Randall Garrett

Like some great silver-pink fish, the ship sang on through the eternal night. There was no impression of swimming; the fish shape had neither fins nor a tail. It was as though it were hovering in wait for a member of some smaller species to swoop suddenly down from nowhere, so that it, in turn, could pounce and kill. But still it moved and sang. Only a being who was thoroughly familiar with the type could have told that this particular fish was dying. In shape, the ship was rather like a narrow flounder—long, tapered, and oval in cross-section—but it showed none of the exterior markings one might expect of either a living thing or a spaceship. With one exception, the smooth silver-pink exterior was featureless. That one exception was a long, purplish-black, roughened discoloration that ran along one side for almost half of the ship's seventeen meters of length. It was the only external sign that the ship was dying. Inside the ship, the Nipe neither knew nor cared about the discoloration. Had he thought about it, he would have deduced the presence of the burn, but it was by far the least of his worries. The ship sang, and the song was a song of death. The internal damage that had been done to the ship was far more serious than the burn on the surface of the hull. It was that internal damage which occupied the thoughts of the Nipe, for it could, quite possibly, kill him.

Science Fiction Matster

Anything You Can Do

Poul Anderson

Fredric Brown

John Gregory Betancourt

Algis Budrys

Robert Silverberg

Richard A. Lupoff

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Lester del Rey

Ben Bova

Samuel R. Delany

Reginald Bretnor

Hours of great reading await, with tales from some of the 20th century's most renowned science fiction authors, Here are 25 science fiction stories (plus a bonus short-short): UNKNOWN THINGS, by Reginald Bretnor CAPTIVES OF THE FLAME, by Samuel R. Delany EXPEDITER, by Mack Reynolds ONE-SHOT, by James Blish SHIPWRECK IN THE SKY, by Eando Binder ZEN, by Jerome Bixby LANCELOT BIGGS COOKS A PIRATE, by Nelson Bond SENTIMENT, INC., by Poul Anderson THE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS, by J. F. Bone THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP, by Ben Bova YEAR OF THE BIG THAW, by Marion Zimmer Bradley EARTHMEN BEARING GIFTS, by Fredric Brown HAPPY ENDING, by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds LIGHTER THAN YOU THINK, by Nelson Bond RIYA’S FOUNDLING, by Algis Budrys ACCIDENTAL DEATH, by Peter Baily AND ALL THE EARTH A GRAVE, by C. C. MacApp DEAD RINGER, by Lester del Rey THE CRYSTAL CRYPT, by Philip K. Dick THE JUPITER WEAPON, by Charles L. Fontenay THE MAN WHO HATED MARS, by Randall Garrett NAVY DAY, by Harry Harrison THE JUDAS VALLEY, by Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett NATIVE SON, by T. D. Hamm JUBILEE, by Richard A. Lupoff FINAL CALL, by John Gregory Betancourt And don't forget to check out all the other volumes in the "Megapack" series! Search on "Megapack" in the ebook store to see the complete list...covering more science fiction volumes, plus adventure stories, military, fantasy, ghost stories, westerns, and much more!

25 Classic Science Fiction Stories

The Science Fiction MEGAPACK ®

Vicki Ann Heydron

The Steel of Raithskar (The Gandalara Cycle)

The Well of Darkness (Gandalara Cycle, Vol. 4)

The Search for Ka (Gandalara Cycle)

Return to Eddarta (Gandalara Cycle, VI)

The River Wall (Gandalara Cycle book 7)

Takeoff!

Takeoff, Too

Lord Darcy, Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, and his assistant, Master Sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn, use their occult powers and deductive skills to solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice, in an omnibus edition containing all of Lord Darcy's adventures, originally published as Too Many Magicians, Murder and Magic, and Lord Darcy Investigates. Original.

Lord Darcy

After two unsuccessful and seemingly random attempts on his life in the space of as many hours, Michael Raphael Gabriel finds himself called on to act as engineering officer on a new type of spacecraft designed for one mission only, to carry a giant computer to a distant destination before it can destroy the Earth. But once underway he discovers there is a murderer on board and the computer has gone crazy in... Unwise Child!

Unwise Child

Murder and Magic

Welcome to a world where the Plantagenet kings survived, the laws of magic were discovered and the physical sciences never pursued. In the resulting Anglo-French Empire, a detective like Lord Darcy needs more than a keen mind and an observant eye. Luckily, Darcy can call on the aid of Master Sean O'Lochlainn, forensic sorcerer. This omnibus contains all of the Lord Darcy stories as well as the only Lord Darcy novel, TOO MANY MAGICIANS, and has a new introduction by Michael Dirda.

