What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), and pizza have in common? Apparently, not much: until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator, sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza — not to mention saving the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge). To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it and then read it) — or contact Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Views: 17
About the AuthorIn addition to his works of science-fiction and fantasy, John Maddox Roberts is also the author of the SPQR books, a series of mystery novels set in ancient Rome. He lives with his family in New Mexico. The story of Hannibal’s Children will continue in Roberts’s next novel, The Seven Hills. Views: 16
This story, which is about bondage and freedom and a dying race on a dying world, is the first of several we have from one of the most interesting new writers we have seen in some time. Mr. Aldridge lives in Florida and writes that he has been a potter and stained glass designer for 15 years. «My wife Nancy is a psychologist, the ideal companion for an sf writer. I'm part Cherokee, and I grow wonderful tomatoes.»
«The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction», April 1988 Views: 16
The mighty Connla is weary from the tiresome and bloody battle fought in the name of his father, Conn, and his land, Erin. Willingly, he lets himself become intoxicated by the surreal beauty of a fairy-woman who offers to take him to a faraway, forbidden land where all his desires will be fulfilled. He welcomes the opportunity to be away from the gruesome war that has consumed his life for so long, but what price will the warrior pay to be in a land void of death, loss and pain? Does the pleasure of the company of the stunning stranger outweigh the price he must pay to remain in THE ISLES OF THE BLEST Views: 16
THE ZONE 7 • KILLING GROUND Major Revell has kept his men together in the face of relentless Soviet attacks. They discover a huge unguarded dump of NATO stores. Employing the supplies, they set about turning the surrounding countryside into a huge killing ground, causing enormous casualties and hoping they can hold out until relieved. SYNOPSIS The Warsaw Pact has been keeping up relentless pressure and the NATO forces, low on ammunition and every manner of stores is in retreat. Time after time Major Revells’ men take casualties but still he keeps the survivors together, inflicting what damage on the enemy he can. By chance they come across a huge NATO supply base, abandoned and left virtually unguarded. Already the skeleton staff have used surplus and condemned ammunition to turn the surrounding countryside into a massive killing ground, Now the Special Combat Force throw themselves into the defence of the vast resources, hoping they can hold out against over whelming enemy strength until help comes. PUBLISHED First NEL Paperback Edition October 1988 First IMPRINT Publication E-Book Edition May 2005 First Revision IMPRINT Publications E-Book Edition April 2007 Mankind's last war continues in the contaminated strip of European hell known as "The Zone". But an American major and a British sergeant are sick of retreating. In a huge, abandoned ammunition dump, they prepare their forces to hit the ruthless Russian aggressors--and hit hard! Views: 15
Presenting the stories of Zeus and Europa, Theseus and Ariadne, the birth of Athens and the fall of Troy, in all their variants, Calasso also uncovers the distant origins of secrets and tragedy, virginity, and rape. "A perfect work like no other. (Calasso) has re-created . . . the morning of our world."--Gore Vidal. 15 engravings.From Publishers WeeklyThat Greco-Roman mythology should shape a contemporary novel is hardly unusual, but the way this breath-takingly ambitious work shapes--and reshapes--classical mythology is remarkable indeed. Calasso, publisher of the intellectual Milanese house Adelphi, revisits the theogonies set forth by Hesiod, Homer, Ovid et al. and then recasts them for a postmodern audience. Gods and men enact the cosmic mysteries as the narrator comments aphoristically on the progress of ancient and divine history ("With time, men and gods would develop a common language made up of hierogamy and sacrifice . . . . And, when it became a dead language, people started talking about mythology"). Calasso presents the abduction of Europa by a bull, analyzes the Trojan war, discusses the meaning of the word "tragedy" and charts the fall of classical Athens. Into this elegant chronology he also interpolates quotations from and allusions to a pantheon of classical writers, in the same weightless manner in which those writers made use of standard formulaic tropes; he extends his territory by planting modern points of reference ("Jason would have preferred to live a bourgeois life at home, just as Nietzsche would have preferred to be a professor in Basel, rather than God"). Readers who don't know their Theseus from their Thyestes shouldn't be discouraged--Calasso's work bridges the perceived distance from the origins of Western culture. Illustrations not seen by PW. BOMC alternate. