Sci-Fi/UFO

//Sci-Fi/UFO
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  • Prisoner of war, optometrist, time traveller...these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, the hero of this moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse. One of the world's great anti-war books, this centres on the infamous bombing of Dresden  during Word War II, Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know. Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing - the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit - that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.
  • Book I of Hover Car Racer. In the world of the near future, the most popular sport in the world is hover car racing. Superfast and dangerous, it's heroes are the racers: part fighter pilot, part race car driver, all superstar. But to get to the Pro Circuit, you must first pass through the International Race School, a brutal cauldron of wild races on even wilder courses, where only the best of the best will survive...This is the story of Jason Chaser, a talented young racer selected to attend the Race School. He's younger than the other students. He's smaller. His trusty car, the Argonaut is older. But Jason Chaser is no ordinary racer. And as he races against the best drivers in the world he will learn that at Race School winning is everything, that not everyone in this world fights fair, and that you never ever have any friends on the track.  Cover: Crash Course by Pablo Raimondi.
  • Since his wife, Michelle, left seven years ago, Jeffy Coltrane has worked to maintain a normal life for himself and his eleven-year-old daughter, Amity, in Suavidad Beach. It’s a quiet life, until a local eccentric known as Spooky Ed shows up on their doorstep. Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object — something he calls “the key to everything” — and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away? Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again.
  • Book III of Divergent. The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered - fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories. But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.
  • Book I of Carve The Mark. In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift. Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power — something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.  Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive — no matter what the cost. Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another? Cover art by Jeff Huang.
  • The planet was called Pyrrus...a strange place where all the beasts, plants and natural elements were designed for one specific purpose: to destroy man. The settlers there were supermen...twice as strong as ordinary men and with milli-second reflexes. They had to be. For their business was murder...It was up to Jason dinAlt, interplanetary gambler, to discover why Pyrrus had become so hostile during man's brief habitation...Cover art by Peter Elson
  • Book V of the Dune Chronicles. Leto Atreides, the God Emperor of Dune, is dead. In the fifteen hundred years since his passing, the Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis-now called Rakis-has reverted to its desert climate, and its great sandworms are dying. Now, the Lost Ones are returning home in pursuit of power. And as factions vie for control over the remnants of the Empire, a girl named Sheeana rises to prominence in the wastelands of Rakis, sending religious fervor throughout the galaxy. For she possesses the abilities of the Fremen sandriders-fulfilling a prophecy foretold by the late God Emperor...Cover art by Gerry Grace
  • You can't keep a good rat down, of course nor out of trouble. Jim and the lethal, lovely Angelina owe themselves a honeymoon and Paraiso-Aqui looks like the place. Settled long ago by voyagers from the southern continent of Earth (or Dirt as it was also known) Paraiso is warm and easy. But all is NOT well in paradise. The serpentine General Julio Zapilote is about to sail back into office in another rigged election and the chance to scupper him is too good for Jim to pass up. Corruption, bribery, graft and chicanery...as usual. Cover art by Peter Elson.
  • Medium is a heart-warming machine, designed to provide a connection with the dead.  Now all the world could reach their loved ones - at a price. Anything so emotionally loaded and carrying that kind of price tag could be a powerful political weapon. But no-one, not even the inventor, could guess at how terrible that price might become. Cover art by Peter Jones.
  • While recovering from the holocaust of war, Earth suffers chaotic breakdowns in the fabric of time and space.  Survivors are stranded in the past, present or future. Or in Mars, which is worse - and a band of heroes still battle in the alternate world of sword and sorcery....
  • Professional gambler Jason DinAlt accepts an invitation to visit Pyrrus, the most lethal world in the known galaxy. For outsiders, Pyrrus usually means a quick and painful death, but DinAlt is fleeing the crooked casino masters of Cassylia - where he just broke the bank. But DinAlt is not prepared for the hellish Pyrrus, where every living thing seems bent on exterminating mankind.  Pyrrus is a hostile, barbaric planet where technology and civilization have almost disappeared. Using his skills, DinAlt literally reinvents the wheel in his quest to escape. Cover art by Peter Elson. Originally published as The Ethical Engineer.
