- Home
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
"Eyvind can think of no more glorious future than becoming a Wolfskin, a warrior devoted to the service of the mighty war god Thor. His closest friend, Somerled, a strange and lonely boy, has his own very different ambitions - yet a childhood oath, sworn in blood, binds these two in lifelong loyalty. Meanwhile, far away across the water, on the Light Isles, the king's niece Nessa is beginning to learn the ways of the mysteries - though neither the young priestess nor her people can realize what lies ahead for them." "Eyvind and Somerled seem set to follow very different paths: one becoming a fearless servant of the Warfather, the other a scholarly courtier. Then a voyage of discovery, led by Somerled's brother Ulf, brings the two friends together again in accompanying a group of settlers to some beautiful islands rumoured to lie across the western sea. However, their good spirits are dampened by a tragedy on board, which Eyvind begins to suspect may not have been an accident." Ulf's new settlement begins in harmony with the native islanders, led by King Engus. But one day, on a trip to a holy place of the Folk, a brutal murder occurs and that peace is shattered. It is now that Eyvind begins to feel the restraining ties of his boyhood oath...and to realize what sort of future Somerled had in mind for himself all those years ago. Views: 608
2047: For the small Pacific Coast community of San Onofre, life in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear attack is a matter of survival, a day-to-day struggle to stay alive. But young Hank Fletcher dreams of the world that might have been, and might yet be--and dreams of playing a crucial role in America's rebirth. Views: 608
New enemies plot and old enemies wait. Only a sylph stands in their way.Book Two of the Markan Empire Trilogy.Cleared of all wrongdoing, Marcus Vintner is keen to press his claim to the Markan Throne. But he must first convince the Senate that it is time to replace the sylph-Emperor. Zenepha has proved himself an excellent monarch and the Senate is reluctant to push him aside.Hingast's army still waits in the west, plotting a fresh assault, and a new threat has risen in the east. Nobody in Marka is certain of Re Taura's plans, so Neptarik and Balnus are sent to learn what they can in Taura City, where spies have an unfortunate habit of getting killed. They must learn Re Taura's intentions quickly, because Marka cannot fight a war on two fronts...Markan Empire is the sequel to Markan Throne. Views: 608
Without a doubt, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1914-2002) was one of the most quirky and unusual authors every to work in science fiction. That's saying a lot. His stories are often unusual, challenging, uncategorizable, and brilliant. This collection assembles 18 of them, including his very first story. Views: 608
Nearly two centuries after the starship Phoenix disappeared into the heavens, leaving an isolated colony of humans on the world of the atevi, it unexpectedly returns to orbit overhead, threatening the stability of both atevi and human governments.
With the situation fast becoming critical, Bren Cameron, the brilliant, young paidhi to the court of the atevi is recalled from Mospheira where he has just undergone surgery. But his sudden and premature return to the mainland is cause for more than mere physical discomfort. For during his brief absence, his government has sent in his paidhi-successor, Deana Hanks - representative of a dangerous archconservative faction on Mospheira who hate the atevi. And though she should depart when Bren is once again able to fill his post, no recall order comes.
Cut off from his government and haunted by the continuing threat of assassination, Bren realizes his only hope may be to communicate directly with the Phoenix as the spokesman of the atevi - an action which may cut him off for good from his own species. Yet if he doesn't take this desperate and illegal action, he may be forced to helplessly bear witness to the final destruction of the already precarious balance of world power. Views: 608
Outlaw, immortal vampire, and art thief, Darkyn Lord Robin of Locksley has evaded authorities for the last 700 years. At the moment, he’s falling for undercover federal agent Christina Renshaw, who has no time for an affair. She hopes to snag an elusive art thief, but soon has no choice other than to join forces with Robin. When the chase becomes dangerous, both will have to choose between losing each other and losing everything they value. . . Views: 608
The Legion of Space [wiki] is a space opera science fiction
series by American writer Jack Williamson. The story takes place in an
era when humans have colonized the Solar System but dare not go farther,
as the first extra-solar expedition to Barnard's Star failed and the
survivors came back as babbling, grotesque, diseased madmen. They spoke
of a gigantic planet, populated by ferocious animals and the single city
left of the evil "Medusae". The Medusae bear a vague resemblance to
jellyfish, but are actually elephant-sized, four-eyed, flying beings
with hundreds of tentacles. The Medusae cannot speak, and communicate
with one another via a microwave code.
The Falstaff character is named Giles Habibula. He was once a criminal,
and can open any lock ever made. In his youth he was called Giles the
Ghost. Jay Kalam (Commander of the Legion) and Hal Samdu (an anagram of
"Dumas") are the names of the other two warriors.
The name Habibula seems to imply an Arab or Muslim background (it means
"beloved of Allah" in Arabic). However, since the character displays few
other signs of such a background, and since he bears an English first
name going back to the Norman Conquest, Williamson seems to have rather
implied a mixture of ethnicities and cultures during the centuries of
spaceward expansion.
In this story, these warriors of the 30th century battle the Medusae,
the alien race from the lone planet of Barnard's Star. The Legion itself
is the military and police force of the Solar System after the
overthrow of an empire called the Purple Hall that once ruled all
humans.
In the novel, renegade Purple pretenders ally themselves with the
Medusae as a means to regain their empire. But the Medusae, who are
totally unlike humans in all ways, turn on the Purples, seeking to
destroy all humans and move to the Solar System, as their own world, far
older than Earth, is finally spiraling back into Barnard's Star. (This
rationale for an invasion of Earth - the invaders coming from an older,
dying planet, and having an existential need to find a new home - dates
back to H.G. Wells' classic War of the Worlds.)
