Science Fiction & Fantasy: Past Present and Future
Explore the evolution of Science Fiction & Fantasy through must-read books from past classics to future visions. Discover tales of magic, space, and futuristic worlds!
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2001
by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke has been the presiding genius of science fiction for almost fifty years. His works include the ground-breaking and profound CHILDHOOD'S END, RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA and EXPEDITION TO EARTH. Written when landing on the moon was still a dream, made into one of the most influential films of our century, brilliant, compulsive, prophetic, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY tackles the enduring theme of man's place in the universe. On the moon an enigma is uncovered. So great are the implications that, for the first time, men are sent out deep into the solar system. But, before they can reach their destination, things begin to go wrong, horribly wrong... Look out for more information on this book and others on the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk
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Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
As the Galactic Empire declines, psychohistorian Hari Seldon and his band of psychobiologists form the Foundation, designed to be the nucleus of an eventual ideal universal ruling corporation.
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The Essential Ellison
by Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison is probably best known as a script writer for sci-fi and fantasy movies and TV series such as the original Outer Limits, The Hunger, Logan's Run, and Babylon Five. But his range is much broader than that, encompassing stories, novels, essays, reviews, reminiscences, plays, even fake autobiographies. Essential Ellison includes contains 74 unabridged works, including such classics as A Boy and His Dog, Xenogenesis, and Mefisto in Onyx. Includes black-and-white photos.
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Crosstime
by Andre Norton
Quest Crosstime features the same characters of the Andre Norton's novel The Crossroads of Time. The new science fiction story swings Blake and Marfy across the fabric of counted years from the successor world of Vroom to a strange level warred over by rival factions of a remotely familiar Toltec empire to near-disaster in the rivers of a lifeless project world.
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The Unreasoning Mask
by Philip Jose Farmer
One of the most daring, innovative, and prolific writers in the science fiction genre, Philip Jose Farmer has long been hailed for his soaring imagination and compelling storytelling. The Unreasoning Mask, first published in 1981, is Farmer at his best: it's a fast-paced, mystical, high-action adventure. Ramstan is the captain of al-Buraq, a rare model starship of which three have been built. Each is capable of alaraf drive: instantaneous travel between two points in space. When one of the ships mysteriously disappears, it is discovered that an unidentifiable "creature" is marauding through the universe, destroying intelligent life on planet after planet. Ramstan, a thoughtful and moral man, becomes a fascinated yet reluctant pawn in the hands of the strange forces which arise to fight the deadly destroyer. But what price must he pay for becoming the savior of intelligent-kind?
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A Treasury of Edgar Rice Burroughs
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Collected here in this oversized omnibus edition are nine novels of adventure by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs was the undisputed master of pulp fiction. His characters Tarzan and John Carter are still household names today. Now you can thrill to his other fine novels which include At the Earth's Core, Pellucidar, The Outlaw of Torn, The Efficiency Expert, The Monster Men, The Oakdale Affair, The Land That Time Forgot, The Lost Continent, and The People that Time Forgot. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
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The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A
by Robert Silverberg
The mysteries and marvels of the science fiction world are brought to life in this compilation of stories representing the work of major authors in this field.
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The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One 1929-1964
by Robert Silverberg
Twenty-six of the greatest science fiction stories ever written. Robert Heinlein in "The Roads Must Roll" describes an industrial civilization of the future caught up in the deadly flaws of its own complexity. "Country of the Kind," by Damon Knight, is a frightening portrayal of biological mutation. "Nightfall, " by Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest stories in the science fiction field, imagines a planet where the sun sets only once every millennium and is a chilling study in mass psychology.
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The Dragonriders of Pern
by Anne McCaffrey
Finally together in one volume, the first three books in the world's most beloved science fiction series, THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN, by Anne McCaffrey, one of the great science fiction writers of all time: DRAGONFLIGHT, DRAGONQUEST, THE WHITE DRAGON. Those who know these extraordinary tales will be able to re-visit with Lessa, F'lar, Ruth, Lord Jaxon, and all the others. And for those just discovering this magical place, there are incomparable tales of danger, deceit, and daring, just waiting to be explored..
