The odds were right for victory. The problem with computer warfare is that the computer is always logical while the human enemy is not—or doesn’t have to be. And that’s what the Betastani enemy were doing—nothing that the Alphaland computers said they would. Those treacherous foemen were avoiding logic and using such unheard-of devices as surprise and sabotage, treason and trickery. They even had Alphaland’s Deputy of Information believing Betastani propaganda without even realizing it. Of course he still thought he was being loyal to Alphaland, because he thought that one and one must logically add up to two. And that kind of thinking could make him the biggest traitor of them all. Views: 69
Seeking vengeance against his usurping brother, Eric, Corwin, the rightful heir to the throne, ventures into the dark world of Shadow in order to gather ammunition, and is distracted by a beautiful and mysterious woman. Views: 69
Victoria Woodhull is an historical figure too often ignored and undervalued by historians. Although she never achieved political power, her actions and her presence on the political scene helped begin to change the way Americans thought about the right to vote, particularly women's suffrage and she set the stage for political emancipations to come throughout the 20th Century.Woodhull was a product of and a revolutionary within the socially conservative Victorian era which predominated in the United States as much as it did in England. She was an anomaly within her era, an unlikely and unconventional woman. She came from a background of poverty and her careers prior to entering politics included fortune-telling, acting, being a stock broker, journalism and lecturing on women's rights. She ran for President of the United States in 1872. At that time, she had twice been divorced and she outraged even the feminists of her day by refusing to confine her campaign to the issue of... Views: 69
Homer defends a crazed poet accused of using an eclipse as cover for murderFor all her life, poet Kitty Clark has waited to see a total eclipse of the sun. News of an impending eclipse thrills her until she learns it will be visible only from Nantucket, where one year ago her ex-lover Joe Green moved with his new wife. Unable to resist the astronomical lure, she flies in from Boston, and makes her way to an isolated lighthouse, hoping to avoid seeing Joe. The eclipse itself is overwhelming; Kitty screams when the sun vanishes behind the dark blot of the moon. When the sun returns a few minutes later, Kitty stands over the bloodied body of Mrs. Joe Green, claiming “the moon did it.” Transcendentalist scholar and former detective Homer Kelly agrees to defend the troubled young poet, but the more Kitty insists she is innocent, the crazier she appears. To clear her name he must discover who set her up, and what happened during the two minutes when the Nantucket sun disappeared. Views: 69
In 1855 a philanthropic young person, Miss Charlotte Smith, was escorting forty orphans to San Francisco when the ship was wrecked, and the survivors-Miss Smith, the orphans, a doctor, and some others, landed on a desert island. Those sailors who had escaped deserted them the next day in the boats. There they remained unvisited for some seventy years, with little to disturb the monotony beyond the adventures of the Doctor, who was secured in turn by Miss Smith and a shark. All this is contained in chapter one. The second chapter opens in 1922 at Cambridge, where lived the descendants of one of the sailors who deserted-a professor and his three children. A document and chart coming into the professor's hands, left by his dead grandfather, telling the story of the marooning of Miss Smith and the orphans, the professor and his family voyage out to the island and find there a thriving community, and Orphan Island is chiefly concerned with the community and the relations of it to... Views: 69
First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , May 1958 Published in Store of Infinity collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley in 1960 by Bantam Books. Views: 69
Selma Andersson is Scottish (with Swedish heritage - exotic!) and comes to stay at the Abbey. There are high jinks and the usual excitements with dancing, music, jewels and announcements of babies confusing named for numerous existing characters. This will be a particular joy for fans of the Chalet School who enjoy long conversations about whether someone is or is not old enough to be officially engaged. Views: 69
Science Fiction Anthology created by Poul Anderson. Four short stories describe life on Cleopatra, an exotic world being colonized by humans. But, Cleopatra is already populated... with creatures in the equivalent of the Earth's Mesozoic era, the age of Dinosaurs! Includes an introduction by Poul Anderson and: 1. The Serpent in Eden by Poul Anderson; 2. Faber-Master by Michael Orgill; 3. Among the Mountains by Jack Dann; and 4. Wayside World by George Zebrowski. Also includes About the Authors.** Views: 69
Only a deathbed promise to her dying father could force Christina Tretton to travel to Tretteign Grange, the 'Dark House', and meet her estranged family for the first time. Having to fast-talk her way out of an encounter with smugglers on the way is only the beginning. Waiting for her is flighty aunt Verity, her two very different cousins – the stoic Ross and fawning Richard – and her formidable grandfather, who changes his Will every few days.Taking the neglectful servants in hand, Christina is soon managing the house, proving herself invaluable in her grandfather's eyes. This backfires when he decides he wants her as his heir, and only on the condition that she marries Ross or Richard. Outraged, she swears she will marry neither, but her cousins have different ideas. Should she marry the cousin she is drawn to, even if he appears to have no true feelings for her? Hanging over them is the constant threat of invasion, as Dark House looks over the sea to France,... Views: 69
Hekla – an ice-age planet in Cold Front (short story, Astounding July 1946). Views: 69
The crew of a spaceship encounters an alien ship in deep space. Speculation ensues about whether the other crew might be hostile. Comparisons are made to American SF writer Murray Leinster’s story, “First Contact“, in which an elaborate protocol is developed to prevent the aliens from following the Terrans home and destroying them, or vice versa. The premise of Leinster’s story is debunked, in part by pointing out that in order for a planet’s civilization to become space-faring, they would need to be at peace among themselves and presumably have organized themselves into a planet-wide classless society, a point Yefremov had made earlier in his novel Andromeda. Thus the aliens must necessarily be peaceful. Views: 69
This should be easy. We have heaps of ships. Hang on, why's a big round astronomical object have a massive cube fleet of its own? Views: 69
A maritime adventure originally published in 1951. Set in the Second
World War, two ships and their crews of about a hundred and fifty men
are involved in defending Atlantic convoys against impossible odds. Views: 69
A shorter version of this novel was published in If magazine in Jul and Sep 1969 issues under the title “The Towns Must Roll”. Views: 69
