When Myles Cabot accidentally transmitted himself to the planet Venus, he found himself naked and bewildered on a mystery world where every unguarded minute might mean a horrible death.
Man-eating plants, tiger-sized spiders, and dictatorial ant-men kept Myles on the run until he discovered the secret of the land—that humanity was a slave-race and that the monster ants were the real rulers of the world!
But Cabot was resourceful, and when his new found love, the Kewpie-doll princess Lilla, called for help, the ant-men learned what an angry Earthman can do.
AN EARTHMAN ON VENUS is a science-fiction adventure packed with the excitement of an Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the science-vision of an H. G. Wells. You won’t be able to put it down once you start it.
An Earthman on Venus was originally titled, The Radio Man, when first published in 1924. (Adapted from the Cover Blurb)
The sixth book in the Grosset & Dunlap "Tom Corbett - Space Cadet" series. Shipmates Tom, Astro, and Roger are assigned to oversee an interplanetary race, but their destination, Titan, faces trouble - trouble in the very atmosphere. Will the intrepid space cadets be able to unveil this terrible treachery in time?
This 1957 book contains thirteen pre-space-exploration stories for young readers. Some of the details show their dated composition (we now know the earth looks blue not green from space) but the sense of adventure will still hold attention for the young.
Once more Chet, Walt and Diane are united in a wild ride to the Dark Moon—but this time they go as prisoners of their deadly enemy Schwartzmann.
"I doubt that anyone who reads [Born Again] will ever forget it: it is quite singularly bad, with long undigestible rants against the evils of the world, an impossibly idealistic Utopian prescription for the said evils, and - as you will have gathered - a very silly plot." - oddbooks.co.uk
Alfred Lawson was a veritable Renaissance man: a professional baseball player, a luminary in the field of aviation, an outspoken advocate of vegetarianism and economic reform, and the founder of a pseudo-scientific crackpot philosophy called Lawsonomy. Born Again, his only novel, is a bizarre, delirious, and delightfully silly utopian science-fiction novel that lays the groundwork for the philosophy that would later dominate Lawson's life. It tells the story of John Convert, a wayward, seafaring soul (based loosely on Lawson, minus the conveniently symbolic initials) who is tossed overboard by his crewmen after a physical altercation. Convert awakens on an island inhabited by a race of superhuman giants -- called the Sagemen -- who slumber in their subterranean city. He then meets Arletta, a giantess who takes Convert on a journey that will change his life in ways too fantastically strange to imagine.
The Time Traveller entertains the guests at a dinner party with the tale of his journey forward in time to A.D. 802,701 using his new invention, a time machine. The future of humanity is so disturbing that he decides to return to the present, only to discover that his time machine has been stolen by the mysterious and fearsome creatures of the night.
The story follows a Victorian scientist, who claims that he has invented a device that enables him to travel through time, and has visited the future. There, he finds the human species has “evolved” into two distinct forms. Above ground live the Eloi—gentle, fairy-like, childish creatures, whose existence appears to be free of struggle. However, another race of beings exists—the Morlocks, underground dwellers who, once subservient, now prey on the feeble, defenseless Eloi.
Set in London in the early 22nd century, this novella depicts the troubles of two lovers, Denton and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a well-to-do woman with many connections, but Denton is only a middle-class worker. Elizabeth's father strongly disapproves of the match, and orders a hypnotist to hypnotize his daughter into thinking that she is in love with another. When the scheme is found out, Denton and Elizabeth elope, leading to a string of events that take them from the top of London society to horrifying depths of "underneath" London.
In January of 1930 a new magazine with a flashy color cover appeared on newsstands, Astounding Stories of Super-Science. Filled with stories of adventure, sometimes with only a tinge of science, this magazine was to host and nurture many science fiction giants like Murray Leinster and Ray Cummings and would help inspire many of the writers of the "Golden Age of Science Fiction". This inaugural issue includes stories by Murray Leinster, Ray Cummings, S. P. Meek, Victor Rousseau and others.
In this third installment of the adventures of John Carter on Mars, our hero labors under sentence of death (for having returned from the land of the dead) in a heroic struggle to recover the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. He scours the planet from pole to pole, enduring imprisonment and torture, outwitting antagonists, reveling in carnage, accepting aid from unlikely sources, and dealing tactfully with women who love him despite his devotion to his wife. Having deprived an entire planet of its false religion, he offers in its place worldwide alliances and the promise of lasting peace.