  • A collection of fabulous horror/sci-fi shorts from Aldiss. The Saliva Tree: When the meteor landed on the Grendon farm, strange and unnatural things began to happen.  The farm suddenly flourished with bumper crops, a record number of livestock births - and babies. It was being turned into a superfarm, and they were being fattened up for the kill... Other stories in this volume: Danger: Religion! The Source; The Lonely Habit; A Pleasure Shared; One Role With Relish; Legends of Smith's Burst; The Day of the Doomed King; Paternal Care; The Girl and the Robot with Flowers. A Nebula Award Winner for Best Short Novel. Cover art possibly by Bob Fowkes.
  • It was forbidden to enter the tower. The law had been handed down from a time beyond man's memory, and none who broke it had ever survived. From the tower flowed the energy and intelligence that kept alive the city of Noi Lantis, the sole vestige of civilization left on Earth. The Earthling, Kymri, and the beautiful invader-girl, Mirlana, already had violated a great and terrible taboo by daring to fall in love. Now they were about to commit the most fearful transgression of all. But there was no turning back as they slid open the glittering tower doors. Within was the secret that could spell man's last hope for survival - or his final sentence of doom....Cover art by Chris Foss.
  • Book I of A Requiem for Homo Sapiens. Into the maze of colour-coded streets of ice a wild boy stumbles, frost-bitten and grieving, clutching a spear: Danlo the Wild, a messenger from the past of Man. Brought up far from Neverness by the Alaloi people, neanderthal cave-dwellers, Danlo alone of his tribe has survived a plague - because he is not, as he thought, a misshapen neanderthal - but because he is human, with immunity engineered into his genes. He learns the disease was created and the creators possess a cure which can save other Alaloi tribes. But the creators have migrated to the region of space known as the Vild and there they are killing stars. All of civilisation has converged on Neverness through the manifold of space travel. Beyond science, beyond decadence,  sects and disciplines multiply there. Danlo, his mind shaped by primitive man, brings to Neverness a single long-lost memory that will challenge them all. Cover art by Mick Van Houten.
  • Originally published as Planet Plane  in 1936. An international prize of £1,000,000 was being offered to the first man to complete an interplanetary journey.  Dale Curtance, millionaire adventurer, characteristically emerges as the British entrant.  With a  hand-picked crew he blasted off from Salisbury Plain in the spaceship Gloria Mundi. Destination: Mars. Once free of Earth's atmosphere, they discover  a woman stowaway. Her extraordinary story helps them to prepare for the dangers they encounter on the Red Planet and the fantastic world that exists there. Cover art by Chris Foss.

  • An invasion of Earth was imminent  - and only one man could stop it. A team of saboteurs had infiltrated the enemy territories, attempting to bring back to Earth a warning of the impending attack. Death had reduced their number to two and fear of treachery had divided them. Finally, only one man could save Earth.  The secret of the hordes of death must be brought back. But he could trust no-one - not even himself. Cover art by Bruce Pennington.
  • In the mountain retreat of a gifted Internet billionaire, a young man takes part in a strange experiment: testing an artificial intelligence housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl. But the experiment spirals into a dark psychological battle - a lover triangle of loyalties, man and machine.
  • The Doctor is delighted when his quest for the Key to Time leads him to his favourite planet Earth. But his friends are less enchanted: Romana is nearly lured to her death by a sinister apparition and K9 is all but destroyed by a belligerent boulder with the power to move and a thirst for blood. An ancient stone circle becomes a battleground as the Doctor must outwit  the deadliest alien criminal this side of hyperspace - and her bloodthirsty silicon servants...Cover art variant of original by Andrew Skilleter.