Oar is the last of her kind — a resident of the so-called "planet of no return," once the Admiralty’s dumping ground for undesirables and those who had become expendable. Oar’s transparent body is indestructible. Yet the mind it houses grows weary and will soon surrender to the catatonic torpor that has already claimed the others of her genetically altered human race. But Oar cannot sleep, not yet. There are powerful forces seeking her destruction for reasons unknown. There are old allies who need her assistance and a true history that must be revealed. There is much Oar must accomplish before the "apathetic hibernation" overcomes her, though time is decidedly her enemy. Together with her friend, Admiral Festina Ramos, she must find her final destiny… and in a vast and volatile universe, destiny is never a sure thing.
«Fire and Dust» – один из немногих, к сожалению, романов, действующих в AD&D вселенной Planescape, и, без сомнения, один из лучших. Если Вы бывали в Сигиле, городе дверей, если Вы даже спросонья не спутаете гизерая с гизъянки, если среди Ваших знакомых найдется парочка бариауров – эта книга для Вас. Если же нет… все равно попробуйте. Может быть, именно с этого романа начнется Ваш путь в Мультивселенную.
Award-winning author James Alan Gardner evokes a sense of wonder that is synonymous with great speculative fiction. Now, in his first short-story collection, he brings together the numerous tales that have made his reputation, ranging from the everyday experience to the cosmic, from peanut butter sandwiches to space drives. There are stories of wonder, imagination, humanity, and the unknown and tales that remind us of the importance of possibility. Some of the stories in this collection have won the Aurora Award and the grand prize in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest and been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, while others are completely new and undiscovered.
Edward York is an illegal clone, genetically engineered for perfection — but something went wrong. His twin sister, Ambassador Samantha York, is a gorgeous genius, but the physically perfect Edward is condemned by his faulty brain to service in the human Navy’s Outward Fleet Explorer Corps, a collection of misfits who call themselves the Expendables, and with good reason. After Edward fails to save his sister’s life on the war-torn planet Troyen, he is sent away on a Navy starship in which all other crew and passengers die in the same instant, leaving Edward alone — and trapped with ...
The protagonist of this Explorer Corps adventure is Ugly Screaming Stink-Girl. The name is supposed to bring her luck, but since she is quickly contaminated by a red fungus known as the Balrog, one has to wonder. Then she, Admiral Festina Ramos, and a slightly mad fellow named Tut are assigned to a rescue mission on the planet Muta. There, an entire expedition from the unit has been turned into gas clouds that give out electromagnetic pulses, and it looks as if this is the result of a deadly defense mechanism left behind by an alien race. It takes ingenuity and suffering to discover the mystery behind the pulses. The sheer complexity of Gardner’s characters and inventions will make the book daunting to a good many, but his ingenuity and wit will keep a good many others reading voraciously.
Life under the thumb of the Spark Lords – the League's Earthly representatives – is dull but comfortable for Philemon Abu Dhubhai and the other teachers at a third-rate private school for second-rate rich kids. But all that changes when a female student is found murdered by an unknown alien organism, and her boyfriend, the prime suspect, goes missing. Suddenly an unofficial homicide investigation has snared Philemon and five other "misfits" – plus one of the planet's most powerful criminals, the mother of the murdered girl – trapping them all in a web of terrifying conspiracy that could involve the Spark Lords… and even the League of Peoples itself. For all is perilously not what it seems, on Earth and in the heavens. But then again, neither are Phil and his compatriots…
Two species lived in peaceful coexistence on the planet Demoth until a deadly plague wiped out millions of the winged Ooloms while leaving humans untouched, helpless to do more than ease the suffering of their alien friends and neighbors. Faye Smallwood saw the horror firsthand, caring for the plague victims in her father’s hospital. She was there when he discovered the cure that made him famous. She was also there when a freak accident killed him.Desperate to escape her past, Faye joins the Vigil, a band of fiercely independent monitors charged with rooting out government corruption. ...