The Secret Planet.No human had ever landed on the hidden planet of Arisia. A mysterious space barrier turned back both men and ships. Then the word came to Earth, "Go to Arisia!", Virgil Samms of the Galactic Patrol went--and came back with the Lens, the strange device that gave its wearer powers no man had ever possessed before. Samms knew the price of that power would be high. But even he had no idea of the ultimate cost, and the weird destiny waiting for the First Lensman.First Lensman is the sequel to Triplanetary, and the second book of E.E. "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series. (from the original book cover and Mark Nelson)
The Smoky God, or A Voyage Journey to the Inner Earth is the narrative of an aged Norwegian sailor compelled before he dies to tell the story of how he found a passageway to the center of the earth and discovered a world peopled with giants.
In the fifth book in the Barsoom series, Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, becomes lost in an unknown area of Mars when her single-seat flier is caught in a rare Martian hurricane. She is first captured by the bizarre and hideous Kaldanes, then the brutal Manatorians, where she is the prize in a tournament of Martian chess, jetan, that is played by live game pieces, and to the death!
Tara of Helium, John Carter's second child, is nearly as beautiful as her mother, Deja Thoris, and as independent-minded as her father. These qualities cause her much grief during a long series of imprisonments by hostile aliens. She is aided by a rejected suitor whom she fails to recognize but gradually learns first to trust and then to love, despite what she imagines to be a hopeless chasm between their social classes. A highly evolved race of intelligent beings is discovered in this novel, one of whom forms with Tara a complicated relationship that opens his eyes to the value of certain aspects of life which he and his kind have shed. We also learn of an ancient Martian culture differing markedly from the technologically advanced civilizations of other city-states; one of its pastimes is a bloody variation of Martian chess, played with human beings as the game pieces. For variety of character and incident, this novel is unsurpassed by its four predecessors in the series.
The Chessmen of Mars is a science fiction novel by the mental sword and physical pen wielding author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It the fifth installment of his Barsoom series. The Chessmen of Mars is a tale of wonder and excellence that follows John Carter and Dejah Thoris, along with their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, as she is sought after by Gahan, Jed of Gathol. Adventure and perile ensue as the story unfolds.
Note: The Prelude and Chapter 1 are read by two different readers. Variety is the spice of life.
If it is possible to conquer space, then perhaps it is also possible to conquer time. At least that was the theory American scientists were exploring in an effort to explain the new sources of knowledge the Russians possessed. Perhaps Russian scientists had discovered how to transport themselves back in time in order to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past. That was why young Ross Murdock, above average in intelligence but a belligerently independent nonconformist, found himself on a "hush-hush" government project at a secret base in the Arctic. The very qualities that made him a menace in civilized society were valuable traits in a man who must successfully act the part of a merchant trader of the Beaker people during the Bronze Age. For once they were transferred by time machine to the remote Baltic region where the Russian post was located, Ross and his partner Ashe were swept into a fantastic action-filled adventure involving Russians, superstitious prehistoric men, and the aliens of a lost galactic civilization that demanded every ounce of courage the Americans possessed.
Elsewhere I have set down, for whatever interest they have in this, the 25th Century, my personal recollections of the 20th Century. Now it occurs to me that my memoirs of the 25th Century may have an equal interest 500 years from now—particularly in view of that unique perspective from which I have seen the 25th Century, entering it as I did, in one leap across a gap of 492 years.
This statement requires elucidation. There are still many in the world who are not familiar with my unique experience. Five centuries from now there may be many more, especially if civilization is fated to endure any worse convulsions than those which have occurred between 1975 A.D. and the present time.
I should state therefore, that I, Anthony Rogers, am, so far as I know, the only man alive whose normal span of eighty-one years of life has been spread over a period of 573 years. To be precise, I lived the first twenty-nine years of my life between 1898 and 1927; the other fifty-two since 2419. The gap between these two, a period of nearly five hundred years, I spent in a state of suspended animation, free from the ravages of katabolic processes, and without any apparent effect on my physical or mental faculties.
Armageddon—2419 A.D. is the first appearance of the character that would become Buck Rogers. First published in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, followed by a sequel in March 1929. These two novellas would spawn a comic strip that would run for over 40 years, a radio series, a movie serial, and a bevy of imitators.
David Innes is a mining heir who finances the experimental "iron mole," an excavating vehicle designed by his elderly inventor friend Abner Perry. In a test run, they discover the vehicle cannot be turned, and it burrows 500 miles into the Earth's crust, emerging into the unknown interior world of Pellucidar. In Burroughs' concept, the Earth is a hollow shell with Pellucidar as the internal surface of that shell.
