Remember the Alamo!

Remember the Alamo! by Kevin Randle and Robert Cornett
Charter Books, 1986 (originally published 1980)
Price I paid: 75¢

In 1836, Mexican troops under Santa Anna defeated a small band of Texan defenders at the Alamo. The Americans, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, were slaughtered to a man in the final downfall.

Now a rich oil field has been discovered just south of the Mexican border. As things stand, it belongs to the Mexicans. But if the Alamo had never fallen…

Through a top-secret process, 33 combat-hardened Vietnam vets are headed into the past. Their mission: To secure the richest oil land in history as American territory. They’re going back to 1836—but this time with submachine guns and grenades, tear gas and Uzis.

This time America is going to win.

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Balzan of the Cat People #3: The Lights of Zetar

Balzan of the Cat People #3: The Lights of Zetar
Pyramid Books, 1975
Price I paid: $2.39 + S&H

A new world for Balzan to survive, where Orala the priestess plans to seduce him and Androth the Krell king to kill him.

Only the Lights of Zetar, dazzling sentries left over from a civilization dead millions of years, can thwart these enemies and emblazon a path between hallucination and reality.

Balzan wins his weirdest combat yet in a twilight world of slaves and six-legged spider anthropoids.

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Dome World

Dome World by Dean McLaughlin
Pyramid Books, 1963
Price I paid: none

If the bombs went off, the Domes would die—and so would every man, woman and child in them. With a mile or more of sea water pressing down, even a near miss would do the job.

And the Domes—vital sources of the minerals needed to keep Earth’s civilization going—were the most tempting targets in the war that threatened to break out any minute!

Danial Mason, Manager of Wilmington Dome, didn’t want to die. But there was only one way to avoid it—stop the war before it started!

And that meant committing treason…

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The Screaming Face

The Screaming Face by John Lymington
MacFadden Books, 1970 (originally published 1963)
Price I paid: 25¢

CREDIBILITY GAP

THIS IS WHAT WAS OBSERVED:

The sudden disappearance of all world political and religious leaders

Strange objects floating in the sky

A deafening, terrifying scream that filled the air around the world

THIS IS WHAT THE GENERAL POPULATION WAS TOLD:

A Summit meeting at the North Pole

High cloud formations, spots before the eyes

A scientific device gone astray

THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Evacuation to the planet Echo on the far side of the sun

G-Ships used to spirit world leaders to their sanctuary

The Big Sound that signaled the beginning of the total extinction of Earth

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The Ginger Star

The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett
Ballantine Books, 1974
Price I paid: 90¢

WHERE WAS SIMON ASHTON?

Ashton had disappeared somewhere—somehow—on Skaith, and Stark had come to find him, no matter what the cost. Everyone on this exotic planet had heard of the strange Dark Man from another world, but no one was talking. Not the Farers. Not the Wandsmen. Not even the Irnanese. All clues led to the mysterious North—stronghold of the tyrannical Lords Protector. Stark was on his way, despite the price on his head…

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Star Ka’at World

Star Ka’at World by Andre Norton and Dorothy Madlee
Pocket Books, 1979
Price I paid: 35¢

Jim and Elly Mae travel to a distant planet as guests of Tiro and Mer—members of a super-intelligent race of Ka’ats. On this strange world, work is done by machines, which are controlled by thoughts from Ka’ats. But Jim and Elly cannot learn this power and become dependent on their hosts for everything—even meals! Determined to find their own food, Jim and Elly explore a nearby city where human-like beings once lived. But fierce robots now march down the streets. Tiro and Mer rush in to protect their human friends and are kidnapped by the robots. Jim and Elly must use all their courage to find a way to rescue the Ka’ats!

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The Rakehells of Heaven

The Rakehells of Heaven by John Boyd
Penguin Books, 1969
Price I paid: 90¢

John Adams and Kevin O’Hara are graduates of North Dakota’s great Mandan Space Academy. Both trained to be conquistadors of space, explorers in an age of interstellar imperialism, Adams and O’Hara are as different as any two space scouts could possibly be. Now, together, they are sent to explore a distant world called Harlech. The Harlechians are unclassified aliens; relations with their women are strictly forbidden by the Interplanetary Colonial Authority. Adams is willing to play by the rules—but whoever made those rules hadn’t counted on the lusty Red O’Hara, rakehell of heaven…From the Adams-O’Hara probe, only John Adams returns.

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The Bird of Time

The Bird of Time by Wallace West
Ace Books, 1959
Price I paid: none

When the first expedition from Earth arrived on Mars they were not greeted with open arms. Not only had the Martians long ago learned all they wanted about Earth—they wanted nothing to do with us. to quote their welcoming committee:

“You Earth people don’t know your own history. You have always been incorrigible. When Mars was younger, we drove you back to your own planet, whereupon you tumbled into savagery for a gratifyingly long time. The really intelligent Martians then emigrated to the ends of the universe to avoid a second encounter.

“In fact we are not interested in playing cowboys and Indians with your people.”

But Earthmen are incorrigible, and Martians are obstinate, and the result is an adventure-packed novel that spans two planets and several stars and is great science-fiction all the way.

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The Day of the Burning

The Day of the Burning by Barry Malzberg
Ace Books, 1974
Price I paid: none

It was a sultry summer day in 1981, and the 3 billion or so inhabitants of the world went about their daily routine unaware that, possibly, the fate of the human race lay in the shaking hands of one George Mercer, an insignificant and slightly neurotic employee of the New York City Department of Welfare.

For George had been informed, by an accredited emissary of the Galactic Overlords, that he had 12 hours in which to prove the people of Earth worthy of admission into the Galactic Federation. George, and George alone, would represent all of mankind. If he failed the entire planet would be destroyed.

Was all this a nightmare of delusion dredged up by his tortured subconscious? Or a very real nightmare that would end in the Day of the Burning….

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The Steel of Raithskar

The Steel of Raithskar by Randall Garrett and Vicki Ann Heydron
Bantam Books, 1981
Price I paid: 75¢

When the fireball hit the cruise ship, Ricardo Carillo was already on his way out—a terminally ill language professor. He regained consciousness as a well man in the desert…only it wasn’t a desert on Earth, and he was man only because he was still male. More surprises awaited him in the exotic city of Raithskar—he was called Markasett, a master swordsman, son of a powerful leader, and a man on the run, accused of murder and the theft of a precious, sacred jewel. With the aid of Keeshah, a great war-cat with which he shared a telepathic link, he set out to clear his newfound name…

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