Frostworld and Dreamfire

Frostworld and Dreamfire by John Morressy
Popular Library, 1977
Price I paid: 50¢

Since the beginning of time, the Onhla tribe had flourished amid the dramatic extremes of heat and cold on the planet Hraggellon. But now the race was on the verge of extinction.

Within its ranks, a mysterious, murderous malady was running wild. Meanwhile, from another galaxy, the spearhead of an all-conquering empire had made its initial penetration.

Only one hope remained. A youth name [sic] Hult, newly emerged into humanoid form after his animal childhood, and beginning a desperate, daring quest for the elusive key to survival that would take him to the most perilous regions of his world―across the unknown reaches of outer space―and into the most secret and startling depths of himself….

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To Escape the Stars

To Escape the Stars by Robert Hoskins
Del Rey, 1978
Price I paid: 75¢

IT BEGAN…

…when freesailer, plunderer Jamas Oregas and his beautiful business partner set out to bilk the unsuspecting denizens of the backwater planet Llango.

IT GOT COMPLICATED…

…when Jamas, who knew the ins and outs of stargates, was doublecrossed and had to disappear―and fast.

IT MOVED INTO HIGH GEAR…

…when Jamas landed on Prime―a repository planet of galactic history―and learned of a mysterious lost race that held the master key to all the stargates for all the worlds.

AND IT FINALLY EXPLODED…

…when Jamas himself decided to scour the galaxy, looking for that long-lost race, following a trail that would lead him to power beyond his wildest dreams―if he somehow managed to stay alive!

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The Iron Dream

thirndrm1972 — *Cover of the 1972 Avon paperback, courtesy of isfdb.org*

The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad
Gregg Press, 1977
Originally published by Avon Books, 1972
Price I paid: none

Renowned science fiction writer Adolf Hitler’s Hugo Award winning novel!

Ferric Jaggar mounted the platform. A swastika of flame twenty feet high stood out in glory against the night sky behind him, bathing him in heroic firelight, flashing highlights off the brightwork of his gleaming black leather uniform, setting his powerful eyes ablaze.

“I hold in my hand the Great Truncheon of Held. I dedicate myself to the repurification of all Heldon with blood and iron, and to the extension of the dominion of True Humanity over the face of the entire Earth! Never will we rest until the last mutant gene is swept from the face of the planet!”

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Guardians of the Gate

Guardians of the Gate by Louis and Jaquelyn Trimble
Ace Books, 1972
Price I paid: 75¢

Two alien powers contended for that world. One, Eliff, had assumed a godlike identity; the other, Udrig, imprisoned beneath the polar ice cap, was branded as the evil one―the would-be destroyer of the planet.

Unknown to himself, Teron of Korv was the key to their conflict. If he could meet the right girl, the noble Eldra the Seventh, and if they could combine their powers―the fight would be resolved.

Against that meeting worked Udrig’s human agents, certain that the legends were wrong and Udrig was truly the Good One. In favor of the meeting was Eldra herself and the mysterious forces of the orbiting Eliff.

Guardians of the Gate is a space adventure reminiscent of the questing of Tolkien, the legendry of Merritt, and the action of Andre Norton.

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Hook #1: Whirlpool of Stars

Hook #1: Whirlpool of Stars
Pinnacle Books, 1974
Price I paid: 75¢

The century is 10,000, Earth dating. The boundaries of the world as we know it have expanded beyond belief, beyond thought. Earth still remains―but as one of many planets throughout the galaxies, where myriad life forms exist.

Life has taken a new direction, to a new future, but there are still problems to overcome―and the same struggle for survival.

And Ryder Hook is just one Earthman who is equally at home on a starship, on an alien planet, and on Earth. But he has been singled out for a purpose―to take place in a singular experiment…

This is the first novel in a spellbinding new science-adventure series about a superhuman warrior of the future. Ryder Hook travels through the cosmos as a master of all he encounters. He is a man of supreme adventure, timeless in his fearless conquering spirit! Watch for further books in the action-packed saga of Ryder Hook!

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Hijack

Hijack by Edward Wellen
Beagle Books, 1971
Price I paid: none

Big deal at Cape Canaveral. Nobody knew what it was, but it was big―and college-trained Nick Tallant drew the assignment of finding out what was in it for the Mafia. He gathered in all the information he had, put a statistical genius to work on it, and got the answer…the end of the world. But Nick was an angle player―and he knew there must be one somewhere, if only he could find it in time…

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The Müller-Fokker Effect

The Müller-Fokker Effect by John Sladek
Pocket Books, 1973
(Originally published by Hutchinson, 1970)
Price I paid: 90¢

Can a human being be reconstituted like orange juice?

To find out, the Army backs a futuristic research project that transfers a man’s personality onto computer tapes. Guinea pig for the experiment is technical writer and dreamer Bob Shairp.

But the project barely gets off the ground when a computer accident wipes out Shairp’s mortal body and only his tapes remain. Is Shairp doomed to this encoded state forever? Or can the bizarre process be reversed?

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The Penetrator #4: Hijacking Manhattan

The Penetrator #4: Hijacking Manhattan by Lionel Derrick
Pinnacle Books, 1974
Price I paid: $1.50

Mark Hardin…

…is prepared for trouble in New York City, but he’d hoped to arrive in time to prevent it. The first subway station blew up while he was still en route from California, piloting a sleek new twin-engine plane. It was fast, but not fast enough to get him there in time to stop the 72nd Street IRT station from caving in, carrying a large section of Broadway with it.

A Third World group, an alliance of Afro-Asian students, the Eusi Dhahabu, has been formed in Harlem. It says that they are working for racial equality, but they are asking for money. Lots of it. Exactly two million dollars in unmarked, used twenty-dollar bills. If they do not get the cash promptly, twelve more subway stations will go. During rush hours. With thousands of people in them.

Responsible blacks cannot infiltrate the group. They have tried. How, then, can the Penetrator? Honkies stand out in Harlem. Somehow Hardin must reach back into his Indian past for a disguise that will work…and fast. There are forty-two subway stations in New York City, and time is running out.

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Spacehawk, Inc.

Spacehawk, Inc. by Ron Goulart
DAW Books, 1974
Price I paid: 90¢

In the Barnum system, Malagra was considered to be the most uninviting planet of them all. In fact, among the engineers and androids of Kip Bundy’s set, it was known as the pesthole of the universe.

Which made things quite sticky when Kip’s rich uncle assigned him to Malagra to make certain top secret reforms. Because Kip was no Hercules, and this task would have balked even that mythical fixer.

But then there were compensations—if you could call them that—a sex-mad photographer, a couple of lovely maidens in distress, and the ardent guerillas of the Boy Scout Liberation Army.

It’s Ron Goulart at his whackiest best.

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The Cruachan and the Killane

The Cruachan and The Killane by Cristabel
Curtis Books, 1970
Price I paid: 75¢

Nora Castonay is a breathtaking blonde endowed with a miraculous psychical gift of healing the sick. She also has an uncanny gift for getting into all kinds of trouble.

First, aboard a doomed aircraft a dying courier entrusts her with secret information to deliver a mysterious man named Vanor. Next, rescued after the explosion of the plane by a ship, The Cruachan, she falls in love with its enigmatic captain, Killane.

Then, as she finally nears the mystic island of Veltakin, she comes face to face with the ultimate, universal terror—

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