Pellucidar is inhabited by prehistoric creatures of all geological eras, and dominated by the Mahars, a species of flying reptile both intelligent and civilized, but which enslaves and preys on the local stone-age humans. Innes and Perry are captured by the Mahars' ape-like Sagoth servants and taken with other human captives to the chief Mahar city of Phutra. Among their fellow captives are the brave Ghak, the Hairy One, from the country of Sari, the shifty Hooja the Sly One and the lovely Dian the Beautiful of Amoz.
A collection of 15 humorous short stories by the original master of speculative fiction: H. G. Wells. This was the first collection of short stories published by the author, and contains a mixture of fantasy, science-fiction and humour!
Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources...
Dr. Arthur Maxon has a dream: to create an artificial human being! His first twelve experiments have resulted only in grotesque, subhuman monsters. But Number Thirteen is perfect, and will make an ideal mate for Virginia, Dr. Maxon’s only daughter. But his monstrous plan goes awry when it is disrupted by pirates and Maxon’s duplicitous assistant, Carl von Horn.
Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol’s feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen’s crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen’s crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?
An accident during a polar expedition leads the crew of the Polar King to the discovery of an entire world within the earth. Within the interior realm lies a vast ocean with continents and civilisations unknown to the outside world. The societies within possess new technologies and magics unknown to the outside world and these are lovingly described in great detail by the author. The crew proceed to explore and in true Victorian fashion then conquer the new world. An extraordinary feat of imagination and inventiveness by this obscure author.
The Masters had ruled all space with an unconquerable iron fist. But the Masters were gone. And this new, young race who came now to take their place—could they hope to defeat the ancient Enemy of All?
The Masters had ruled all space with an unconquerable iron fist. But the Masters were gone. And this new,
young race who came now to take their place--could they hope to defeat the ancient Enemy of All?
David Innes and his captive, a member of the reptilian Mahar master race of the interior world of Pellucidar, return from the surface world in the Iron Mole invented by his friend and companion in adventure Abner Perry.
Emerging in Pellucidar at an unknown location, David frees his captive. He names the place Greenwich and uses the technology he has brought to begin the systematic exploration and mapping of the unknown land while searching for his lost companions, Abner, Ghak, and Dian the Beautiful. He soon encounters and befriends a new ally, Ja the Mezop of the island country of Anoroc; later he finds Abner, from whom he learns that in his absence the human revolt against the Mahars has not been going well. In a parlay with the Mahars David bargains for information of his love Dian and his enemy Hooja the Sly One, which his foes agree to supply in return for the book containing the Great Secret of Mahar reproduction that David stole and hid in the previous novel. David undertakes to recover it, only to find that Hooja has been there before him and claimed Dian as his own reward of the Mahars!
"I was one hundred miles from Nowhere—and I mean that literally—when I spotted this girl out of the corner of my eye. I'd been keeping an extra lookout because I still expected the other undead bugger left over from the murder party at Nowhere to be stalking me." In a Post apocalyptic world, the few people left must be strong. And must not hesitate to kill. Of course, killing another Deathlander was one of the chief pleasures and urges of all the solitary wanders in this vast wasteland. Kill and kill again. But this other was a girl and that brought up the second great urge: sex. Which was it to be today? Perhaps both? And who would walk away afterward?
Gladiator by Philip Wylie is the story of a man who although normal in all other ways, through the genius of his Father a biologist attains the strength and impregnability of a superman. The problems he encounters in trying to fit into a society of normal human beings who show fear and hatred whenever they view his abnormal strength and physical ability pains him to the point of having to leave civilization.
Dis was a harsh, inhospitable, dangerous place and the Magter made it worse. They might have been human once—but they were something else now.The Magter had only one desire—Kill! Kill everything, themselves, their planet, the universe if they could—Brion Brandd was sent in at the eleventh hour. His mission was to save Dis, but it looked as though he was going to preside over its annihilation. Space derring Do. Rip roaring action. Evil Aliens. A bewildered hero. Lots of fun. ( phil chenevert)Space derring Do. Lots of fun.
Two planets are about to engage in a nuclear war that will destroy one of them. Millions will perish. Brion Brandd, who lives on neither planet, has been recruited by the Cultural Relationships Foundation to stop the war from happening. He is only person in the galaxy who can do it, but can he? A classic 1962 science fiction short novel by master Harry Harrison.
