Phase Two

Phase Two by Walt and Leigh Richmond
Ace Science Fiction, 1979
Price I paid: 25¢

WISDOM IS WASTED ON THE OLD…

By the time a man was truly wise, he was old and feeble—until now. A revolutionary technique developed by Dr. Katsu Lang of the Asteroid Belt has changed all that; students can actually be innoculated [sic] with “memory molecules” and given a lifetime of knowledge in the same length of time as ordinary schooling. that’s why the brightest youngsters from all over the solar system vie for entrance to the Astro Technology School on Earth.

At the head of his class at AT is Stan Dustin, son of the hero of the Asteroid Belt’s first triumphant battle for independence. When he learns that he is being groomed for a career in Earth’s hated militia Stan escapes to the Belt, where he learns the frightening truth about the memory injections and the side effects Earth has so carefully cultivated.

The struggle for the Belt’s independence is far from over—and of all the brilliant young officers from the AT school, only Stan has full control over his own will. Earth plans that the second battle with the upstart Belters will go very differently from the first—but Earth reckons without Stan Dustin, and the courage of men who fight for a world they love.

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Space War Blues

Space War Blues by Richard A. Lupoff
Dell Science Fiction, 1978
Price I paid: 90¢

Man’s questioning nature conquered space…then his eternal stupidity turned it into living hell….

On Yurakosi—where swashbuckling aborigines ride the colossal membrane-ships, buck-naked to the winds of space…

On N’Yu-Atlanchi—where tiny gelatinous angels are ripped from a crystal cavern paradise to be brutally used as pawns of war…

On N’Haiti—where ultramodern technology marries voodoo to sire a race of blond-haired, black-skilled killer zombies…and

On New Alabama—where a government spokesperson recently announced: No cruvvelin black animan nigra goin lay one filthy paw on some golden curly-headed surn baby while Pissfire Pallbox draws breath! Are you with me?

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The Mindwarpers

The Mindwarpers by Eric Frank Russell
Magnum Science Fiction, 1965
Price I paid: 75¢

Richard Bransome worked in the government’s most vital scientific laboratory, under the ultimate security. Nothing—living or inanimate—could crack the security barriers that guarded Bransome and his fellow workers. Nothing known to man…

But something was making key scientists give up their lives’ careers, sometimes to just drift away, other times to die. Then Bransome began to remember a past he had completely forgotten—a past in which he had been a cold-blooded murderer! To discover the truth about himself, he would set out on a solitary mission that would lead him against the most incredible enemy ever known to the people of Earth!

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Martians, Go Home

Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown
Ballantine Books, 1976 (Original copyright 1955)
Price I paid: none

Luke Devereaux was a science-fiction writer, holed up in a desert shack waiting for inspiration. He was the first man to see a Martian…but he wasn’t the last!

It was estimated that a billion of them had arrived—one to every three human beings on Earth—obnoxious green creatures who could be seen and heard, but not harmed, and who probed private sex lives as shamelessly as they probed government secrets.

No one knew why they had come. No one knew how to make them go away—except, perhaps, Luke Devereaux. Unfortunately Devereaux was going slightly bananas, so it wouldn’t be easy.

But for a science-fiction writer nothing was impossible…

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Behold the Stars

Behold the Stars by Kenneth Bulmer
Priory Books, 1965
Price I paid: 75¢

Man had discovered a means of colonizing the galaxy. Through a system of instantaneous matter transmission, men, machines, anything, could be sent light years away in seconds!

Only, men were not the only beings in the galaxy who were expanding, and at 200 light years from Earth the alien Gershmi people made their claims clear, with guns!

It would have been a fair fight between equally matched races, had not the very matter transmitter boxes which had made mankind’s expansion possible, suddenly began to put men back together, 200 light years from Earth, with their will to fight removed, so that Earthmen were marching with white flags of truce straight into Gershmi fire!

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The People Beyond the Wall

The People Beyond the Wall by Stephen Tall
DAW Books, 1980
Price I paid: 75¢

The original premise of science fiction—the foundation stone—was the tale of the discovery of a lost land or an unknown civilization. From Plato’s Atlantis and Swift’s Lilliput, Butler’s Erewhon, and the beloved works of Haggard, Burroughs and Merrit, “Lost Race” novels have been the favorites of millions. But time and exploration seem to have abandoned this engaging theme.

Yet here is a new one, written with all the color and feel that marks the work of the masters, which manages to place the lost land within the context of today and get away with it. Stephen Tall’s tale of two Alaskan explorers who burrowed beneath a vast glacier to find themselves beyond the maps of today, where a strong primitive people made life free from crises, wars, and social disasters.

THE PEOPLE BEYOND THE WALL will delight everyone who loves a good adventure—and especially those who yearn for a new Alan Quatermain, a new Tarzan, a new Gulliver.

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Jandrax

Jandrax by Syd Logsdon
Del Rey Books, 1979
Price I paid: 25¢

JAN ANDRAX

As a child he’d learned the ways of death in the worst holy war known to man…

JAN ANDRAX

As a scout he’d tamed four planets—and more women than most men ever see…

JAN ANDRAX

As a colonist, he’d have to tame a world, then fight the people he’d tamed it for. He was the colony’s best hope for survival—but somebody wanted him dead!

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Invaders from Rigel

Invaders from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt
Airmont Publishing Co, 1964 (Original publication 1960)
Price I paid: 60¢

Astronomers had observed the comet for some time, and had predicted its course. It would collide with Earth. There was no hysteria; scientists were apparently convinced that the results wouldn’t be dangerous to life.

But Murray Lee woke up with a feeling overpowering stiffness in every muscle. He turned over in bed and felt his left elbow, which seemed to be aching particularly—and received the shock of his life. The motion was attended by a creaking clang, and his elbow felt like a complex wheel.

Why—he was metal all over!

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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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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…

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