Научная фантастика
Различные книги в жанре Научная фантастикаMercenary from Tomorrow
Western society is split up into nine castes, from Lower-Lower to Mid-Lower all the way up to the privileged Upper-Upper. Mauser himself was born a Mid-Lower. Ambitious, he had chosen one of the few professions, Category Military, where upward mobility was still a reasonable possibility. <P> To prevent any chance of a ruinous war between the West and the Sov-world, the Universal Disarmament Pact had restricted all militaries to pre-1900 technology. Gradually, powerful corporations began settling business disputes by hiring troops to fight real battles (fracases) on one of many military reservations. This served a dual purpose: to maintain a military well-honed by actual combat and to provide the decadent general population with a diversion. The life-and-death struggles are so popular that they are televised. <P> Mauser had worked his way up to captain and Middle-Middle status after many years of effort. When upstart Vacuum Tube Transport finds itself forced into an expensive, division-sized fracas with Continental Hovercraft, he sees his opportunity. He signs up with the underdog, even though the much wealthier Continental is able to hire the best soldiers available, including Marshal «Stonewall» Cogswell, the finest commander in the business. Mauser tells Baron Haer, the head of Vacuum Tube, that he can engineer an improbable victory with a gimmick he has been working on for a long time; in return, he expects the baron's support which, in conjunction with his anticipated popularity with fracas fans, should be enough to get him promoted into the Upper caste. The baron's son, Bart, scoffs at the undisclosed idea, but the baron is desperate for experienced officers and hires him.
Nightwings
"Nightwings" is a science fiction novella by American wrier Robert Silverberg. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1969 and was also nominated for the Nebula Award in 1968. It won the Prix Apollo Award in 1976.<P> In a decadent and caste-based future, humanity is divided into guilds, each having a specific job to do. The members of some guilds appear to have undergone genetic engineering, for instance, the Fliers' ability to fly and the Watchers' ability to use their mental capabilities to watch distant stars. <P>The main character in the novella is a Watcher whose mission is to watch the skies with some sophisticated equipment and to inform the Defenders in the event of an alien invasion. Along with a young Flier girl and a Changeling (who belongs to no guild), he visits the old city of Roum (suspected previously to be called Rome), and becomes entangled in events including the possibility of invasion.
Death Do Us Part
This modern classic of science fiction—first published in 1996—has been reprinted more than 15 more times since its original appearance, including in a Year's Best volume.<P> * * * *<P> It was her first, his seventh. She was 32, he was 363: the good old April/September number. They honeymooned in Venice, Nairobi, the Malaysia Pleasure Dome, and one of the posh L-5 resorts, a shimmering glassy sphere with round-the-clock sunlight and waterfalls that tumbled like cascades of diamonds, and then they came home to his lovely sky-house suspended on tremulous guy-wires a thousand meters above the Pacific to begin the everyday part of their life together.<P> Her friends couldn’t get over it. “He’s ten times your age!” they would exclaim. “How could you possibly want anybody that old?”
The Ronald Anthony Cross Science Fiction & Fantasy MEGAPACK®
This volume collects 20 tales by Ronald Anthony Cross, author of the Eternal Guardians series. Included are:<P> THE BIRDS ARE FREE<BR> THE FOREVER SUMMER<BR> A CITIZEN OF 3V<BR> MOON MADNESS<BR> HOTEL MIND SLAVES<BR> SHIVA SHIVA<BR> THE INITIATE<BR> THE FOOL<BR> THE COUNTRY STORE<BR> HERMES AND THE MAGIC HELMET<BR> TWO PLOTTING PODS<BR> THE FRONT PAGE<BR> EVERY TREMBLING BLOSSOM, EVERY SINGING BIRD<BR> DOWN THE HATCH<BR> ALL THE WAY TO TEELEE TOWN<BR> TWO BAD DOGS<BR> REFLECTION IN A WINDOW<BR> HANGING OUT WITH BITSY<BR> JOHNNY’S INFERNO<BR> THE MAGICIAN<P> If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for «Wildside Press Megapack» to see more of the 350+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction – and much, much more!
The Earth War
In the 21st Century the face of war had changed. Atomic weapons – out! Bazookas and rockets—nyet! Machine guns—maybe. The newest secret weapon—gliders! East and West had managed an uneasy truce in the arms race by banning ail weapons developed before 1900—and restricting wars to local disputes between corporations or companies and unions. It was a crazy way of doing things, but it worked—until an ambitious Major upset the apple cart, and threw the world's peace into deadly peril! <P> In this exciting picture of the next century, veteran science-fiction writer MACK REYNOLDS combines mastery of a unique setting with a fast-action story of combat and intrigue.
Trapped on Titan
David Wright O’Brien’s “Trapped on Titan” first appeared the June 1940 issue of Amazing Stories magazine. This action-adventure tale takes place on the largest moon in the Saturn planetary system, Titan, deserted by Earthmen for the past five centuries and declared off-limits. Yet two pilots are forced to land there in their crippled spaceship and encounter a lovely woman, both fascinating and terrifying. Where did she come from? How has she survived the extremely hostile natives? <P>Also by the same author: The David Wright O'Brien MEGAPACK®.
Crime Travel
CRIME TRAVEL features time-travel mysteries by a terrific lineup of authors.Features an introduction by Donna Andrews.<P> Included are:<P> James Blakey<BR> Melissa H. Blaine<BR> Michael Bracken<BR> Anna Castle<BR> Brendan DuBois<BR> David Dean<BR> John M. Floyd<BR> Barb Goffman<BR> Heidi Hunter<BR> Eleanor Cawood Jones<BR> Adam Meyer<BR> Barbara Monajem<BR> Korina Moss<BR> Art Taylor<BR> Cathy Wiley
The Carson Effect
What do these things have in common? A secretary at a company goes to ask for reimbursement for a cab ride, and is told she has been overpaying into her pension and is given almost 6 months' salary. A guy goes to rob a bank, and is given more than 20 times the amount he was asking for. A boy goes to Tiffany's to buy his mother a birthday present, and is sold a $7000 necklace for $1…
The Eight Billion
THE EIGHT BILLION derives its title from O. Henry’s THE FOUR MILLION and Meyer Berger’s THE EIGHT MILLION. The “serried bristling city" of New York does not, of course, contain eight billion people. If it did . . . well, read on. If this is not the overpopulation story to end all overpopulation stories, it will at least give them pause.