Norman Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically—it’s about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he’s about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him.
These two men’s lives weave through one of science fiction’s most praised novels. Written in a way that echoes John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. Trilogy, Stand on Zanzibar is a cross-section of a world overpopulated by the billions. Where society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers, mass-marketed psychedelic drugs, and mundane uses of genetic engineering.
Though written in 1968, it speaks of a near future, and is frighteningly prescient and intensely powerful.
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.
Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe... and on reaches of unimaginable horror.
When prospector Robinette Broadhead ventured out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he was determined to find the right mission that would make him his fortune.
Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Rob Broadhead faces the haunting memories of what happened to him and what he has become.
Join him on a perilous journey into his own psyche, which proves to be even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he pushed himself to undertake!
Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved—saved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first, she had to choose a human partner—male or female—to share her exhilarating escapades in space!
Her life was to be rich and rewarding, resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals. Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructible, Helva XH-834 anticipated a sublime immortality.
Then one day, she fell in love!
Luke Skywalker challenged the stormtroopers of a distant galaxy on a daring mission - where a force of life became the power of death!
Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine... and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars—adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.
But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn't know who she was, but he knew he had to save her—and soon, because time was running out.
Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father's, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever... and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!
Babel-17 delves into the power of language in a universe where humanity is embroiled in a cosmic war with the Invaders. These adversaries have been covertly assassinating officials and sabotaging spaceships. The only clues are strange alien messages intercepted in space. Poet and linguist Rydra Wong is determined to decipher this cryptic language and halt the alien threat.
As Rydra embarks on this mission, she discovers that the language, Babel-17, is more than just a code; it's a weapon that can alter perception and thought, turning those who understand it into unwilling traitors.
Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before.
Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days—Brennan figured to meet that ship first.
He was never seen again—at least not by those alive at the time.
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.
In the twenty-second century, Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun—and of Earth itself.
Only a few know the terrifying truth—an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun. They know the truth—but who will listen? They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy—but who will believe? These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to the Earth's survival.