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A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonisation of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City Detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Baley and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot - and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim. Cover art by Dennis Rolfe. -
This is Asimov's final collection of his fantasy stories that were not published previously. In this volume: To Your Health; The Critic on the Hearth; It's a Job; Baby, Its Cold Outside; The Time Traveler; Wine Is a Mocker; The Mad Scientist; The Fable of the Three Princes; March Against the Foe; Northwestward; Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon. Also included are his thoughts on the genre of fantasy itself. Here are the fascinating musings of a wide ranging intelligence, discussing everything from Tolkien to Spielberg, from Unicorns to King Arthur, from the difference between maidens and damsels to the speed of Seven League Boots...scientifically calculated, of course! -
Book IV of Foundation. (Chronological order.) The Foundation hurtles into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism.Cover art by Chris Foss. -
The Naked Sun: Isaac Asimov
$18.00On the remote planet Solaria, the first murder for 200 years has been committed. The Solarians are Spacers with a a civilisation based on robots instead of slaves - and some very odd taboos and phobias. Into this strange set-up comes detective Elijah Baley, investigating the murder for his government. But Baley finds some aspects of life on Solaria difficult - even terrifying. As an Earthman, he's used to living underground. From the moment of his arrival, Baley's investigation becomes an ordeal of nerves under the pitiless glare of the naked sun... Cover art by Chris Foss. -
Nemesis: Isaac Asimov
$12.00In the twenty-third century, pioneers have escaped the crowded earth for life in self-sustaining orbital colonies. One of the colonies, Rotor, has broken away from the solar system to create its own renegade utopia around an unknown red star two light-years from Earth: a star named Nemesis. Now a fifteen-year-old Rotorian girl has learned of the dire threat that Nemesis poses to Earth's people - but she is prevented from warning them. Soon she will realize that Nemesis endangers Rotor as well. And so it will be up to her alone to save both Earth and Rotor as--drawn inexorably by Nemesis, the death star - they hurtle toward certain disaster. Cover art by Don Dixon -
Book IV of Foundation. The costly and bitter war between the two Foundations has finally come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation have proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon’s long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all - and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge. Two exiled citizens of the Foundation set out in search of the mythical planet Earth and and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, someone - or something - outside both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a final, shocking destiny at the very end of the universe. Cover art by Tim White. -
Edited by Martin Greenberg. In the Milky Way Galaxy of 1000 years hence, six vastly different star-faring races co-exist under a precarious, volatile truce, threatened by the most recent addition to the galactic community - Man. This volume comprises the following stories: They Hide, We Seek, Robert Silverberg; The Diplomacy Guild, David Brin; Myryx, Robert Sheckley; The Burning Sky, Poul Anderson and Island of the Gods, Harry Turtledove. Cover art by Tim White. -
Book 1 of David Starr, Space Ranger. Earth is on the brink of catastrophe. The vital foodstuffs supplied by its Martian colony are being poisoned, causing mass panic and a crippled Earth economy. Working in secret, the ruling Council of Science sends David Starr, its youngest member, to the Martian farmlands to discover the truth behind the murders...Cover art by Peter Elson. -
A feast for sci-fi fans of the 'Old Masters'. In this volume: Foundation (Foundation I): For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying, and only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future - to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary The Foundation. Foundation And Empire (Foundation II): Led by its founding father Hari Seldon, and utilising science and technology, the Foundation survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Now cleverness and courage may not be enough. For the Empire - the mightiest force in the Galaxy - is even more dangerous in its death throes. Even worse, a mysterious entity called the Mule has appeared with powers beyond anything humanly conceivable. Who - or what - is the Mule? And how is humanity to defend itself against this invulnerable avatar of annihilation? Second Foundation (Foundation III): The Foundation lies in ruins - destroyed by a mutant mind bent on humanity’s annihilation. But it’s rumored that there’s a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established as insurance to preserve the knowledge of mankind. Now a desperate race has begun between the survivors of the First Foundation and an alien entity to find this last flicker of humanity’s shining past - and future hope. Yet the key to it all might be a fourteen-year-old girl burdened with a terrible secret. Is she the Foundation’s savior - or its deadliest enemy? The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire I): Biron Farrell was young and naïve, but he was growing up fast. A radiation bomb planted in his dorm room changed him from an innocent student at the University of Earth to a marked man, fleeing desperately from an unknown assassin. He soon discovers that, many light-years away, his father, the highly respected Rancher of Widemos, has been murdered. Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father’s death, and becomes entangled in an intricate saga of rebellion, political intrigue and espionage. The Naked Sun (Robot II): A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonisation of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on. Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots - unthinkable under the laws of Robotics - or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence... I, Robot (Robot I): A robot must not harm a human being; a robot must obey human orders; and a robot must protect its own existence - as long as that protection does not conflict with rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities - and unforeseen risks. For the scientists who invented the earliest robots weren't content that their creations should remain programmed helpers, companions, and semi-sentient worker-machines. And soon the robots themselves, aware of their own intelligence, power and humanity, aren't either. As humans and robots struggle to survive together - and sometimes against each other - in earth and in space, the future of both hangs in the balance. Here human men and women confront robots gone mad, telepathic robots, robot politicians and vast robotic intelligences that may already secretly control the world. And both are asking the same question: What is human? And is humanity obsolete? DVD: Will Smith; Alan Tudyk: preloved; very good condition; region 4
