It's the first day of summer, and preteens Tod and Barney are going to make the most of it. Off they go into the fun-filled woods and marshes, where they find frog eggs, rabbits, tadpoles, and a mysterious Abraham Lincoln-like character with a stovepipe hat and cane. The siren at the mental hospital blasted about the same time the summer adventurers spotted the strange man. Could he be?Tod and Barney are two energetic boys whose antics and excursions will bring many a laugh from the juvenile reader. Both fellows are a little afraid (though they won't admit it) of the mysterious man. How does he suddenly appear from nowhere and then vanish again just as quickly? Views: 56
At the twilight of time, she could refuse no man her body, but her will governed her world. Views: 56
His past and present are mixed. The past is the savage, brother-kill-brother world of the Civil War. It's the storming of Missionary Ridge and a new command, a command comprised entirely of liberated slaves. And there's a prisoner from the notorious Quantrill's Raiders who escapes from Captain Josiah Hedges and later meets him again. Views: 56
Iceworld is a humorously pointed novel of clashing perspectives, which we may designate as hot versus cold. Even for readers who have not seen H. R. van Dongen's fine cover painting for the novel's first installment in Astounding, Hal Clement does not keep us long in suspense that the planet which is unaccessible because of its climate of extreme cold is our own Earth. In contrast, the dismayed observer, the alien Sallman Ken (also on the cover, not to scale!), is truly hot-blooded. Clement genially introduces mitigating circumstances:
Earth, really, is not as bad as all that. Some people are even quite fond of it. Ken, of course, was prejudiced, as anyone is likely to be against a world where water is a liquid — when he has grown up breathing gaseous sulfur and, at rare intervals, drinking molten copper chloride. The mitigating circumstances are mutual, because we have two viewpoint threads alternating here, that of Sallman Ken who is evolved to live comfortably on his quite hot home-planet; Ken is a science teacher, not a scientist or expert but possessing a good general scientific knowledge. The other viewpoint is that of several members of a Terrestrial family who of course are evolved to live comfortably on our quite cold planet. The characters all are engaging, and Iceworld weaves their viewpoints, thoughts, and actions very well. The family on Earth includes young people of various ages, so this is a fine novel for teenagers as well as adults. Sallman Ken has been brought to Earth — or at least as close to it as the Iceworld’s destructive climate will allow — to solve a technical problem for a criminal syndicate of his race. They want a product found on Earth, one which is extremely valuable but so far unsynthesizable. What is it, in its natural state? How to boost their profits by getting or creating more of it? As defined, a general scientific problem, which is why the syndicate has engaged a schoolteacher with an all-around scientific knowledge. This in fact is Clement's own background and profession, so despite Ken's alienness, his character is drawn true to life. The obvious physical barrier and scientific challenge is the scarcely imaginable temperature contrast between the aliens and the world of their interest. A differently tricky difficulty is that the rather unadventurous Ken has been talked into acting as an undercover investigator for his homeworld police. Naturally, the humans on the ground have their own motivations. Views: 56
Paula MacKinnon was a dedicated doctor, whose work and whose patients would always be more important to her than her private life. Jason Scott was a rich man's son, an admitted playboy, whose idea of work, when he bothered to work at all, was to be a racing driver.
A thoroughly ill-matched couple, in fact, and Paula, while not denying the tremendous physical attraction that existed between them, was convinced that marriage would be a disaster. Shouldn't she listen both to her own sense of reason and to her far more suitable colleague, Mark Edgar?
But Jason was prepared to take a chance, and so they married -- only to find the difficulties as great even as Paula had anticipated. Would they ever be able to solve their problem? Views: 56
Product DescriptionOn the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis, American and French intelligence agents are plunged into a maze of Cold War intrigueIn Paris, 1962, French intelligence chief André Devereaux and NATO intelligence chief Michael Nordstrom have uncovered Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms to Cuba. But when Devereaux reports his findings and nobody acts—and he is targeted in an assassination attempt—he soon realizes he’s tangled in a plot far greater than he first understood. The two agents, along with a small band of Cuban exiles and Soviet defectors, chase leads around the globe in a quest to save NATO, themselves, and perhaps the world itself.Topaz is a fast-paced but deeply informed thriller.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Leon Uris including rare photos from the author’s estate. Views: 56
Beorn, an Icelandic boy, runs away from a cruel master and joins a Viking ship which makes swift and deadly raids along the Scottish coast. He learns to fight and kill, to sing their songs and keep their rigid code. Views: 56
Punching Dixon had gotten Jake Spinner thrown in jail, but now that he's out all he wants is a fresh start back on his farm. Suddenly Dixon is dead and Spinner is on the run, escaping town in the getaway car with Dixon's assassin in the back seat! He knows the cops won't believe his innocence. He knows his only chance is to keep the cold, clubfooted little killer known as Loma with him. Because Loma is his ticket to a new life. His respectable life shattered, Spinner figures the only ones who'll take him in now are the guys who hired Loma. The choice is easy - until he meets Ann. Views: 56
A British cabinet minister is gunned down on a London street by an IRA
assassin. In the wake of national outcry, the authorities must find the
hitman. But the trail is long cold, the killer gone to ground in
Belfast, and they must resort to more unorthodox methods to unearth him.
