Doomsday Wing

Doomsday Wing by George H. SmithDoomsday Wing front
Priory Books, 1963
Price I paid: 25¢

In the War Room of Command Post D the military and civilian analysts stared in horror as the message appeared on the big screen:

ATTENTION ALL COMMANDS! SAMOS SATELLITE 105 REPORTS ROCKET FIRED FROM EASTERN SIBERIAN POINT. NORAD.

A projection of the polar region appeared on the screen and all eyes followed a red dotted line that started in Siberia and had now reached the edge of the icecap. It was picking up speed as it arched up over the top of the world.

SAC TO ALL WINGS. SCRAMBLE ALL AIRCRAFT.

BMEWS NOW REPORTS 25 ICMB’s..ESTIMATED IMPACT AREAS: WASHINGTON, OMAHA, VANDENBURG, McCOY, MacDILL, COLORADO SPRINGS, MARCHFIELD, TITAN BASES AT TUCSON, DENVER…

PRESIDENT AUTHORIZES ALL FORCES TO ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! PLAN C FOR CHARLIE. START COUNTDOWNS…

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The Uncensored Man

The Uncensored Man by Arthur SellingsThe Uncensored Man front
Berkley Medallion Books, 1967 (Originally published in 1964)
Price I paid: 90¢

Dr. Mark Anders was one of the government’s top physicists, working on a high priority project concerning defense. Wrapped up in his abstract world of mathematical symbols, he was ill-prepared for the messages he began to receive. They were in words of other languages…and they came from strange sources: the babblings of an epileptic in a fit; the output sheet of a new super computer on a test run.

But this was only the beginning, for he was soon to find himself transported to a different dimension, setting foot on another world, whose people had been desperately trying to contact him in order to deliver a message terrifying in its implications for the future of the human race…

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The Doomsday Bag

The Doomsday Bag by Michael Avallone

The Doomsday Bag front

Signet Books, 1969
Price I paid: 25¢

THE PRESIDENT’S “SHADOW” IS MISSING!

And with him, his lethal “Doomsday Bag”—the small black satchel that contains the thermonuclear codes for total world destruction!

Private Eye ED NOON’s assignment—find him, and fast! Even if it means becoming the unwilling target in a bedroom showdown with Washington’s deadliest—and sexiest—counter-spy!

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Assassins from Tomorrow

Assassins from Tomorrow, by Peter HeathAssassins from Tomorrow front
Prestige Books, 1967
Price I paid: 90¢

The mystery of the Kennedy assassination has attracted many amateur investigators—but none quite like young Mark Brown, the brilliant but footloose young son of America’s leading theoretical physicist. Like others, Mark Brown had only a theory to work on. Unlike others, his theory led him straight into trouble—and into even deeper mystery…

Mark Brown needed help—and that help could only come from Jason Starr and Adam Cyber, the Mind Brothers. The three made up a team of scientific brains unmatched in human history—but the problem they faced was enormous. The complexities included a mysterious artificial satellite and a weird organization called “Sutra”…and the only thing certain was that at least one of the three would die. The biggest question was whether the Earth would die, too….

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The End of Man?

The End of Man? by Olof Johannesson (Hannes Alfvén)The End of Man front
Award Books, 1969
Price I paid: 90¢

Panic broke out. The computers had stopped working! There was no heat, no food, no communication. The death toll was long past the million mark.

No one knew what caused the breakdown. Was it human error, or a plot devised by the computers themselves?

Whatever the cause, when it was over most of the human population of the earth had perished. It was the dawn of a new era—when the computers ruled. And since the machines had learned to reproduce themselves without man’s help, there was no need for even a single human being.

So the nightmare battle began—between the few surviving humans and the super-being of their own creation—The Big Computer!

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The Pollinators of Eden

The Pollinators of Eden by John BoydThe Pollinators of Eden front
Dell Publishing Co., 1969
Price I paid: 90¢

Blond and beautiful Dr. Freda Caron had been waiting patiently for her fiancé, Paul, to return from The Planet of the Flowers. But Paul had unaccountably requested an extended tour of duty, and had sent in his stead his handsome assistant, Hal Polino, along with an exquisite new breed of talking tulip.

Freda, methodical scientist that she was, was not quite sure what do with either of them—especially when the tulip was as heterosexual as Hal.

That’s when she began the experiments…

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Doomstar

Doomstar by Edmond HamiltonDOOMSTAR front
Belmont Tower Books, 1966
Price I paid: 75¢

By mid-afternoon the brilliant intense sun shone on barren space. It had blasted each of its four planets out of existence.

SOMEONE HAD FOUND A WAY TO POISON A STAR!

Someone had to be found who could prevent the takeover or destruction of the entire universe by the madman who’d engineered the disaster.
The choice fell on Johnny Kettrick, banned from the Cluster World for space piracy. Now he was to be sent back there to search out the Doomstar—to find it before it burned out another world!

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The Mind Brothers

The Mind Brothers by Peter HeathThe Mind Brothers front
Prestige Books, 1967
Price I paid: 90¢

Jason Starr, genius, found himself the focal point of a complex Communist plot against America…and as a thoroughly discredited scientist, there seemed to be nothing he could do about it.

Not until he was joined by Adam Cyber, that is. Adam Cyber: last man—or superman—to survive in that bleak future; and Jason Starr’s Mind Brother. Cyber returned through millenia to try to change Earth’s course. And when the Mind Brothers met, computers went crazy, all predictions were worthless—and a new kind of spy was born!

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Mars Is My Destination

Mars Is My Destination by Frank Belknap LongMars Is My Destination front
Pyramid Books, 1962
Price I paid: 90¢

There was trouble brewing on Mars—bad trouble. Two giant industrial empires fought for control there, and their struggle imperiled the whole Mars colony. Civil war—atomic civil war—could break out any second, leaving Earth’s only foothold in Space a mass of radioactive rubble.

But both antagonists were too politically powerful for the Colonization Board to take a direct hand. One man was needed to take charge—one man  who could act fast and decisively, brutally if he had to.

Ralph Graham got the job.

And then people started dying around him…

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S.T.A.R. Flight

S.T.A.R. Flight by E.C. TubbS.T.A.R. Flight front
Paperback Library, 1969
Price I paid: 90¢

The Kaltich invaders sell their Earthman serfs a rejuvenation process that cruelly prolongs life.

The Kaltichs also promise to sell their secret for instantaneous space travel desperately needed by a barbaric, overpopulated Earth.

But decades pass and Earth is no closer to the stars. Yet the Kaltichs continue to strip Earth of its riches and its pride.

Only the Secret Terran Armed Resistance movement opposes the Kaltich tyranny. And only Martin Preston, S.T.A.R. agent, can possibly steal their secrets. If he fails, Earth will become a planet of billions of starving people—with no place to go except to their graves!

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