Author: jmstine

To this Mutant Superman, a Pretty Girl was Like a Malady!

Jery Devlin had a most unusual psychic power: He could detect the logical flaws in any scheme or misleading statement on sight—even those that eluded the best brains in the solar system. So when the Chief of World Security told him he had been selected to solve the system's greatest mystery, the disappearance of an entire boy scout troop from a ship in mid-space, Jery had only one reservation: encountering a beautiful woman.

Nearness to any woman who sent his pulse racing always triggered Devlin's dork gene and lost him the ability to think. On Mars, this master spy of the red planet found his hands full just dealing with the intricate maze of out-of-this-world double-dealing—and when he met Snow, the woman with the cornsilk hair and out-of-this-world figure, his mind went blank. Soon she stole his World Security ID and his heart, and then she saved his life! Or was that just a trick to keep him from rescuing the scouts and discovering the existence of the fabled secret Martians?

By the author of the uproarious It's Magic, You Dope! Don't miss this never-reprinted sf romp, originally half of an Ace Double Novel (the pulpiest of all early paperback houses), edited by the legendary Don Wollheim.

"Second only to Burroughs' John Carter!" —Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

Unabridged ebook edition!

Born in the pages of All Story magazine, the same magazine that gave John Carter birth, Palos of the Dog Star Pack is the novel that, as historian and critic John J. Pierce writes, "established the parameters for a school of created-world sf in which isolated heroes are transported to exotic worlds for more or less exotic adventures." The book's protagonist, Jason Croft, travels mentally to a world of Sirius, where he encounters romance and adventure. As Sam Moskowitz writes in Under the Moons of Mars, "He takes possession of the powerful body of Jason of Nodhur, a handsome but feeble-minded youth, at the moment of death, and sets out to win the hand of Naia, princess of Tamarizia. His knowledge of earthly science results in the advancement of the people of Palos." Moskowitz adds, "The story was fascinating and well told, in the precise tradition of Edgar Rice Burrough's [John Carter of Mars] series."

J.U. Giesy's Palos of the Dog Star Pack is truly a novel in the tradition of classic science fiction with all the unbridled adventure, color, romance and action of Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, C. L. Moore, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and the legendary golden age pulp, Planet Stories. It even bears, as the author said in another context, "philosophic lessons interwoven in the narrative."

The 1960s hardcover Avalon edition, from which most ebook editions take their text, was cut by more than a third, destroying the author's style and the story's logic. Now you can read the unabridged, original text of Palos of the Dog Star Pack as the author intended! And look for its two sequels (see the "Related Products" tab at right)! Special Introduction about the author and book.

The Classic Trilogy of Romance and Reincarnation!

Deep in the heart of Africa, Leo Vincey and his friend Horace Holly encounter a mysterious immortal woman, possessed of great mystic powers, living amidst the ruins of an ancient civilization. Called She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed by local villages and worshiped as a goddess, the woman seems to recognize Leo instantly as the reincarnation of her one great love, killed by her own jealous hand, for whom she has done penance, waiting more than 3,000 years for his return.

But Leo falls in love with the maiden Ustane and forgets all about She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed. Once before, a triangle just such as this led to the death of a man at Her hands. Will history repeat itself? And just who are She, Leo, and Ustane?

The author hints at their identities in She. But to fully answer the question Haggard had write two sequels, Ayesha and Wisdom's Daughter, taking the trio back through successive reincarnations, to the beginnings of civilization, to the Halls of the Gods, and beyond to the final revelations when all three stand, stripped naked, revealed for who and what they truly are, and the karmic balance is finally restored.

This ebook contains the final three suspense-filled adventures in the "lives" of Johnny Mayhem, the fabulous cosmic troubleshooter.

Mayhem was the most popular character appearing in the American science fiction magazines of the mid- to late-1950s. His body reconstructed by aliens after a crash landing, Mayhem is literally "the man who saved the universe"—and the price he pays for it is a terrible one, for Mayhem's consciousness can move from body to body, but he can inhabit each body only for 30 days, or he and it will die. So Johnny becomes a galactic world-jumper who must face the greatest dangers that threaten humanity and triumph over them—or perish.

The first story, "A Coward Named Mayhem," sends him into space on a brave man's mission. But how can he succeed—trapped as he is in the body of a man with a coward's reactions? The second, "Mayhem Enslaved," involves Mayhem in a gender-change, transplanted in a female body, and adventure on a planet of Ophiuchus. In Johnny's final adventure ever, "World Beyond Pluto," Johnny is off to Partap's Planet, whose stubborn residents resist evacuation when their sun is about to go nova.

"Unusual and Unexpected!"

That's how Ray Bradbury hails the science fiction of Nebula Award nominee Ross Rocklynne. Headed by "Ching Witch!", his 1972 Nebula nominee novelette, this first-ever collection of Rocklynne's work presents him in a wide variety of styles and themes. You will find stylistically and philosophically dazzling stories like "Ching Witch," "Find the Face," and "The Sound of Space." You will also find two very different philosophic puzzle stories, one light-hearted, the other deeply affecting: "Jackdaw" and "Quietus."

