Sphere science fiction

The Dragon Masters - novella by Jack Vance No Truce with Kings - novella by Poul Anderson Soldier, Ask Not - novella by Gordon R. Dickson "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman - short story by Harlan Ellison The Last Castle - novella by Jack Vance Neutron Star - novelette by Larry Niven Weyr Search - novella by Anne McCaffrey Riders of the Purple Wage - novella by Philip José Farmer Gonna Roll the Bones - novelette by Fritz Leiber I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - short story by Harlan Ellison Nightwings - novella by Robert Silverberg The Sharing of Flesh - novelette by Poul Anderson The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World - short story by Harlan Ellison (variant of The Beast That Shouted Love 1968) Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones - novelette by Samuel R. Delany

The Lunar Observatory on earth is picking up a very strange and unidentifiable signal from the direction of Cygnus. When the meaning of this signal is finally understood, it clearly spells disaster for earth. An immense object is rushing towards the Solar System, traveling nearly at the speed of light, its intense nuclear radiation sure to kill all life on earth within months. As it moves close the humans can discern that it is an enormous convoy of some sort, nearly as large as a planet. And there is nothing anyone can do to divert such an enormous alien object. Then, unexpectedly, the object changes course and heads toward the dead planet of Jupiter but what could an enormous alien convoy want with such a useless planet?

Each story preceded by 1 paragraph of commentary.

Time, Space and the Future. Here is your passport into the fascinating world of science fiction... eleven dazzling, jet-propelled, rocket-paced tales of tomorrow by one of today's leading writers. Contents: Disappearing Act (1953) Adam and No Eve (1941) Star Light, Star Bright (1953) The Roller Coaster (1953) Oddy and Id (1950) The Starcomber (1954) Travel Diary (1958) Fondly Fahrenheit (1954) Hobson's Choice (1952) The Die-Hard (1958) Of Time and Third Avenue (1951)

A time storm has devastated the Earth, and only a small fraction of humankind remains. From the rubble, three survivors form an unlikely alliance: a young man, a young woman, and a leopard. "A masterful science fiction story told by a masterful science fiction writer". -- Milwaukee Journal. A time storm strikes the Earth. The Earth remains, but different parts of the Earth are in different eras. Travel between the different zones is thought to be impossible. The main character, Marc Despard, resolves to fight the time storm. After some struggles, he assembles a small band of people, including one alien, to help him try to understand what has happened and to stop the time storm. He has 2 extraordinary relationships with a older teenaged girl who is speechless for the first part of the book (she was "struck dumb" by the time storm) and with, believe it or not, a leopard. Dickson's writing makes the extraordinary seem quite normal. Ultimately, after being harried by a Mad Max-like group of survivors, he uses a machine found in a different era of time to bring his small band of followers into the future so that he can find those who are trying to fight the time storm. He convinces those future beings that he is capable of fighting the time storm, and ultimately stops it, and gets the girl in the end.

Deus Irae is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American authors Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. It was published in 1976. Deus irae, meaning God of Wrath in Latin, is a play on Dies Irae, meaning Day of Wrath or Judgment Day. This novel is based on Dick's short story "The Great C." Dick began the book but realized he did not know enough about Christianity to finish it. He asked Ted White to collaborate on it with him, but after reviewing the manuscript White never got started. Zelazny discovered the manuscript in White's home in early 1968, read it, then contacted Dick and agreed to work on it with him. Work proceeded sporadically over several years as each author forgot about it in turn (and Zelazny's cat took the opportunity to urinate on the original manuscript). But they finished it quickly in the spring of 1975 when the publisher demanded the manuscript or repayment of the advance paid to Dick. The editor discovered Zelazny had sent photocopies of some pages and demanded the originals as per Doubleday's policy; much to Zelazny's chagrin, he had to send in the urine-stained pages and he always wondered what the editor made of them.

Jef Robini was heading for Everon with a highly controversial cargo. For eight years on Earth Jef had tried to rear the maolot cub which was the final legacy from his brother. But the maolot had failed to grow into the giant cat that was Everon's largest and most dangerous life-form. And now Jef was returning the creature to its natural home, the colonized planet of Everon. He knew the planet was barren. And that he'd have to fight to survive. But nothing had prepared him for the incomprehensible strangeness, the mind-blasting wonder of the true Masters of Everon.

Reality twisted... slightly. Earth shivered. For a split second the Solar System wasn't. And then was again. Less than a billionth of a second -- but a time shift had nonetheless happened. As the shadow ship started to emerge from the time jump, men and aliens were locked in a secret, undeclared war for control of the Earth. Genetically altered, the aliens looked exactly like humans. And they were in positions of power everywhere. Opposing them were two humans and one isolated brain in a mechanical body. But between them they held the one secret that the aliens had never learned about the people of Earth...

