FROM THE INCREDIBLE WORLDS OF CONNIE WILLISIn “Service for the Burial of the Dead,” a young woman mourning her lover comes upon a surprising funeral guest.Biblical prophecies turn out to have unexpected meanings as the End Times approach in “Lost and Found.”The dangers of ordering merchandise from the back pages of pulp magazines become apparent in “Mail-Order Clone.”In “Blued Moon,” a young man uncovers a scientific property of coincidence—and falls in love.As a tourist attraction, a total eclipse draws an even wider audience than (almost) anyone realizes ...
In 2007, the Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN) outlined the hardware and software platform that would one day allow robots smaller than human cells to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate.In the same year, the CBS network re-aired a program about the effects of propranolol on sufferers of extreme trauma. A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event.At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened.“These books by Hugh Howey absolutely define page-turner! ‘First Shift’ is part 6 in the Silo Series, a prequel to Wool 1-5.”M. Vernau
The Firstborn — the mysterious race of aliens who first became known to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey — have inhabited legendary master of science fiction Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s writing for decades. With Time’s Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in their acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and his brilliant co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic.Their first act was the Discontinuity, in which Earth was carved ...
is a 1973 novella by science fiction author Larry Niven, one of a series about the social consequence of inventing an instantaneous, practically free transfer booth that could take one anywhere on Earth in milliseconds.One consequence not foreseen by the builders of the system was that with the almost instantaneous reporting of newsworthy events, tens of thousands of people worldwide — along with criminals — would flock to the scene of anything interesting, hoping to experience or exploit the instant disorder and confusion so created.In various other books, for example , Niven suggests that easy transportation might be disruptive ...
A team of physicists trying to prove the existence of a theoretical particle inadvertently shifts the consciousness of humankind forward 20 years. Only two minutes are "lost," but memories of the future inspire new cults, seemingly illogical stock market speculations, and a host of new patents. Rivalry between two of the male physicists for one woman heats up, since the flash-forward has shown her to be married to the "wrong" man. One of the rivals, Lloyd Simcoe, foresees his own murder, though not his murderer. Even though the event is 21 years away, Lloyd is panic-stricken and searches worldwide for clues in the visions of others. In the end, these brief glimpses of the future prove addictive, and a new team repeats the experiment in a more controlled fashion, which treats the reader to visions of an apocalyptic, almost Wellsian future. There is also Simcoe's sad avoidance of his own death, which he accomplishes by becoming painstakingly cautious.
With wry humor and penetrating satire, Flatland takes us on a mind-expanding journey into a different world to give us a new vision of our own. A. Square, the slightly befuddled narrator, is born into a place which is limited to two dimensions—irrevocably flat—and peopled by a hierarchy of geometrical forms. In a Gulliver-like tour of his bizarre homeland, A. Square spins a fascinating tale of domestic drama and political turmoil, from sex among consenting triangles to the intentional subjugation of Flatland's females. He tells of visits to Lineland, the world of one dimension, and Pointland, the ...
The Styths, a powerful and aggressive mutant race from the Gas Planets, Uranus and Saturn, have been launching pirate raids on ships from Mars. Earth’s Committee for the Revolution has been asked to mediate, to negotiate a truce between the Middle Planets and the Styth Empire. The task of conducting the talks falls to an intelligent, resourceful and unpredictable young woman, Paula Mendoza. Her initial meetings with the Styth warlord and his unruly band of bodyguards and advisers are not promising. But then Paula adopts a less conventional approach. The consequences for her are considerable and she finds herself on the Gas Planets, the only tenuous link between Earth and the Styth Empire…
On October 11 the television star Jason Taverner is so famous that 30 million viewers eagerly watch his prime-time show. On October 12 Jason Taverner is not a has-been but a never-was—a man who has lost not only his audience but all proof of his existence. And in the claustrophobic betrayal state of “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said”, loss of proof is synonyms with loss of life.Taverner races to solve the riddle of his disappearance, immerses us in a horribly plausible Philip K. Dick United States in which everyone—from a waiflike forger of identity cards to a surgically altered pleasure—informs on everyone else, a world in which omniscient police have something to hide. His bleakly beautiful novel bores into the deepest bedrock self and plants a stick of dynamite at its center.
Kriminalsekret?r Joseph Quellen, Angestellter Klasse VII, besitzt eindeutige Beweise f?r die Existenz der Zeitspringer: Die alten Polizeiakten des Jahres 1979. Sie berichten vom Auftauchen seltsam gekleideter Frauen und M?nner, die nach scharfen Verh?ren gestehen, aus dem 25. Jahrhundert gefl?chtet zu sein, um dem hoffnungslosen Leben unter dem Regime der Maschinen zu entgehen. Kriminalsekret?r Quellen befindet sich in einer Zwangslage. Er soll die illegale Organisation der Zeitreisenden zerschlagen — darf aber durch sein Eingreifen kein Zeitparadoxon verursachen, das das Regime in seinen Grundfesten ersch?ttern w?rde.
Rok 2142. Dr Vannevar Morgan, tw?rca Mostu Gibraltarskiego, uruchamia plany budowy wyci?gu kosmicznego — gigantycznej windy do transportu ludzi i ?adunk?w z powierzchni Ziemi na orbit?. Przedsi?wzi?cie ma by? zrealizowane na po?o?onej na Oceanie Indyjskim wyspie Taprobane. Jednak wybrana przez budowniczych g?ra okazuje si? ?wi?tym miejscem, zazdro?nie strze?onym przez tamtejszych kap?an?w…
The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to our solar system from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft. The aliens are intent on taking over the Earth.Physically, the Fithp resemble man-sized, quadrupedal elephants with multiple trunks. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but have developed none of it themselves. In the distant past on their planet, another species was dominant, with the Fithp existing as animals, perhaps even as pets. This predecessor species badly damaged the environment, rendering themselves and many other species extinct, but left ...
Hugo and Nebula award winner Anderson incorporates two stories he wrote for the series into this absorbing posthumous novel, a fast-paced space opera that never lets the reader forget that aliens are alien. At a time when nearly immortal humans have colonized the galaxy, various space-faring species commingle freely and the residents of Earth have become as alien to other humans as true ETs, an astronomical event that may affect all existence is about to take place. Unfortunately, only one set of aliens knows what that event is and their ruling dictatorship is hell-bent on keeping it that way. ...
