Научная фантастика
Различные книги в жанре Научная фантастикаUniversi Mondi
La silloge raccoglie racconti di varia lunghezza stesi in anni diversi, dal 1991 al 2017. Il lettore incontra stringhe cosmiche, universi paralleli, passaggi nel tempo e alternauti, esperimenti scientifici antiumani, schiave cyborg e altro ancora, in un futuro non lontano, anzi che almeno in germe è già qui, con miserie sociali come l'indigenza di pensionati, l'uso economico della persona da parte di oligopoli, grazie soprattutto alla tecnologia, l'abuso dell'essere umano nel corso d'una ricerca scientifica non umanistica e fine a sé stessa o agl'interessi di gruppi. La silloge raccoglie racconti di varia lunghezza stesi in anni diversi, dal 1991 al 2017. Il lettore incontra stringhe cosmiche, universi paralleli, passaggi nel tempo e alternauti, esperimenti scientifici antiumani, schiave cyborg e altro ancora, in un futuro non lontano, anzi che almeno in germe è già qui, con miserie sociali come l'indigenza di pensionati, l'uso economico della persona da parte di oligopoli, grazie soprattutto alla tecnologia, l'abuso dell'essere umano nel corso d'una ricerca scientifica non umanistica e fine a sé stessa o agl'interessi di gruppi. Nel primo racconto, LA BUONA E LA CATTIVA SCIENZA, il professor avvocato Osvaldo M., giureconsulto docente di Diritto Internazionale Pubblico, s’è rassegnato a dimettersi dall’università, cancellarsi dall’albo e concludere la vita ospite d'una clinica residenziale per afflitti da una delle malattie neuro degenerative Parkinson, Alzheimer o Pick: quest'ultimo è il male che l'ha colpito, non ancora sessantenne; ma ecco che gli si prospetta, forse, la guarigione, da parte di qualcuno che mai egli avrebbe sospettato esistere. Un angelo? Un diavolo? No, tutt'altri. In I DUE UNIVERSI MONDI DI F. il protagonista F. incontra un diavolo che lo truffa e, tuttavia, gli concede la conquista del mondo; e tuttavia… TEMPO GALANTUOMO parla d'un appassionato di parapendio ex paracadutista militare che è in coma in ospedale, da molti decenni, per una disgrazia in montagna; è ormai vecchio, eppure sua moglie è rimasta giovane come la mattina dell'incidente. Incidente? In DOLCE MORTE un vecchio pensionato quasi povero è obbligato a partecipare a un esperimento sociale assai dubbio, di notte, per strada, in una città resa semibuia, nel rischio di perdere la sua pensione in multe pesantissime dovute a sue mancanze del tutto insignificanti, secondo regole assurde; sulla via non riceve aiuto da nessuno, nemmeno da un vecchio amico suo coetaneo che incontra, nel semibuio, amico che ha l'apparenza d'un pimpante quarantenne. In L'OTTIMA SANITÀ PUBBLICA entra in gioco un'ipotetica, prossima sanità pubblica perfettamente funzionante ”Tutti i problemi sono stati risolti!” afferma pomposo il ministro della salute, rivolgendosi ai cittadini dalla TV pubblica; già ma… come si è giunti al luminoso risultato? Nel racconto PIÙ NESSUNO CREDEVA ALLA TRIADE CAPITOLINA, un uomo di cui non sappiamo nulla si sveglia in un gran cottage da cui non è possibile uscire; egli è completamente solo, la casa è circondata da belve che tentano d'entrare… Chi l'ha fatto finire là dentro? Perché? Diciamo solo: nessun rapporto con noti film giallo-horror di rapimento e detenzione. La storia breve DONNA, ANZI CYBORG ha come protagonista la moglie artificiale, d'intelligenza geniale, d'un vecchio sporcaccione maschilista quasi sciocco. Nel racconto altrettanto breve QUESTIONE DI PROSPETTIVA, leggiamo d'una esploratrice e guerriera d'un mondo a noi lontano che accorre in aiuto della propria gente aggredita da nemici, giunge in piena battaglia e fa per buttarsi nella pugna; ed ecco apparire, incombenti sulle due stirpi in lotta, due esseri colossali…
Unexpected Rain
In a domed city on a planet orbiting Barnard's Star, a recently hired maintenance man named Kane has just committed murder.Minutes later, the airlocks on the neighbourhood block are opened and the murderer is asphyxiated along with thirty-one innocent residents.Jax, the lowly dome operator on duty at the time, is accused of mass homicide and faced with a mound of impossible evidence against him.His only ally is Runstom, the rogue police officer charged with transporting him to a secure off-world facility. The pair must risk everything to prove Jax didn’t commit the atrocity and uncover the truth before they both wind up dead.
Remnants of Trust
In this follow-up to the acclaimed military science fiction thriller The Cold Between, a young soldier finds herself caught in the crosshairs of a deadly conspiracy in deep space.In this follow-up to the acclaimed military science fiction thriller The Cold Between, a young soldier finds herself caught in the crosshairs of a deadly conspiracy in deep space.Six weeks ago, Commander Elena Shaw and Captain Greg Foster were court-martialed for their role in an event Central Gov denies ever happened. Yet instead of a dishonorable discharge or time in a military prison, Shaw and Foster and are now back together on Galileo. As punishment, they’ve been assigned to patrol the nearly empty space of the Third Sector.But their mundane mission quickly turns treacherous when the Galileo picks up a distress call: Exeter, a sister ship, is under attack from raiders. A PSI generation ship—the same one that recently broke off negotiations with Foster—is also in the sector and joins in the desperate battle that leaves ninety-seven of Exeter’s crew dead.An investigation of the disaster points to sabotage. And Exeter is only the beginning. When the PSI ship and Galileo suffer their own «accidents,» it becomes clear that someone is willing to set off a war in the Third Sector to keep their secrets, and the clues point to the highest echelons of power . . . and deep into Shaw’s past.
