"The Day Before the Revolution" won the Nebula Award for the best science-fiction short story of 1974. Ursula's The Dispossessed won the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award for the best novel of 1974. The Le Guin award-winning spree began with her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which won both the Nebula and Hugo awards and to my mind did more to exploit the potential of the science-fiction novel than anything published to that time; and it continued with her Hugo novella of 1971, "The Word for World Is Forest," her Hugo short story of 1973, "The Ones Who Walk Away ...
Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever.But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now posed to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, fifty years before their realization, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.
In the US published under the title .This novel is perhaps one of the best treatments of the ecological disaster theme, written with both intelligence and a clear understanding of the human condition when faced with life-threatening circumstances. The storyline starts out with the news that a deadly, resilient plant virus known as the Chung-Li virus has virtually wiped all cereal crops, including rice, in China. Due to an initial Chinese government decision to suppress details of the ensuing famine, the full scale of the disaster is not made known until it is quite too late. Vaccine developed ...
The Deep Range is a 1957 Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel concerning a future sub-mariner who helps farm the seas. The story includes the capture of a sea monster similar to a kraken.It is based on a short story of the same name that was published in April 1954, in Argosy magazine. The short story was later featured in Tales from Planet Earth and Frederik Pohl’s Star Science Fiction No.3.A lengthy portion of this novel takes place on an extrapolated Heron Island, Australia.The novel contains references to Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick.Towards the end of the novel, the main character visits the ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura.
The author depicts the plight of John Shaw, a gene-engineered superman, and his alter ego Benjamin. John is the cold genius and Benjamin the engaging “normal” man fighting to survive.
В руках я держу длинный стальной предмет. Этим предметом я собираюсь убить дракона. Более того, могу сказать точно – я его убью. Моя профессия – убивать драконов. Я убил уже двенадцать, и получил за каждого огромные деньги. Вы даже представить себе не сможете, насколько огромные. Я монополист. Я единственный убийца драконов в мире, я могу диктовать любые условия. И их принимают. Потому что те, кто меня нанимает, не имеют другого выхода. Я всегда – последнее средство, козырь в рукаве....
At the centre of the Intersolar Commonwealth universe is a massive black hole. This Void is not a natural artefact. Inside there is a strange universe where the laws of physics are very different to those we know. It is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core — one day it will have devoured the entire galaxy. It's AD 4000, and a human has started to dream of the wonderful existence of the Void. He has a following of millions of believers. They now wish to Pilgrimage to the Void to live the life they have been shown. Other starfaring species fear their migration will cause the Void to expand again. They are prepared to stop the Pilgrimage fleet no matter what the cost. The Pilgrimage begins…
'The world, without rain, is drying up. Rivers are a trickle and we see the shrivelling of the species far from its sources and headed lemming-like for the sea. Time has burst its dams and seeps inside the race-structure with bizarre results A strange and rather wonderful book full of haunting landscapes, phantasmagoria and disaster that clangs on the mind. An impressive novel at any level. Its obscurities and surrealist flourishes only heighten the dreamlike atmosphere.' GuardianThis is the third of Ballard’s informal quartet of books that nod in cursory fashion toward the elements. Like ...