Unnecessary Man

Edmond Hamilton

Laurence M. Janifer

Armchair Fiction presents extra-large editions of classic science fiction double novels with original illustrations. The first novel is ¿Planet of Exile¿ by one of sci-fi¿s most heralded authors, Edmond Hamilton. What had become of the Earth Farrow had known? He had emerged from a concrete vault in the side of an open hill, then stumbled his way down in the mud and rain, not knowing who or where he was. Then he remembered¿he was Kenneth Farrow and he had volunteered for Operation Groundhog, a government test study of the effects of a new revolutionary hibernation gas. This new gas¿Hanawalt¿s gas¿was supposed to be the survival solution for the U.S. population in the event of atomic war. Farrow had agreed to go under the gas for six months¿more than enough time to test its effects and potency. But when he awoke it had been far, far more than a mere six months. The Earth he once knew no longer existed. Gone were the proud cities and teeming millions. Now he found only widespread desolation¿and fear. The second novel is ¿Brain Twister¿ and was originally written by "Mark Phillips," a pseudonym for two well-known science fiction writers: Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer. Their joint pen-name, derived from their middle names (Philip and Mark), was coined soon after their original meeting at a sci-fi convention. The plotline of ¿Brain Twister¿ is a fantastic one, having to do with a spy who has the incredible ability to read minds. A shorter version of ¿Brain Twister¿ had been published in John W. Campbell¿s Astounding Science Fiction in late 1959 under the title, ¿That Sweet Little Old Lady.¿ It garnered a Hugo nomination for best novel in 1960.

Planet of Exile and Brain Twister

In nineteen-fourteen, it was enemy aliens.In nineteen-thirty, it was Wobblies.In nineteen-fifty-seven, it was fellow-travelers.And, in nineteen seventy-one, Kenneth J. Malone rolled wearily out of bed wondering what the hell it was going to be now.One thing, he told himself, was absolutely certain: it was going to be terrible. It always was.He managed to stand up, although he was swaying slightly when he walked across the room to the mirror for his usual morning look at himself. He didn't much like staring at his own face, first thing in the morning, but then, he told himself, it was part of the toughening- up process every FBI agent had to go through. You had to learn to stand up and take it when things got rough, he reminded himself. He blinked and looked into the mirror.His image blinked back.He tried a smile. It looked pretty horrible, he thought-but, then, the mirror had a slight ripple in it, and the ripple distorted everything. Malone's face looked as if it had been gently patted with a waffle-iron.And, of course, it was still early morning, and that meant he was having a little difficulty in focusing his eyes.

Brain Twister

Laurence Janifer

Brain Twister is a highly enjoyable novel about spies and telepathy, as only two great writers could have conceived it! Randall Garrett and Laurence Janifer deliver a highly-entertaining science fiction story for the ages!

Murray Leinster

Lester Dent

Jerome Bixby

Eando Binder

Zenith Brown

Hal Charles

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

Dale Clark

This issue has been fun to put together. As a Maryland resident, I’ve always been partial to stories set in my home state, and Golden Age mystery author Zenith Brown is here this time with Murder in Maryland, a classic mystery originally published under her “David Frome” pseudonym. (She also wrote as Leslie Ford.) Add to that more mysteries by Hal Charles (another Solve-It-Yourself mystery challenge), Lester Dent (author of the famous Shadow pulp novels), Murray Leinster (whose name most science fiction readers should recognize), plus a great tale by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera (selected by Barb Goffman), and you have a terrific lineup. Alas, I wasn’t able to get to another Frank Lovell Nelson story, but his telepathic detective will be back next week. In the words of TV hucksters, But wait, there’s more! Remember, we also include great science fiction and fantasy in every issue, and here we have a bunch of classics by Lester del Rey (a rare fantasy from John W. Campbell’s Unknown first published in 1940), a devilish fantasy tale by Jerome Bixby, and a science fiction story by Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett in collaboration. Plus I’m sneaking in one of my own Zelloque fantasies, written when I was reading the Richard Burton translation of The Thousand and One Nights. The influence shows. Our science fiction novel this issue is Get Off My World, by Eando Binder. —John Betancourt, Editor Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries “This Will Slay You,” by Dale Clark [novelet] “Playing by the Rules,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “The Pipeline Juggernaut,” by Lester Dent [short story] “Pink Ears,” by Murray Leinster [short story] “The Right Profile,” by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera [Barb Goffman Presents Mystery] Murder in Maryland, by Zenith Brown [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy “The Pipes of Pan,” by Lester del Rey [fantasy short story] “The Incomplete Theft,” by Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett [science fiction short story] “The Last Guardian of Ru Ishtl,” by John Gregory Betancourt [fantasy short story] “The Battle of the Bells,” by Jerome Bixby [fantasy short story] Get Off My World, by Eando Binder [novel]

Black Cat Weekly #11

When the fireball hit the cruise ship, Richard Carillo was already on his way out - a terminally ill language professor. He regained consciousness as a well man in the desert... only it wasn't a desert on Earth, and he was a man only because he was still male. More surprises awaited him in the exotic city of Raithskar - he was called Markasset, a master swordsman, son of a powerful leader, and a man on the run, accused of murder and the theft of a precious, sacred jewel. With the aid of Keeshah, a great war-cat with which he shared a telepathic link, he set out to clear his newfound name...

The Steel of Raithskar

"[...]and trudged out toward the mess hall to the meager breakfast that awaited him. "Specifically," said Colonel Fennister, "what we want to know is: What are our chances of staying alive until the relief ship comes?" He and most of the other officers were still groggy-eyed, having had too much to do to even get an hour's sleep the night before. Only the phlegmatic Major Grodski looked normal; his eyes were always about half closed. Captains Jones and Bellwether, in charge of A and B Companies respectively, and their lieutenants, Mawkey and Yutang, [...]."

Cum Grano Salis

Dark Fae Hollows

About

Books

Join the club