Tag: science fiction

The Night of Kadar

The Night of Kadar, by Garry KilworthThe Night of Kadar front
Avon Books, 1978
Price I paid: 95¢

After roving through space for centuries, a starship unburdens its cargo of human embryos on a harsh new world. They quickly grow to maturity in the ship’s artificial womb. A lifetime of Earth memories is programmed into their dreams.

But before their indoctrination is complete, an alien intruder infiltrates and destroys the system…and the reason for their odyssey is never learned.

Now, on a verdant island surrounded by quicksand, Othman, wanderer, dreamer, and self-proclaimed leader of the Earthling band, builds a mighty bridge to span the ocean of molten mud that keeps them from the world beyond.

He has to face the deadly toll his quest will take on the delicate ecology of the planet—or the revolt of his beautiful, strong-willed wife, Silandi. And he has yet to discover the hidden knowledge locked deep within their hearts.

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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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The Mountains of the Sun

The Mountains of the Sun by Christian LéourierThe Mountains of the Sun front
Berkley Publishing, 1973
Price I paid: 75¢

Berkley’s International Science Fiction program is proud to introduce France’s premier young s-f master with an adventure in Earth’s future. After the catastrophic death of civilization, human colonists of Mars return to “the mother planet” to discover a primitive society operating in bloody conflict with nature. The planetwide adventures of this group of colonists—grown soft and decadent in the artificial, low-gravity colonies on Mars—is one of the most exciting adventures of today’s international world of science fiction.

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Warlord of Ghandor

Warlord of Ghandor by Del DowDellWarlord of Ghandor front
DAW Books, 1977
Price I paid: 75¢

The fighting men of Ireland were gathering to repel Cromwell’s invasion—and with them marched the Dowdalls under their brave young chief Robert. Master swordsmen of Europe, he had returned to lead his kinsmen’s steel against the invaders. And then—to the confusion of history—he vanished.

Here at last is his story—the story of Robert of Eire who marched to fight an Earthly foe only to find himself in desperate combat against the beastmen and alien warriors of another world, another Earth, but not the one on which he had been born.

This is a novel in the grand tradition of John Carter, of Dray Prescot, of Tarl Cabot. Here is one man against a world, one man to save princess, one man to fight, to lead, to conquer or to die.

Everyone who loves high heroism on a distant planet will thrill to the mighty adventures of Robert of Eire on Ghandor.

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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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Balzan of the Cat People #1: The Blood Stones

Balzan of the Cat People #1: The Blood Stones by Wallace MooreBalzan of the Cat People front
Pyramid Books, 1975
Price I paid: 75¢

Space flight Ares Probe One was thirteen months away from earth on a manned journey to Mars.

Then IT happened!

The craft was plucked out of the solar system to crash on a wild planet never seen by man. Only an infant boy, sleeping in stasis inside a safety cube, survived. He was to become Balzan, adopted son of a tribe of bipeds resembling earth cats!

THE BLOOD STONES

Reptilian raiders, flashing deadly neutron swords, had taken Balzan’s cat-people into slavery to satisfy the blood-lust of an insatiable queen. Only Balzan could hope to rescue them. But first he must learn the terrible truth about the evil blood stones, even if the knowledge destroyed 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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The Day of the Klesh

The Day of the Klesh by M.A. FosterThe-Day-of-the-Klesh-front
DAW Books, 1979
Price I paid: 75¢

His name was Meure and he hired out on an alien ship to see the universe. There were ler aboard that vessel—transmuted humans who were partial supermen—and specifically there was the ler girl Flerdestar who had a mission.

When Meure and Flerdestar were marooned on the world they called Monsalvat, they were confronted by a planetary enigma involving time and space. For Monsalvat had a myriad human species, all alien to each other, and all in awe of the Mystery that dominated their isolated planet.

Here is the long-awaited major novel by the author of THE GAMEPLAYERS OF ZAN and WARRIORS OF DAWN. It is a masterwork of alien wonders, human ingenuities, of the past invading the present, and of the perverted legacy of the legendary mistress of the first starship, the mad ler Sanjirmil…

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The Martian Viking

The Martian Viking by Tim SullivanMartian Viking front
Avon Books, 1991
Price I paid: $1.25

Earth’s new order has declared non-productivity a crime—dooming Johnsmith Biberkopf to life imprisonment in a Martian penal colony. Sentenced to a life of never-ending toil and despair, he seeks escape in the hallucinogenic power of “onees”—a government-banned substance that will lead Biberkopf through the portals of a strange and timeless dimension where ancient Viking ships sail the cosmos…and illusions become uniquely, terrifyingly real.

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