Conan's lustful desires again get him into a whole pile of trouble. This time the beautiful, golden haired, noble born Octavia, lures him into a fiendish trap set by his most powerful enemies and from which there seems to be no escape. But on the long deserted island of Xapur where he goes to capture this crafty beauty, it is not just mortal enemies that await him; Khosatral Khel a demon that crawled up from the abyss many eons ago and is of a substance as hard as iron has been awakened and is intent on crushing Conan and the woman like bugs for it's amusement. Conan is up against a being immensely stronger than he is and which he cannot kill with normal weapons. Will his mighty thews and muscles finally be crushed beneath the iron fists of this devil? Will Conan finally meet his match in this fierce but scantily clad woman or will she finally yield to his powerful kisses? Listen and discover the answer to these questions.
A Free Trader space ship visits the planet Khatka where magic and Voodoo are threatening to destroy the promising civilization that has been slowly developing. The medic Tau uses his own knowledge of magic to help fight this menace but is it enough? Can he fight the very powerful Witch Doctor on his own territory? Listen and find out.
The sequel to Plague Ship, Voodoo Planet finds the Solar Queen banned from trade and starting her supposed quiet two-year stint as an interstellar mail carrier. But instead her crew accepts a visit to the safari planet of Khatka, where they find themselves caught in a battle between the forces of reason and the powers of Khatka's mind-controlling wizard.
A classic locked room mystery, in a not-so-classic setting. (Intro by Karen Savage)
"Somewheres on the jungle world of Jumala, there was a man in hiding—a man whose mind had been reconditioned with another's brain pattern and for whom there was a fabulous reward. Star Hunter is a thrill-packed account of that other-worldly game of hide-and-seek between a man who did not know all his own powers and an interstellar safari that sought something no man had a right to find...."
“Doc” E.E. Smith pretty much invented the space opera genre, and Triplanetary is a good and well-known example. Physics, time, and politics never stand in the way of a plot that gallops ahead without letup.
Having earned a PhD in chemical engineering, it’s understandable that the heroes of Smith’s story are all scientists. He didn’t want to be constrained by the limits of known science, however, so in his hands the electromagnetic spectrum becomes a raw material to be molded into ever-more amazing and lethal forms, and the speed of light is no bar to traveling through the interstellar void.
Come enjoy this story of yesteryear, set in tomorrow, where real women ignite love at a glance, real men achieve in days what governments manage in decades, and aliens are an ever-present threat to Life-As-We-Know-It!
They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men, two women, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the Cosmos to find their way back to earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered.
Time Agents Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe return for another assignment, this time to the tropical island paradise planet of Hawaika. Something apocalyptic has occurred in this planet’s history, altering its topography and cleansing it of all intelligent life. But something goes wrong when they attempt a peek at the past through a Time Gate, and with the Polynesian girl Karara and her trained dolphins Tino-rau and Taua, are plunged into a conflict between a dying super-race, barbarian natives, and invading aliens.
An entire planet colonized by Texans. Can this cause problems? You becha pardner. So strap on your shootin' irons, take a shot of Superbourbon and get ready for some really good barbeque of Supercow. Along with justice; NewTexas style.
Haedaecker’s Theory claims that real-time communications across space is impossible. Paul Grayson believes that Z-wave technology will make real time communication possible. Paul sets out to prove his theory but there are those who don’t want him to succeed. Follow Paul’s adventures while he tries to prove his theory correct in the face of stiff opposition from those who do not want him to succeed.
When the Inter-Planetary Corporation's (IPC) crack liner “IPV Arcturus” took off on a routine flight to Mars, it turned out to be the beginning of a unexpected and long voyage. There had been too many reports of errors in ship's flight positions from the Check Stations and brilliant physicist Dr. Percival (“Steve”) Stevens is aboard the Arcturus on a fact-finding mission to find out what's really happening, and hopefully save the honor of the brave pilots of the space-liner Arcturus from the desk-jockeys' in the Check Stations implications of imprecision - the nastiest insult you could cast at a ships pilot. He and the pilots are right, it was the Check Stations that were out of position, not the ships. But that's cold consolation because before the Arcturus reaches Mars it's attacked by a small, mysterious, globe shaped spaceship.
