Tag: 60s

Beyond the Sealed World

Beyond the Sealed WorldBeyond the Sealed World by Rena Vale
Paperback Library, 1965
Price I paid: none

“DALY 1444 IS AN ATAVIST. CAST HIM OUT OF THE SEALED WORLD INTO THE WASTELAND TO DIE.”

Thus ordered the masters of Science, the ruling body of the Glasteel Civilization. And so Daly 1444, convicted of primitive longings to be a man instead of a number, was forced to become an Opener—a fearful voyager into the dangerous world of natural sun and light outside his antiseptic culture.

To his great surprise, Daly found not one but several worlds—each at a different level of achievement, each incomplete without the other, each desperate to rule supreme. At first he struggled only for his own life amidst conditions for which his test-tube life had ill-equipped him. But soon he realized that not only his future was at stake, but the future of all the worlds of Earth—and he was the one man who could save the Universe!

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Escape Across the Cosmos

Escape Across the Cosmos by Gardner FoxEscape Across the Cosmos
Paperback Library, 1964
Price I paid: 90¢

Falsely accused of depriving the Empire of its dream of a Promised Land by murdering its Leader, Kael Carrick was exiled to the dread planet Dakkan, a galactic graveyard from which no man returned.

But Kael had to return. He alone could dare attempt it. For before his death, the Leader had rebuilt Kael’s war-ravaged body into a cybernetically perfect specimen—a silicon superman potentially capable of destroying the devouring terror of the Slarrn world that now hungered for the Empire.

Kael’s powers were extraordinary—so much so that he hesitated to test them. But test them he must. For on his courage and strength alone depended the fate of the Empire, and its last chance to learn whether Paradise or Evil awaited them somewhere in the cosmic vastness.

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Star Well

Star Well by Alexei PanshinStar Well
Ace Books, 1968
Price I paid: 75¢

A small, airless planetoid set deep in the heart of the Flammarion Rift. Due to its location it is a minor hub of commerce within the Nashuite Empire, and though it is equipped with elegant dining rooms and casinos, luxury suites and expensive shops, Wu and Fabricant’s GUIDEBOOK claims that Star Well is a dull place to visit, and that travellers should avoid layovers if they can. But Wu and Fabricant had not been shown the secret basements, nor told the nature of the things stored there—if they had been they might still have advised against layovers, but not because Star Well was dull.

When our hero Anthony Villiers and his Troggish friend Torve arrive on the scene, it soon becomes evident that the truth must out; that Star Well has reached the end of an era…(thurb).

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Night Slaves

Night Slaves by Jerry SohlNight Slaves
Fawcett Publications, 1965
Price I paid: none

She was a creature from another planet, but to Clay Howard she embodied everything he’d ever dreamed of. Naillil was the most beautiful, the most voluptuous, the most woman Clay had ever known.

Naillil was a creature from another planet—but every delicious inch of her oozed sex.

And Clay was the only person aware of her presence.

An ideal setup—except…

Naillil had a brother, and to serve his own treacherous ends he plunged the citizens of the town into mass hypnosis. But what he could not know was that Clay Howard was invulnerable—because every cell and fiber of Clay Howard’s brain was sewn together with an impenetrable steel mesh.

Naillil discovered Clay’s secret—and that meant one thing: if Clay could not be hypnotized, then he must be murdered…

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Doomsday, 1999

Doomsday, 1999 by Paul MacTyreDoomsday, 1999
Ace Books, 1962
Price I paid: none

What would happen if man’s mastery of the world was suddenly snatched away by a new and more advanced type of life? This is the startling premise of this unusual novel.

It fell to two people to face the news that mankind was about to follow the dinosaurs off the Earth’s stage. One was Angus, veteran of a defeated Western army in a world devastated by atomic warfare. The other was Liu, woman officer of a conquering army she already knew was destined for destruction.

How these two found the new master species and what they did about it is an exciting and thought-provoking science-fiction adventure.

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Eight Against Utopia

Eight Against Utopia by Douglas R. MasonEight Against Utopia
Paperback Library, 1967
Price I paid: none

For 7,000 years the domed city of Carthage has protected its citizens from the ice-covered world outside. But now Gaul Kalmar, a brilliant engineer, discovers that the entire planet is habitable. Tormented by the dehumanized tyranny of life in Carthage, he enlists the aid of seven other rebels in a desperate attempt to escape.

Not only are the group’s actions observed by the ever-present Monitors of Carthage, but even their innermost thoughts are recorded by the Secret Police. Yet they are ready to take any risk to win their freedom, even when Kalmar must announce: “The city has an anti-hostility screen. Nothing with a human heart can cross it!”

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Dome World

Dome World by Dean McLaughlinDome World
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 LymingtonThe Screaming Face front
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 Rakehells of Heaven

The Rakehells of Heaven by John BoydThe Rakehells of Heaven
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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