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The Fourth Murray MEGAPACK® explores the works of Murray Leinster (the pseudonym used by William F. Jenkins for much of his genre work). If you've made it this far in the series, we assume you have already read the intros in previous volumes about Jenkins/Leinster and know how prolific he was, penning more than a thousand short works and dozens of novels over his long career. This volume showcases 3 of his science fiction novellas and 9 of his mainstream stories (all published under his Jenkins byline) — including his very first story, which leads off the volume. Included are:SCIENCE FICTION:DoctorThird PlanetIf You Was a MoklinOTHER WORKS:My NeighborCrazy MarriageEnding With HonorGeorge Is a Noble GuySide BetTrailing TroubleVixenThe General Was an Honest ManWhite Man's BurdenCrazy MarriageThe SkipperIf you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of... Views: 56
THE FAR KINGDOMS: Allan Cole and Chris Bunch - the bestselling authors of the Sten series - now turn their storytelling talents from science fiction to epic fantasy—with a magnificent quest novel. The Far Kingdoms: a place of wonders, riches, magic, and terrors . . . a place where a young trader will seek wealth beyond imagination and find the adventure of a lifetime. Finalist in the World Fantasy competition. "Fantasy of the year." - Locus Magazine. "Breaks new ground." Publishers Weekly. "Classic!" Kirkus Reviews. The novel was a finalist in the World Fantasy Best Novel competition. Views: 56
The nation of Home and their ally Central seems to have bought some safety by moving Mitsubishi 3 from Low Earth Orbit to a halo orbit around L2 beyond the moon. It has added expenses, but it has unexpected advantages too, when Earth has its own problems. A little extra distance works just fine. Like April and her close friends Heather and Jeff, Home is growing, developing its own character, and becoming more independent. Views: 56
This is a special thank you to readers for all the great years. It’s a small story about Nick’s homecoming to New Orleans after his mother’s death and after Katrina.
I knew from the beginning what was going to happen to Nick. I wanted the reader to see the birth of a Dark-Hunter, only to have it with a twist. And even though I knew what was going to happen, I still cried when I wrote the scene.
The story is free and you can download it here
NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology Views: 56
Temporal Contingency is the fourth book in the Big Sigma Series.Trevor "Lex" Alexander's life has been less than blessed. In the past year he's had to battle corrupt corporations, deranged techno-terrorists, and a robotic scourge. Now he's received the opportunity to finally return to the racing career that had been cut short by some poor decisions. One could excuse him for not wanting to be embroiled in another insane adventure when he is so close to returning to his life's calling. Sometimes the call of duty will not be denied.Karter Dee, a certified lunatic responsible for many of Lex's recent woes, has discovered a threat on an unprecedented scale. He and Ma, his AI caretaker, know their plan to solve the problem will take a special mixture of competence, improvisation, and disregard for personal safety. Reluctance aside, Lex is the only man for the job. Even with the skilled pilot on the team, the scope of the problem has grown so massive that it may be unsolvable in its... Views: 56
Thirty years ago The Blob was captured and dispatched to outer space by the United States Armed Forces. Now it’s back as an exploding overwhelming force of evil unleashing unimaginable fear upon the victims. Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, and Donovan Leitch star in this contemporary horror story that propels the cult classic monster into the modern age with state of the art technology and terror. Novelization of the 1988 horror movie. A strange lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows. Views: 56
Anticipating a peaceful and relaxing year in which to write and illustrate a book, college professor Jan Ryerson and his artist wife Alix move to the isolated Cape Despair Lighthouse on a desolate stretch of Oregon coast. But their well-laid plans are twisted awry shortly after their arrival. Jan experiences several terrifying blackouts, but conceals them from his wife, fearing that she will leave him if she knows that he will soon be blind. The villagers, suspicious of the couple from the start, become increasingly hostile and resentful. And when the murdered body of a young woman is discovered, they are quick to blame the stranger in town… FB2Library.Elements.CiteItem FB2Library.Elements.CiteItem FB2Library.Elements.CiteItem 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
