The Time-Swept City

The Time-Swept City by Thomas F. Monteleone
Popular Library, 1977
Price I paid: $1

ETERNAL CHICAGO
built to serve man and now seeking mastery of man
ETERNAL CHICAGO
evolving like a live organism over the milleniums toward the zenith of monstrous perfection
ETERNAL CHICAGO
flourishing behind its force fields as disaster ravishes the globe—and voyagers from space vanish among the stars
ETERNAL CHICAGO
the ultimate battleground between human and extrahuman power—where the future of earth and the universe will be decided

Continue reading →

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….

Continue reading “Frostworld and Dreamfire” →

The Solar Invasion

The Solar Invasion by Manly Wade Wellman
Popular Library, 1968
Originally published in Startling Stories, 1946
Price I paid: none

It comes from beyond the fifth dimension―an alien intelligence both invulnerable and totally evil.

Its aim: bring the universe to its knees. Its primary objective: destroy the Solar System.

As doomsday rushes ever closer, one lone man dares oppose the creature from beyond. Only he can save the universe from a brutal, blazing cataclysm.

Continue reading “The Solar Invasion” →

Captain Future and the Space Emperor

Captain Future and the Space Emperor by Edmond Hamilton
Popular Library, 1969
Originally published in 1939
Price I paid: none

President Carthew was in his office when the monster appeared—a giant, hunched creacher, bizarrely hideous…

The President gaped as a guard appeared in the doorway and pointed his weapon at the fanged being.

“Don’t shoot”, Carthew cried, but too late. The beast lay dead on the floor.

Carthew sighed deeply as he confirmed his fears. The corpse on the floor was Sperling, his best secret agent, transformed into this hairy brute by the dread peril that threatened to destroy them all.

Only one man left alive might be able to ward off total doom. The President flashed an emergency call for Captain Future…

Continue reading “Captain Future and the Space Emperor” →

The Mad Throne

The Mad Throne by Brad Munson
Popular Library, 1979
Price I paid: 75¢

Lawrence Connor. Brilliant actor. Riding the crest of a sensational star role.

What had happened to him?

He had waked from a terrifying trance to find himself trapped in another man’s body—in a nightmarish realm of giants and killer warriors, arrogant overlords and oppressed slaves, seductive temptresses and endangered beauties.

How had he gotten there? How could he return to earth?

These were questions that he did not have time to answer. He was too busy fighting for his own survival….

Continue reading “The Mad Throne” →

I, Weapon

I, Weapon by Charles W. Runyon
Popular Library, 1977 (Original copyright date 1974)
Price I paid: 90¢

Ancestry: Programmed

Destiny: Unpredictable

To create the man named Raki, Earth had broken its most rigid taboos against interbreeding.

His grandparents were a four-foot tall female genius; a rapacious, blue-skinned space brigand; an enormous superstud gladiator with long, silky fur; and a blind telepathic huntress.

His parents were the most gifted creatures ever to walk the earth—until Raki was born to surpass even them.

But the supreme computer that had calculated the mating necessary to produce Raki refused to predict his chances in his confrontation with the alien Vim in the very heart of their eternally expanding empire…

…for not even the Vim themselves knew the secret of their power and of all the universe’s peril…

Continue reading “I, Weapon” →

The Emperor of the Last Days

The Emperor of the Last Days by Ron Goulart
Popular Library, 1977
Price I paid: 75¢

Dan Farleigh—a pleasant young fellow with a kinky craving for the company of computers.

Janis Trummond—a beautiful young woman reporter out to dig up the dirtiest secrets of a man’s world.

Professor Supermind—mental master of machines.

Tin Lizzie—a gifted if ungainly bionic teen-ager.

Deadend—a Chicago thug whose thoughts were deadly weapons.

No human imagination could have conceived this oddly twisted team—and no human imagination had. Their master and mentor used the name of Bernard Maze. But to friends he was Barney—a computer who decided to take charge before it was too late to save the world from—THE EMPEROR OF THE LAST DAYS.

Continue reading “The Emperor of the Last Days” →

Danger Planet

Danger Planet by Brett Sterling
Popular Library, 1945
Price: 75¢

One million years back in the swirling, shrouded past, evil ultra-beings ruled the Planet Roo. Suddenly, unbelievably, they are alive again, threatening the universe with total destruction.

Only one man dares challenge the Evil Ones. He is Captain Future, inter-galactic agent of justice, whose identity is top secret, whose strength is ultimate. He sets out alone to stop the deathless menace creeping ever closer…

Continue reading “Danger Planet” →