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalA reconsideration and recombination of Greek mythology, this scholarly tome--which is being billed as both fiction and mythology by the publisher--reaches back extensively through the works of Plutarch, Ovid, Homer, and Plato, to name only a few of the classical writers referenced here. This interweaving of gods and goddesses and of their actions moves back and forth in time, with many comments from Calasso about both the action and its interpretation by scholars. The storytelling style is interesting, but novices of Greek mythology will soon find themselves awash in names and places and activities that are exceedingly difficult to keep straight. An extensive "family tree" of characters, an index, and even chapter titles, none of which are included, would have served as useful guideposts. Students of Greek mythology will be intrigued. Primarily for academic collections.- Olivia Opello, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 15
Castle Perilous is a magic castle full of mystery and adventure, but sometimes even magic castles can go awry. This particular castle has the power to send its guests to 144,000 alternate worlds, each a fantastic voyage to the unknown. But each voyage seems to backfire. Computer whiz kid Jeremy is stuck on a planet of golf-playing dinosaurs. Gentrified Gene finds himself a on a planet overrun with amazon women where the queen has taken a particular shine to him and only Lord of the Castle Incarnadine can stop this witty madness from shaking Castle Kidnapped to its foundations. Views: 15
Originally conceived of by its Argentinian editors in 1937, and now published in English for the first time, this unusual and provocative volume is an omnibus collection. In addition to stories by Ballard, Poe, Saki, Max Beerbohm, Ray Bradbury, May Sinclair, de Maupassant and Julio Cortazar, there are shorter pieces, anecdotes, folkloric fragments, dreamlike moments. Most of the 79 selections are only a paragraph or two long, giving us brief passage into magical visions of the world culled from the work of an international array of authors of the past three centuries, including less well-known authors such as Santiago Dabove, Edwin Morgan and Niu Chiao. The keynote tale may well be Borges's own "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" in which an imaginary world, conjured up by manufactured documentation, ends up eroding our reality: reality is malleable, and imagination necessarily subverts and alters it. Views: 15
When two corpses appear amid stolen goods and bones at an ancient burial site, Leaphorn and Chee must plunge into the past to unearth the truth.A noted anthropologist vanishes at a moonlit Indian ruin where "thieves of time" ravage sacred ground for profit. When two corpses appear amid stolen goods and bones at an ancient burial site, Navajo Tribal Policemen Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee must plunge into the past to unearth the astonishing truth behind a mystifying series of horrific murders. Views: 15
SUMMARY: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.. Views: 15
16-year old boy finds an alien crash-landed on a farm and ends up being recruited to join the Federation of Sapients - and adventuring out among the stars.First book of a trilogy, although ends in a way that does not require continuation to the other books. Sequels are "Being Human" and "Human to Human". Finalist for the 1989 Philip K. Dick Award. Nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. Nominated for the 1988 Locus Awards. Views: 14
It is the touching story of one starwolf. A genetically engineered race designed to help the republic survive. They have been fighting for over 50000 years and have never acheived anything but a stalemate. But the time has come. The union (The starwolves long time enemies) Have realized that humanity is on the decline and that they must make their last stand. They are fighting for the survival of their species. Which race will have what it takes to survive" and "Space opera like no other. This, along with the series to follow, was written in such a distinctive style that my friends and I sometimes refer to clever science fiction as "starwolfish." It begins fifty thousand years into a hopelessly stalemated conflict. The hero is a Starwolf, a nearly-human genetically engineered warrior. These fighters were designed millennia ago to defend Earth and nearby worlds from the oppressive Union, a corrupt collection of trade monopolies. Armed with their wits and a terribly outnumbered fleet of intelligent war, the Starwolves must keep the outer worlds of human civilization from the Union's grip. They are so bound by this cause that they cannot create their own culture, art, and civilization. The hero wants to change that, and give his people a future worth all the bloodshed. Remarkably, his counterparts in the Union are not your classic 'pure evil' cliched space opera villains. They are trying to save the beleaguered human race by giving it a common enemy, uniting to destroy the Starwolves. It is a titanic struggle, and the story is told with wit and humanity. A nice break from all the 'good guy versus bad guy' space opera stories. Views: 14