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Dangerous Visions
by Harlan Ellison
The legendary collection that changed the literature of science fiction for all time features a new Introduction and annotations by Harlan Ellison and a Foreword by his friend and mentor, the late Isaac Asimov.
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The Best of the Nebulas
by Ben Bova
Briefly describes the history of the Nebula award and gathers a selection of stories that have won the award
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I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
The development of robot technology to a state of perfection by future civilizations is explored in nine science fiction stories.
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Helliconia Spring
by Brian Wilson Aldiss
In the first volume of this monumental trilogy, Brain Aldiss introduces readers to Helliconia, the chief planet in a binary system. Emerging from a centuries-long winter, the Helliconians ready themselves to fight the ferocious phagors who have taken over in their absence.
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Helliconia Summer
by Brian Wilson Aldiss
The second volume of the Helliconia Trilogy. It is the summer of the Great Year on Helliconia. The humans are involved with their own affairs. Their old enemies, the phagors, are comparatively docile at this time of year, yet they can afford to wait, to take advantage of human weakness--and of the king's weakness.
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Helliconia Winter
by Brian Wilson Aldiss
A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter. The centuries-long winter of the Great Year on Helliconia is upon us, and the Oligarch is taking harsh measures to ensure the survival of the people of the bleak Northerncontinent of Sibornal. Behind the battle with which the novel opens lies an act of unparalleled treachery. But the plague is coming on the wings of winter and the Oligarch's will is set against it-and against the phagors, humanity's ancientenemies, who carry the plague with them. This is the concluding volume of the Helliconia Trilogy-a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today's imaginative writers.
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The Martian Chronicles
by Ray Bradbury
A science fiction classic about the colonization of Mars.
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A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.
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The Demolished Man
by Alfred Bester
In 2301, a psychopathic business magnate comes up with the ultimate plan to eliminate his competition and destroy the order of society.
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Starship Troopers
by Robert Anson Heinlein
In a futuristic military adventure a recruit goes through the roughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry in what historians would come to call the First Interstellar War
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The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1
by Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard is one of the most famous and influential pulp authors of the twentieth century. Though largely known as the man who invented the sword-and-sorcery genre–and for his iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian–Howard also wrote horror tales, desert adventures, detective yarns, epic poetry, and more. This spectacular volume, gorgeously illustrated by Jim and Ruth Keegan, includes some of his best and most popular works. Inside, readers will discover (or rediscover) such gems as “The Shadow Kingdom,” featuring Kull of Atlantis and considered by many to be the first sword-and-sorcery story; “The Fightin’est Pair,” part of one of Howard’s most successful series, chronicling the travails of Steve Costigan, a merchant seaman with fists of steel and a head of wood; “The Grey God Passes,” a haunting tale about the passing of an age, told against the backdrop of Irish history and legend; “Worms of the Earth,” a brooding narrative featuring Bran Mak Morn, about which H. P. Lovecraft said, “Few readers will ever forget the hideous and compelling power of [this] macabre masterpiece”; a historical poem relating a momentous battle between Cimbri and the legions of Rome; and “Sharp’s Gun Serenade,” one of the last and funniest of the Breckinridge Elkins tales. These thrilling, eerie, compelling, swashbuckling stories and poems have been restored to their original form, presented just as the author intended. There is little doubt that after more than seven decades the voice of Robert E. Howard continues to resonate with readers around the world.
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Ringworld
by Larry Niven
Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel Four travelers come to the ringworld. . . Louis Wu: human and old; bored with having lived too fully for far too many years. Seeking a challenge, and all too capable of handling it. Nessus: a trembling coward, a puppeteer with a built-in survival pattern of nonviolence. Except that this particular puppeteer is insane. Teela Brown: human; a wide-eyed youngster with no allegiances, no experience, no abilities. And all the luck in the world. Speaker-To-Animals: kzin; large, orange-furred, and carnivorous. And one of the most savage life-forms known in the galaxy. Why did these disparate individuals come together? How could they possibly function together? And where, in the name of anything sane, were they headed?