One of the Purples, John Ulnar, supports the Legion from the start, and
he is the fourth great warrior. His enemy is the Purple pretender Eric
Ulnar, who sought the Medusae out in the first place, seeking to become
the next Emperor of The Sun.
The Medusae conquered the Moon, set up their bases there, and went on to
attempt conquest of the Solar System. The Medusae had for eons used a
greenish, artificial greenhouse gas to keep their dying world from
freezing. The Medusae learned from the first human expedition to their
world that the gas rots human flesh, and the Medusae use it as a potent
chemical weapon, attempting ecological destruction by means of
projectiles fired from the Moon. Their vast spaceships also have very
effective plasma weapons, very similar to those the Romulans had in a
Star Trek episode called Balance of Terror.
This first Legion tale featured a secret weapon called AKKA. Using a
space/time distortion, it could erase from the Universe any matter, of
any size, anywhere, even a star or a planet. This weapon of mass
destruction was entrusted to a series of women.
AKKA was used in the past to overthrow the Purple tyranny. In this story
the Medusae tried to steal the secret weapon, but failed and their
invasion force was destroyed. When they were wiped out, the Moon, where
they had established their base, was erased out of existence.
At the end of the story, John Ulnar falls in love with the keeper of
AKKA, Aladoree Anthar, and marries her. Aladoree Anthar is described as a
young woman with lustrous brown hair and gray eyes, beautiful as a
goddess.
Williamson then wrote The Cometeers, in which, twenty years after The
Legion of Space, the same characters battle an alien race, this one of
different origin.
In this second tale they fight the Cometeers, which are energy beings
controlling a "comet" which is really a giant force field containing a
swarm of planets populated by their slaves. The slave races are of flesh
and blood, but none are remotely similar to humans. The Cometeers
cannot be destroyed by AKKA, as they are incorporeal from the Universe's
point of view and exist for the most part in an alternate reality. The
ruling Cometeers feed on their slaves and literally absorb their souls,
leaving disgusting, dying hulks in their wake. It is said that they do
so because they were once fleshly entities themselves of various
species. Hence, the ruling Cometeers keep other intelligent beings as
slaves and "cattle." They fear AKKA, though, as it can erase all their
possessions.
They are defeated by the skills of Giles Habibula. Giles broke into a
secret chamber guarded by complex locks and force fields that the
incorporeal Cometeers could not penetrate. In it the ruler of the
Cometeers had kept its own weapon of mass destruction, one that would
cause the Cometeers to disintegrate. The ruling Cometeer kept this
weapon to enforce its rule over the others of its kind. Once the
Cometeers were destroyed, their slaves were ordered by the Legion to
take the comet and leave the Solar System, and never return.
Another novel, One Against the Legion, tells of a Purple pretender who
sets up a robotic base on a world over seventy light years from Earth,
and tries to conquer the Solar System using stolen matter transporter
technology. In this story robots are outlawed, as they are in the Dune
series. The story also features Jay Kalam, lobbying to allow the New
Cometeers to leave the Solar System in peace, as many people were
demanding that AKKA be used to obliterate the departing swarm of planets
once and for all.
In 1982, Williamson published a final Legion novel, The Queen of the
Legion. Giles Habibula reappears in this final novel, which is set after
the disbanding of the Legion.
Views: 608
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
The Parasol Protectorate is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
This bundle includes the whole series: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless. Views: 608
Wandl the Invader is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Ray Cummings is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Ray Cummings then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. Views: 608
Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a man whose job it is to range through past and present Centuries, monitoring and, where necessary, altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. But when Harlan meets and falls for a non-Eternal woman, he seeks to use the awesome powers and techniques of the Eternals to twist time for his own purposes, so that he and his love can survive together. Views: 608
Horror fans, it's time to feast on three FULL novels from Darren Shan! The New York Times bestselling author invites you to devour the first books in each of his best-loved series. Craving something creepy? Explore the Cirque Du Freak, an underworld of grotesque creatures and bizarre beings--truly A Living Nightmare! Want another blood-curdling morsel? Uncover the gruesome untold history of Larten Crepsley, the Cirque's head vampire, and find out what led to the Birth of a Killer. Still have a taste for terror? In the Demonata's dark world, werewolves roam, and Lord Loss, a powerful demon, feeds on the pain and suffering of others. And stick around for dessert, because in a bonus sneak peak of Shan's next series, zombies invade. There's plenty of stomach-turning gore to go around! Views: 608
"She's in the top five of my best writers list. I have a list of King, Grisham, Koontz...you know, those guys. They are the authors who you know will deliver." – The Lit Critic Can Eleri and Donovan outsmart a killer who leaves no evidence behind or even a discernable cause of death? How will they track down someone who is more intelligent than both of them together? Curie, Nebraska was designed as a research haven for the ultra-intelligent. In fact, applicants must pass a rigorous IQ test before they can call the strange town home. Nearly every resident—including several child geniuses—is suspect and no one is safe. Going undercover as the new neighbors leaves the agents struggling to find even the most basic clues. Eleri and Donovan can barely maintain their false identities against their overly-curious and stunningly intelligent new friends, let alone solve a murder. Can they figure it out before the next body... Views: 608
Bloodlist introduces Jack Fleming, an investigative journalist in Prohibition-era Chicago who gotbitten by a vampire.In Lifeblood and Bloodcircle Jack hunted for the men who killed him, and for his long-lost love, Maureen.Now, the original vampire-noir cult classics by P.N. Elrod are together for the first time in one volume-easier for fans to sink their teeth into. Views: 607