When his wife is murdered on his wedding day, Lucas Trask launches himself on a quest for revenge. Using his personal fortune, he buys a spaceship and becomes a Space Viking, raiding worlds while hunting for his wife's killer. But raiding is not his destiny, and he gradually becomes a trader, starting to build a galactic empire. Before he can achieve his new goals, however, he must still deal with his wife's killer. A thrilling intergalactic saga!

Der Kampf um die Weltherrschaft Das Amerika des beginnenden 22. Jahrhunderts ist zweigeteilt. Das Land wird vom Syndikat und vom Mob regiert, zwei ehemaligen Gangsterorganisatio- nen, die sich im Laufe der Zeit zu Familienhierarchien entwickelten. Im Territorium des Syndikats herrschen die Falcaros, die es verstanden, ein liberales Dorado zu schaffen, in dem Freiheit und Lebensgenuß als allgemeine Maxime gelten. Der junge Charles Orsino ist eine Stütze des Syndikats. Er ist mit den herrschenden Falcaros entfernt verwandt und hat das »Geschäft« aus den guten, alten Zeiten Al Capones gründlich gelernt. Als Morde und Attentate das Gefüge des Syndikats bedrohen, übernimmt Charles einen Spionageauftrag, der ihn ins Lager des Gegners führt. Damit beginnt einer der faszinierendsten Romane, die auf dem Gebiet der Science Fiction je veröffentlicht wurden.

William Dane is a man with a nasty, but valuable secret, one that all the cutthroats in the galaxy are itching to get their hands on. Dane must perfect the art of concealing himself from the crazed factions yearning for the power that this secret can give them or die at the hands of the most brutal men alive. He's a man on the run from the entire galaxy, but one day that won't be the case. One day in the deadly game of cat and mouse, he will become the deadlier, feline opponent. But until then, he must keep a close guard or the key to ruling the universe could fall into the wrong hands. This classic science fiction masterpiece satisfies readers every desire for adventure and intrigue.

An Anthology of Hugo award winners. The highest prize in Sci-Fi. Each of these stories, by different authors, was voted as the best novella/short story of a particular year. Asimov was also the editor or something. I have read it and loved it. Science Fiction at it's best.

The Game-Players of Titan is a 1963 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Pete Garden, the protagonist, is one of several residents who own large swathes of property in a depopulated, post-apocalyptic future world. These residents are organized in groups of regular competitors who play a board game called "Bluff". These contestants (or "Bindmen") stake their property, marriages and future status as eligible game players on its outcomes. Pete also experiences bipolar disorder, which may adversely affect his competence as a Game participant. The Game is administered by amorphous, silicon-based aliens from Titan, Saturn's largest satellite. These creatures, known as the vugs, are obsessed with gambling. In addition, the Game's exogamy helps to promote human fertility after the devastation of global warfare, after satellite-borne "Henkel Radiation" weaponry from Red China sterilized much of the Earth's population. The vugs exert hegemony over Earth but do not occupy it as such. Instead, it is visualised as a paternalistic relationship. Moreover, while the vugs are telepaths, they do not allow the use of human telepathy or precognition within the context of the Game. The vugs are also involved within human society, using induced hallucination to maintain the semblance of human form. They also perpetuate the charade through the use of physical human shells or simulacra.

The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula Award for best science fiction novel of 1967. The surface story tells of the problems a member of an alien race, Lo Lobey, has assimilating the mythology of earth, where his kind have settled among the leftover artifacts of humanity. The deeper tale concerns, however, the way those who are "different" must deal with the dominant cultural ideology. The tale follows Lobey's mythic quest for his lost love, Friza. In luminous and hallucinated language, it explores what new myths might emerge from the detritus of the human world as those who are "different" try to seize history and the day.

"In the summer of 1921, a disenchanted journalist escapes the rat race for a drive in the country. But Mr. Barnstaple's trip exceeds his expectations when he and other motorists are swept 3,000 years into the future. The inadvertent time travelers arrive in a world that corresponds exactly to Barnstaple's ideals: a utopian state, free of crime, poverty, war, disease, and bigotry. Unfettered by the constraints of government and organized religion, the citizens lead rich, meaningful lives, passed in pursuit of their creative fancies. Barnstaple's traveling companions, however, quickly contrive a scheme to remake the utopia in the image of their twentieth-century world. A century after its initial publication, H. G. Wells' novel offers an enduringly relevant look at an ideal society. Conceived in the aftermath of World War I, it reflects the failings of human nature but offers hope for the future, when men and women may live like gods"--

8 short stories, a variety of time travel scenarios