Bison frontiers of imagination

From the book:SEVERAL YEARS had elapsed since I had found the op-portunity to do any big-game hunting; for at last I had my plans almost perfected for a return to my old stamping-grounds in northern Africa, where in other days I had had excellent sport in pursuit of the king of beasts. The date of my departure had been set; I was to leave in two weeks. No schoolboy counting the lagging hours that must pass before the beginning of "long vacation" released him to the delirious joys of the sum-mer camp could have been filled with greater impatience or keener anticipation. And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead of my schedule.

The year is 2137, over 160 years ago the "Great War" was fought in Europe. The Western Hemisphere stayed out of the conflict, as much as possible, using the slogan: "The East for the East ... The West for the West." For all this time the USA did not go past 30 degrees or 175 degrees latitude. Until.... The aero-submarine, "Coldwater" in command of Lieutenant Jefferson Turck is blown past the 30 in a raging storm. Damaged, the ship landed in Europe only to find that it was not the enemy that was expected but something entirely different. Originally published in 1915 as "Beyond 30".

L'un des derniers "voyages extraordinaires", publié en 1906. Sur un ton assez optimiste, deux cousins rencontrent deux cousines à l'occasion d'une singulière "ruée vers l'or" dans le continent arctique. Beaucoup d'aventures et de sentiments au "pays des fourrures". [SDM].

The seventh and final book in the Pellucidar series continues the epic story with a masterful blend of action, humor, and suspense -- back cover.

Scientist Abednego Danner discovers a serum which grants superpowers. He injects his pregnant wife with the serum and his son is born with powers like those of Superman (created a few years later). What follows is the story of Hugo's search for his place in the world.

Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose chief concerns are boredom and surviving the Great Depression—that is, until the circus of Dr. Lao arrives and immensely and irrevocably changes the lives of everyone drawn to its tents. Expecting a sideshow spectacle, the citizens of Abalone instead confront and learn profound lessons from the mythical made real—a chimera, a Medusa, a talking sphinx, a sea serpent, witches, the Hound of the Hedges, a werewolf, a mermaid, an ancient god, and the elusive, ever-changing Dr. Lao himself. The circus unfolds, spinning magical, dark strands that ensnare the town’s populace: the sea serpent’s tale shatters love’s illusions; the fortune-teller’s shocking pronouncements toll the tedium and secret dread of every person’s life; sensual undercurrents pour forth for men and women alike; and the dead walk again. Dazzling and macabre, literary and philosophical, The Circus of Dr. Lao has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of speculative fiction and influenced such writers as Ray Bradbury.

The fifth installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar series, "Back to the Stone Age" recounts the strange adventures of Lieutenant von Horst, a member of the original crew that sailed to Pellucidar with Jason Gridley and Tarzan who is left behind in the inner world. Von Horst wanders friendless and alone from one danger to the next.

"Nothing will ever mystify or challenge the Wonder. He masters entire libraries and languages with little effort. No equation, no problem is too difficult to solve. His casual conversations with ministers and philosophers decimate their vaunted beliefs and crush their cherished intellectual ambitions. The Wonder compels obedience and silence with a glance. His mother idolizes him as a god. Yet no one is more hated or alone than the Wonder."--BOOK JACKET. "This is the chilling tale of Victor Stott, an English boy born thousands of years ahead of his time. Raised in the village of Hampdenshire, the strangely proportioned young Victor possesses mental abilities vastly superior to those of his fellow villagers. The incomprehensible intellect and powers of the Wonder inspire awe, provoke horror, and eventually threaten to rip apart Hampdenshire."--BOOK JACKET. "Long recognized as a classic of speculative fiction but never before widely available, The Wonder is one of the first novels about a "superman.""--BOOK JACKET.

The first complete and authentic English translation of Jules Verne's witty novel about a golden meteor crashing into the earth.

"Through the tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, generations of readers have thrilled to the adventures of Lord Greystoke (aka John Clayton, but better known as Tarzan of the Apes). In this biography Philip Jose Farmer pieces together the life of this fantastic man, correcting Burroughs's errors and deliberate deceptions and tracing Tarzan's family tree back to other extraordinary figures, including Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Doc Savage, Nero Wolfe, and Bulldog Drummond." "Tarzan Alive offers the first chronological account of Tarzan's life, narrated in careful detail garnered from Burroughs's stories and other sources. From the ill-fated voyage that led to Greystoke's birth on the isolated African coast to his final adventures as a group captain in the RAF during World War II, Farmer constructs a comprehensive and authoritative account. Farmer's assertion that Tarzan was a real person has led him to craft a biography as well researched and compelling as that of any character from conventional history. This definitive Bison Books edition also includes Farmer's "Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke" as well as "Extracts from the Memoirs of 'Lord Greystoke' " first anthologized in Mother Was a Lovely Beast."--BOOK JACKET.

The Czech writer Karel Čapek wrote his novel Továrna na absolutno in 1922. It was translated into English and published by Macmillan in 1927 as The Absolute at Large. The novel is a satirical piece of science fiction, and starts with the invention of an “atomic engine” in the future year 1943 which can convert matter directly into energy. Such engines can operate machinery for months from a single bucket of coal. But the inventor quickly discovers that his engine has an unfortunate side-effect: It generates pure divinity as a waste product. The consequences of the wide-spread adoption of the new engines therefore gives rise to unexpected complications in human society. The novel is full of sardonic but incisive comments on society, capitalism and religion.

A la recherche de la société juste et heureuse, la seconde moitié du XIXème siècle a multiplié les utopies. L'an 3000 du pathologiste italien Paolo Mantegazza est, en 1887, l'une des ultimes expressions de la confiance en l'effort et dans le génie humain. Lue à la lumière des tragiques expériences du XXe siècle, cette optimiste vision de l'avenir, pour la première fois traduite en français, prend pour le lecteur moderne les allures inquiétantes d'une anti-utopie scientifique où sont éliminés sans remords les êtres inadaptés et où la pensée même est soumise au dirigisme impitoyable de l'Etat.

From the book:Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a woman - for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it - the pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! I must and will write - it relieves me; read and believe as you list. At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grilled steak and tomatoes - steak crisp and brown on both sides, and tomatoes red as a setting sun!

The fifth installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar series, "Back to the Stone Age" recounts the strange adventures of Lieutenant von Horst, a member of the original crew that sailed to Pellucidar with Jason Gridley and Tarzan who is left behind in the inner world. Von Horst wanders friendless and alone from one danger to the next.