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Age of Wonders
by David G. Hartwell
An insider's view of the strange and wonderful world of science fiction, by one of the most respected editors in the field. David G. Hartwell has been editing science fiction and fantasy for over twenty years. In that time, he has worked with acclaimed and popular writers such as Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Frank Herbert, Roger Zelazny, Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe, Nancy Kress, L.E. Modesitt, Terry Bisson, Lisa Goldstein, and Philip Jose Farmer, and discovered hot new talentes like Kathleen Ann Goonan and Patrick O'Leary. Now in Age of Wonder, Hartwell describes the field he has loved, worked in, and shaped as editor, critic, and anthologist. Like those other American art forms, jazz, comics, and rock 'n' roll, science fiction is the product of a rich and fascinating subculture. Age of Wonder is a fascinating tour of the origins, history, and culture of the science fiction world, written with insight and genuine affection for this wonder-filled literature, and addressed to newcomers and longtime SF readers alike. Newly revised for the 1990's, Age of Wonder remains "the landmark work" Roger Zelazny called the first edition. Hartwell has revised the body of the book to take into account the past twelve years' changes in the literary landscape and the publishing marketplace, and added substantial new sections that contain advice on teaching courses in science fiction, disquisitions on the controversial subgenre of hard SF, and practical explanations of the economics of publishing science fiction and fantasy. Age of Wonder still lives up to Hugo and Nebula Award winnter Vonda McIntyre's description: "An entertaining and provocative book that will insprie discussion and argument for years to come."
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Midnight at the Well of Souls
by Jack L. Chalker
Nathan Brazil, a cargo ship-for-hire owner, detours from his route to answer a distress call. A hidden stargate hurls him and his passengers to the Well World, the master control planet for the cosmos created by the now-gone godlike race who designed the universe. Now someone wants to find the Well of Souls to seize control of all the cosmos--and it's up to Nathan to stop them.
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Bloodchild and Other Stories
by Octavia E. Butler
A perfect introduction for new readers and a must-have for avid fans, this New York Times Notable Book includes "Bloodchild," winner of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards and "Speech Sounds," winner of the Hugo Award. Appearing in print for the first time, "Amnesty" is a story of a woman named Noah who works to negotiate the tense and co-dependent relationship between humans and a species of invaders. Also new to this collection is "The Book of Martha" which asks: What would you do if God granted you the ability—and responsibility—to save humanity from itself? Like all of Octavia Butler’s best writing, these works of the imagination are parables of the contemporary world. She proves constant in her vigil, an unblinking pessimist hoping to be proven wrong, and one of contemporary literature’s strongest voices.
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Lord of Light
by Roger Zelazny
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light.
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Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Case, a burned-out computer whiz, is asked to steal a security code that is locked in the most heavily guarded databank in the solar system, in a special twentieth anniversary edition of the influential Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel.
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The Red Magician
by Lisa Goldstein
A young European girl, unaware of the Nazi threat, has her life transformed by a red-haired magician who challenges the complacency of her village. "Turns the hidden world of Eastern European Jews during the 1940s into a world of wonders, then transcends the Holocaust with magical optimism".--The New York Times.
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Think Like a Dinosaur
by James Patrick Kelly
This first major retrospective collects Kelly's finest short fiction from a 20-year career and includes a dazzling array of work, from hard science fiction and "Twilight Zone" inspired fantasies to stark futuristic horror. The grim fable Pogrom presents a near-futuristic scenario in which internecine warfare has broken out between the aging boomer generation and a youthful dispossessed proletariat who must support them. The landmark novella Mr. Boy is the wildly inventive tale of a genetically stunted 12-year-old who literally lives inside his mother, who has turned herself into a three-quarter-scale model of the Statue of Liberty. The First Law of Thermodynamics is a remarkable evocation of the psychedelic sixties the time of Vietnam, Kent State, and acid rock in which, like that era itself, nothing is what it appears to be. The now-famous title story, Think Like a Dinosaur, is a tale of a transporter beam maintained by aliens, through which humanity can visit the stars. This replaces 0965590194. "