In his final adventure on Mars, Eric John Stark acquires a relic of an ancient Martian hero, a gem or lens which is believed to be the key to the strength of Kushat, the city that guards the Gates of Death in the frozen north. A brief inspection of the artifact plunges Stark into the mind of its creator, where he sees, through those long-dead eyes, the unutterably ancient, beautiful, and evil Martian race who are imprisoned in the ice beyond the Gates of Death, alive and plotting to reclaim Mars for themselves and to extend the ice, their world, around the whole planet. Falling into the hands of roving outlaws, Stark survives torture and overcomes his cruel torturer, thereby winning the respect of the leader, who wears black clothing and a fearful mask. After a daring escape, Stark makes his way to Kushat, with the double intent of restoring the artifact and warning the city that the outlaw band intends to attack it. He finds both tasks difficult but at length succeeds in persuading the city officials of the danger. The battle which ensues costs both sides dearly, and it also precipitates the main action of the novel, for a citizen flees the falling city intent upon opening the Gates of Death in the hope that whatever lies beyond will overwhelm the invaders. Stark pursues him, still carrying the ancient amulet, and is himself pursued by the now unmasked, black-clad leader of the outlaw band. Finally three antagonists find themselves bound together in a struggle with the ancients for possession of the planet Mars. (This story was later expanded in book form under the title People of the Talisman 1964.)
When a super-robot named Snookums discovers how to build his own superbombs, it becomes obvious that Earth is by no means the safest place for him to be. And so Dr. Fitzhugh, his designer, and Leda Crannon, a child psychologist acting as Snookums’ nursemaid, agree to set up Operation Brainchild, a plan to transport the robot to a far distant planet. But the space ship becomes the scene of some frightening events--the medical officer is murdered, and Snookums appears to be the culprit…
Operation Cochise: a carefully planned Western move to colonize a planet ahead of the Reds. Travis Fox had been an eager volunteer, but the morning he dragged himself half-conscious from the wrecked spaceship on the planet Topaz, he sensed the terror which would threaten the project. Travis never learned why the ship had crashed, nor why he and the other Apache agents had been shot into space without warning and under Redax control, a machine which had returned them to ancestral mentality. But the dangers on Topaz demanded free minds, for Travis soon realized that if the Reds already encamped beyond the mountains--a horde of barbaric Mongols completely dominated by their masters--discovered the secret of the eerie underground chamber in the towers hidden in a valley of mists, not only Topaz but Terra itself would be destroyed.
The Cold War of the 1960s has grown warmer and warmer over time until, at this time in the future, it is a very hot and nasty war where Atomic and Ionic Bombs are dropped and satellites snoop into everything. The US has decided to move underground for protection from bombs and snooping and society in this future age is happy living there. Everyone lives underground! Well, except for the odd balls and weirdos who insist on staying topside. Gusterson is one of these quirky ones. He is milked for new ideas by the less inventive 'moles' as he calls them. One of his ideas is taken and despite his warnings, turns into a monster indeed; something that can and does control people. Listen and hear of the horror of the 'TICKLER!" (First published in Galaxy magazine, 1961)
Sabotage accidentally takes Earth's first manned interplanetary expedition to the Moon, where a sublunar adventure ensues, involving two intelligent species and a good deal of fighting as well as romance. The perceptive reader will perceive the author's peculiar notions concerning the behavior of volcanos, an offense against scientific fact that is hard to pardon in a writer of science fiction, but if it can be overlooked, the variety of incident and the fast pace of the action, full of surprises, amply repay the reader's generous indulgence.
There was no life on the asteroid, but the miles of rock-hewn corridors through which the earth party wandered left no doubt about the purpose of the asteroid. It was a mighty fortress, stocked with weapons of destruction beyond man's power to understand.And yet there was no life here, nor had there been for untold centuries.What race had built this stronghold? What unimaginable power were they defending against? Why was it abandoned? There was no answer, all was dead. But—not quite all.For in a room above the tomb-like fortress a powerful transmitter beamed its birdlike, fluting sounds toward earth. Near it, on a huge star-map of the universe, with light-years measured by inches, ten tiny red sparks were moving, crawling inexorably toward the center.Moving, at many times the speed of light, with the acquired mass of suns ... moving, on a course that would pass through the solar system.The unknown aliens would not even see our sun explode from the force of their passing, would not even notice the tiny speck called Earth as it died....
SPACE PLATFORM tells the exciting story of a young man helping to build this first station. With scientific accuracy and imagination Murray Leinster, one of the world's top science-fiction writers, describes the building and launching of the platform. Here is a fast-paced story of sabotage and murder directed against a project more secret and valuable than the atom bomb!
Jed Cochrane is about to take off on man's first interstellar voyage. His mission: Make sure it's good television!