand and white-gold wedding ring mark him as a figure of power and sorcery, with a wild magic powerful against evil. But Covenant does not believe that the Land is real and thus, he becomes the unwilling tool of the enemy who seeks to destroy it: Lord Foul the Despiser. Three times, in their hour of greatest need, the peoples of the Land will summon him to their aid. Three times, as their reluctant leader, he will fail them. Only at the end, as a victorious Lord Foul prepares to devastate the Land and enslave its people forever, will Thomas Covenant call on the wild magic he alone can wield - for a last, epic battle with the forces of evil..."

Sunday 6 January 2013

KEITH LAUMER: THE GLORY GAME

Popular Library paperback, 1973. Cover artwork uncredited.

Rear-cover synopsis: 
"Commodore Tom Dalton, of Terran's Space Navy, is approached by the Softliners, politicians who want to avoid war with the Hukk invaders. He is also approached by the Hardliners, who want him to provoke a full-scale battle with the Hukks. Out in space, Dalton is faced with the harsh reality of the situation when the Hukk admiral suddenly pulls a fast one. Dalton's decision can mean mutiny, space war, or instant defeat..."

FRANK HERBERT: THE EYES OF HEISENBERG

Sphere SF paperback, 1968. Cover photograph by David Davies.

Rear-cover synopsis: 
"In the age of the Optiman genetic surgeons tamper with the gametes of unborn children in the hospital vats. From time to time they achieve the miracle known as the Optiman - a human being whose tissues never wear out, an immortal. 
There is one drawback: The Optimen are not viable - they cannot breed. The ability to reproduce is confined to a small minority of ordinary mortals. The hospitals are supervised by an all powerful security force to stop this minority from growing beyond the limits decreed by the Optimen. 
Then Dr. Potter presides at the 'cutting' of a very special embryo; to ensure its destruction, the Optimen are prepared to destroy a whole city."

JAMES GUNN: THE JOY MAKERS

Bantam paperback, 1961. Cover artwork by William Hofmann.

Rear cover fluff: 
"Why be miserable? Dial P-L-E-A-S-U-R 
Happiness guaranteed by Hedonics Inc. Sounds like a skin-game to you and me. But in James Gunn's future it's the slogan of a legitimate and sucessful business. Product: anything you need to make you happy. 
The Joy Makers rips the lid off: describes pleasures that will make your skin tingle and your mind rattle, tells a story of men and women who are so hysterically happy they turn in strange new directions for diversion." 

C.M. KORNBLUTH: THE SYNDIC

Sphere SF paperback, 1968. Cover photograph by David Davies.

Rear-cover synopsis: 
"The Government of North America has been pushed into the sea and survives only on the West coast of Ireland as a strict military dictatorship. The East of the U.S. is ruled by The Syndic - permissive, happy, possibly doomed - and to the west is Mob territory. Charles Orsino and Lee Falcaro from the Syndic are planted as spies in Government territory. They discover the truth about the outside world and the extent of the dangerous scheme which is being plotted to smash the Syndic for ever."