Ill prepared and poorly briefed, undercover agent Harry Brown is sent
into the heart of enemy territory to infiltrate the terrorists. But when
it is a race against the clock, mistakes are made and corners cut. For
Harry Brown, alone in a city of strangers, where an intruder is the
subject of immediate gossip and rumour, one false move is enough to
leave him fatally isolated... Views: 56
I had a new face, a new name, and I had buried the past. Most of it, anyway. In unmarked graves. They had all been double-crossing bastards. Now I needed a new deal-something I could handle alone. Like a nice, quiet town… But somebody had other plans for me. Suddenly it was too late to back out- and too early to die… Views: 56
With The Southpaw, novelist Mark Harris begins the remarkable saga of a gifted baseball pitcher named Henry W. Wiggen, which would unfold in four novels over the course of some 27 years between the publication of The Southpaw (1952) and It Looked Like For Ever (1979). Harris frames The Southpaw in an irresistible way, letting the fictional hero Wiggen "tell" his own story in the vernacular—bad grammar, run-on sentences, the works. In fact, the title page tells the reader that The Southpaw is "by Henry W. Wiggen / Punctuation freely inserted and spelling greatly improved by Mark Harris."Henry Wiggen is a beautiful athlete, but despite his talents and his natural grace, the unpretentious small-town boy reaches manhood by the same arduous route followed by most boys, complicated in his case by that very talent and grace, and the expectations they create in everyone. Wiggen is that rarest of fiction heroes, a certifiable good guy, without... Views: 56
After causing his first wife to be murdered and his mistress exiled, the puny, semi-impotent Louis X becomes besotted with the lovely Clemence, his new Queen. Vacillating between self-pity and vainglory he is caught between the vaulting ambitions of proud, profligate barons...This is the third book of "The Accursed Kings" series of historical novels by Maurice Druon about the decadent, criminal and incompetent monarchs who ruled over early fourteenth century France and brought the country to the utter prostration and weakness which the English invaders exploited in the Hundred Years War. Views: 56
Auric Goldfinger is the richest man in England—though his wealth can’t be found in banks. He’s been hoarding vast stockpiles of his namesake metal, and it’s attracted the suspicion of 007’s superiors at MI6. Sent to investigate, Bond uncovers an ingenious gold-smuggling scheme, as well as Goldfinger’s most daring caper yet: Operation Grand Slam, a gold heist so audacious it could bring down the world economy and put the fate of the West in the hands of SMERSH. To stop Goldfinger, Bond will have to survive a showdown with the sinister millionaire’s henchman, Oddjob, a tenacious karate master who can kill with one well-aimed toss of his razor-rimmed bowler hat.About the AuthorIan Fleming was born in London on May 28, 1908. He was educated at Eton College and later spent a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters News Agency where a Moscow posting gave him firsthand experience with what would become his literary bete noire—the Soviet Union. During World War II he served as Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence and played a key role in Allied espionage operations. After the war he worked as foreign manager of the Sunday Times, a job that allowed him to spend two months each year in Jamaica. Here, in 1952, at his home “Goldeneye,” he wrote a book called Casino Royale—and James Bond was born. The first print run sold out within a month. For the next twelve years Fleming produced a novel a year featuring Special Agent 007, the most famous spy of the century. His travels, interests, and wartime experience lent authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler described him as “the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England.” Sales soared when President Kennedy named the fifth title, From Russia With Love, one of his favorite books. The Bond novels have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide, boosted by the hugely successful film franchise that began in 1962 with the release of Dr. No. He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only son Caspar, went on to become the well- loved novel and film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Fleming died of heart failure on August 12, 1964, at the age of fifty-six. Views: 56
