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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TekWar

TekWar by William Shatner
Ace Books, 1989
Price I paid: 90¢

Known to millions as STAR TREK’S Captain Kirk, actor-director William Shatner now turns his talents to a stunning novel of future shock. TekWar is the story of ex-cop Jake Cardigan, who’s framed for dealing an addictive brain stimulant called Tek and sentenced to fifteen years of suspended animation. Now, mysteriously released after four years in the “Freezer,” Cardigan is on the loose…and out for justice.

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The Panchronicon Plot

The Panchronicon Plot by Ron Goulart
DAW Books, 1977
Price I paid: 90¢

What better way to get rid of your political enemies than to shove them back into the past and maroon them there? It isn’t exactly murder but it sure could raise hob with history!

That was what was happening when they yelled for the Wild Talent Division. The actual time machine was a secret known only to the president—who was apparently the culprit. But someone like Jake Conger would be just weird enough to be able to locate the kind of nut who could travel in time himself.

It’s Ron Goulart with as whacky and wonderful a novel as any he’s written. Back to Old Vienna, back to the Middle Ages, back to Ancient Rome—it’s a mystery trail through time conducted by a madman and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of the seat with suspense and falling off it with laughter at the same time!

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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.