Breach of Containment
A reluctant hero must prevent war in space and on Earth in this fast-paced military science fiction thriller from the author of The Cold Between and Remnants of Trust.Space is full of the unknown . . . most of it ready to kill you.When hostilities between factions threaten to explode into a shooting war on the moon of Yakutsk, the two major galactic military powers, Central Corps and PSI, send ships to defuse the situation. But when a strange artifact is discovered, events are set in motion that threaten the entire colonized galaxy—including former Central Corps Commander Elena Shaw.Now an engineer on a commercial shipping vessel, Elena finds herself drawn into the conflict when she picks up the artifact on Yakutsk—and investigation of it uncovers ties to the massive, corrupt corporation Ellis Systems, whom she’s opposed before. Her safety is further compromised by her former ties to Central Corps—Elena can’t separate herself from her past life and her old ship, the CCSS Galileo.Before Elena can pursue the artifact’s purpose further, disaster strikes: all communication with the First Sector—including Earth—is lost. The reason becomes apparent when news reaches Elena of a battle fleet, intent on destruction, rapidly approaching Earth. And with communications at sublight levels, there is no way to warn the planet in time.Armed with crucial intel from a shadowy source and the strange artifact, Elena may be the only one who can stop the fleet, and Ellis, and save Earth. But for this mission there will be no second chances—and no return.
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire
From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the fifth and final instalment in the visionary novel cycle ‘Canopus in Argos: Archives’.‘The Sentimental Agents …’ is set in the declining Volyen Empire as the empires of Sirius and Shammat compete to overwhelm it with rhetoric and false sentiment. The Canopean Empire deploys covert agents to help the Volyens resist. But one of these agents, Incent, succumbs to ‘Undulant Rhetoric’, and Agent Klorathy must go to Volyen to help him see through the empty words that have beguiled him.Once more employing alien races to identify human failings, Lessing uses social and political satire to show how we misuse speech (and speeches) and delude ourselves with self-aggrandizing notions about the primacy of emotion. Her renowned insight into human behaviour goes hand in hand here with a vein of humour that sees her writing in the tradition of Voltaire and Swift.
Savage Boy
Savage Boy is the second book in Nick Cole’s The Wasteland Saga.Part Hemingway, part Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Savage Boy is a suspenseful odyssey into the dark heart of the Post-Apocalyptic American Southwest.The second story in Nick Cole’s suspenseful odyssey into the dark heart of the Post-Apocalyptic American Southwest.
The Cold Between
Debut novel of adventure, romance and interplanetary intrigue from a new voice in science fiction.When her crewmate, Danny, is murdered on the colony of Volhynia, Central Corps engineer Commander Elena Shaw is shocked to learn the main suspect is her lover, Treiko Zajec. She knows Trey is innocent – he was with her when Danny was killed. So who is the real killer and why are the cops framing an innocent man?Retracing Danny’s last hours, she discovers that his death may be tied to a tragedy from the past. For twenty-five years, Central Gov has been lying about the mystery, even willing to go to war to protect their secrets. Secrets that hide a conspiracy so deep within Central Gov that it threatens all of human civilization throughout the inhabited reaches of the galaxy – and beyond.
The Sirian Experiments
From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the third instalment in the visionary novel cycle ‘Canopus in Argos: Archives’.Ambien II is one of the Five – the highest level of the Sirian Colonial Service and the hidden rulers of the Sirian Empire for thousands of years. She is an accomplished administrator, a mover of populations and controller of events – and lives in the certain knowledge that the Sirian Empire is the most advanced in the galaxy.As she narrates her story, we follow the profound changes in Ambien II as she realizes that the rival Canopean Empire is superior to Sirius in every way, and is the true ruler of the galaxy. She begins to understand, and accept, that she will be used by her Canopean opposites, announcing their wisdom to her own people, whose denial of this revelation is as fierce and determined as her own would once have been.Continuing her work in the science-fiction genre, Doris Lessing uses these worlds to set out her view of mankind and history, of her conviction that to survive we must learn to open our minds to ways of thinking.
The Morcai Battalion: Invictus
For almost three years, Dtimun, the enigmatic and mysterious Cehn-Tahr commander of the Morcai Battalion, has been at war not only with the Rojok Dynasty…but also with his feisty medical chief of staff, Dr. Madeline Ruszel.Now a surprising visitor from the future has charged them with the rescue of the enemy, field marshal Chacon. To ensure success, both Madeline and Dtimun must make personal sacrifices and attempt a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Sparks fly as each twist and turn throws them closer together than they've ever been before, but can they resist acting on desires they have long denied?If their plans are discovered, they face exile by their own governments and possibly even execution. If they do not act, the future will see the end of civilization itself…
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
From the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the fourth instalment in the visionary novel cycle ‘Canopus in Argos: Archives’.The handsome, intelligent people of Planet 8 of the Canopean Empire know only an idyllic existence on their bountiful planet, its weather consistently nurturing, never harsh. They live long, purposeful, untroubled lives.Then one day The Ice begins, and ice and snow cover the planet’s surface. Crops and animals die off, and the people must learn to live with this new desolation. Their only hope is that, as they have been promised, they will be taken from Planet 8 to a new world. But when the Canopean ambassador, Johor, finally arrives, he has devastating news: they will die along with their planet. Slowly they come to understand that their salvation may lie in the creation of one Representative who can save what is most essential to them.Lessing has written a frightening and, finally, hopeful book, a profound and thought-provoking contribution to the science-fiction genre the novel generally.