HG Wells virtually defined modern science fiction with the two tales featured in this double volume, a welcome addition to the SF Masterworks series. The Time Machine is the classic tale of a time traveller's journey to the world of 802,701 AD where humanity is divided between the bad and the beautiful, a simplistic vision at first glance but a prophetic take on a future that may not be so far removed from a reality yet to take hold, simply lurking in the shadows and waiting for the human race to bring it about by its own hand.Product DescriptionOn October 30, 1938, Orson Welles terrified American radio listeners by describing a Martian invasion of Earth in a broadcast that became legendary. Forty years earlier, H. G. Wells had first penned the story: The War of the Worlds, a science-fiction classic that endures in our collective subconscious.Deeply concerned with the welfare of contemporary society, Wells wrote his novel of interplanetary conflict in anticipation of war in Europe, and in it he predicted the technological savagery of twentieth century warfare. Playing expertly on worldwide security fears, The War of the Worlds grips readers with its conviction that invasion can happen anytime, anywhere—even in our own backyard. Introduction to War of the WorldsThe Martians also reflect Wells himself. Just as the bicycle liberated Wells from the limitations of a weak body, the machines used by the Martians, who are weighed down because the pull of gravity is stronger on Earth than it is on Mars, enable them to move swiftly and attack without warning. The machine is an extension of a body, a kind of prosthetic device that supplies an ability the body lacks. The Martian sitting on top of a huge, three-legged fighting machine striding across Surrey toward London resembles nothing so much as Wells piloting his bicycle around the countryside. And the Martians, like Wells, tend to work alone. That is, while they are involved in a collective activity—the invasion and conquest of England, which is, by extension, the world—they work alone in their fighting machines or their aluminum manufacturing devices. Except for their time in the space capsule, they are rarely together. Wells's first problem was to decide how to tell such a tale. He could use an external, omniscient narrator, but that would cut down on the immediacy of the action and make it seem much more like history. A single first-person narrator would be possible, but that person would have to travel long distances at almost superhuman speed in order to see everything involved in the Martian invasion. Wells opts for a device Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) uses in Treasure Island (1883), having a first-person narrative become two first-person narratives by introducing a second character who tells us about what happened elsewhere. This is, admittedly, an awkward device because the two characters—brothers in The War of the Worlds—are not in communication with each other. Their separate stories become a single story because the primary narrator takes control of his brother's tale, treating him in the same way an omniscient narrator would treat a character. The primary narrator, then, is both witness and author, a modification of the narrator of The Time Machine, who transcribes the story of the Time Traveller. The personality of this narrator is a vexing matter, and it is here Wells departs from traditional novelistic practice. Wells clearly had many options in this situation: He could make his nondescript, suburban science writer into a hero by having him either subdue the Martians or lay the foundations for an organized defense. That solution does not suit Wells's hidden intention, which is to warn those people capable of understanding that their world is rotten and will fall at the first blow from an outside force. Wells does what in both human and novelistic terms makes the most sense: He makes his narrator a man of science, but a conventional thinker and not a man in the line of the Time Traveller. He is not a leader, not a warrior, but a man imbued with curiosity. He wants to understand the Martians, wants to observe their machines, and wants to survive to tell the tale. His psychological depth is slight: He loves his wife, detests the mad clergyman who almost manages to deliver him to the Martians, feels guilt about being responsible for the man's death, and has a nervous breakdown after learning that the Martians all die because of Earth's bacteria. The second central figure, the narrator's brother, is no more developed than the narrator. He is a "medical student, working for an imminent examination", but that is all we know of him. When, in the final chapter of book one, Wells feels he no longer needs the brother, he simply has him board a ship, witness a navy vessel ram two Martian fighting machines, and sail to Europe. We then return to the adventures of our primary narrator. This sacrifice of character depth to action explains the success of The War of the Worlds. If Wells had transformed his narrator into a preachy precursor of his New Republicans, the reader would probably begin to cheer for the Martians. Instead, he uses both brothers as innocent points of view, reporters telling us what they saw. That they have emotions is merely incidental to their role as informants. Wells relegates his ideas to the minor characters, carefully linking them to human imperfections so that the novel does not degenerate into sermon or essay. Probably the most interesting example of this is the artilleryman. In book one, chapter 11, the narrator, hiding inside his Woking house, sees a man trying to escape the Martians. He invites the man in and learns he is a soldier, "a driver in the artillery" whose unit has been wiped out by the Martians. The two separate in chapter 12, and we think we've seen the last of the artilleryman until suddenly in book two, chapter 7, he reappears, and now it is he who extends hospitality to the narrator. Views: 56