You will certainly find two stories that in a dramatic science fiction setting embody some of the thought-provoking ideas the author imbibed from the Indian philosophy of Vedanta, "They Fly So High" and "Fulfillment." Finally, you will also discover the ever-playful Rocklynne in a more humorous vein in the puckish "The Good Egg," the sardonic "The Diversifal," and the romantic farce, "The Voice."

This is a "don't miss" drawn from the cream of digest and pulp science fiction, including Astounding (now Analog), Amazing, Galaxy, Planet, and Thrilling Wonder Stories.

The Spaceman had to Use Science Against Star Magic!

From the pen of Nebula nominee writer Emil Petaja comes The Star Mill, the second volume in his stunning series of science fantasies based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. In each volume, one of the great heroes of the Kalevala is reborn in one of his genetic descendents in the far future to prevent the return of evil alien forces, the Pahaliset, who once tried to conquer Earth in the dim ages of Finland's past—for now the Pahaliset are returning, stronger and more dangerous than ever.

Author-editor-publisher Donald A. Wollheim wrote that "from the Kalevala's mind-stunning material, Petaja has created a cycle of novels—science fiction fantasy adventure of the highest order—retelling in the eyes of modern scientific conjecture the great worlds-shaking events that may be concealed by the folklore of an ancient and mysterious people."

In ages past, the wondersmith Ilmarinen had used his awesome psychic powers to fashion a Sampo, a device powered by the energy of stars and capable of creating anything asked of it. But, the Star-Witch, Louhi, one of the Pahaliset, had gained the Star Mill and turned its atom-transforming power of creation to that of a terrible destruction that would not end until all matter, animate and inanimate, had been shattered.

Then a castaway is found on an interstellar asteroid not far from a dangerous storm of cosmic disintegration that has been growing in the region of Ursa Major for millenia. His survival is impossible, and he can not explain it, for he has no memory of who he is or how he reached the asteroid. But as he attempts to solve the riddle, he comes to realize that he may be the living embodiment of an ancient legend. A man who has a date with destiny that will pit him against an ancient evil force in a battle beyond the frontiers of known science.

The Star Mill is truly an unusual novel of science, adventure, and fantasy, brimming with heroes, heroines, witches, beings from beyond the stars, of strange powers that once shaped humanity and return to do it again in humankind's distant future.

"As Good as an Action-Adventure Story can Be!"

So Isaac Asimov, science fiction grandmaster, said of Henry Hasse's classic space opera when it first appeared in magazine form just prior to WWII. Now, in its first-ever republication, you can read this fast-moving novel set against the conflicts of the early years in the exploration and colonization of the solar system.

Dave Randall needs money—so when a well-respected figure asks him to deliver an important diplomatic package to Mars, in secret, he accepts. But from the first moment he sets foot on the spaceship Martian Princess, danger and intrigue pile up around him.

First, there is the attack on his life. Then, his encounters with the enigmatic Thalia Martian, who may be the innocent she seems, a secret ally, or an agent of the unknown forces who want the package Dave has in his safekeeping. Next, the Martian Princess is attacked by the infamous pirate, Hogarth, who takes the letter and Thalia.

Determined to recover the one and rescue the other (if she needs rescuing), Dave begins an epic quest that will plunge him into peril on three worlds, in space, and finally amid the red sands of Mars.

Complete in itself, here is the first of at least six volumes chronicling Hasse's nearly forgotten thirty-story future history series, Chronicles of the Six Worlds.

Weird Tales from Unknown Worlds!

Award-winning author E. Everett Evans was a famed author of off-trail horror stories in the late 1940s and early '50s. His work appeared in such distinguished publications as Weird Tales, Fantasy Book, Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, and Spaceways. A small compilation of his work, limited to 600 copies, was published some thirty years ago.

But The Undead Die is the first-ever collection of this horror master's fine stories available to the general public. So, be warned: None of Evan's dark fantasies proceed down familiar paths to clichéd ends. Instead, each is a little gem, built around an original idea and treatment. Included, among other delights, are "The Shed," his most famous story (a novelette charged with many elements later to be found in the work of Steven King); in fact, a similar claim could be made in regard to "Blurb."

Also included is "The Undead Die," written in collaboration with none less than the legendary Ray Bradbury. This last is a real treat for aficionados of dark fantasy, for it has only been reprinted once more than a quarter century ago! Evans was fascinated by the vampire legend, and this collection features no less that four of his very human treatments of the undead.

Space Opera with the Human Touch!

Fans of David Webber, Lois McMaster Bujold, David Drake, and Poul Anderson will love The Price to Be Paid, a very human novel of an interstellar culture threatened by war.

A civilization in decline can only be as strong as the people who support it. Alexandre Girndt is a loyal officer of the Star Navy of the faltering Republic. The demands of duty call him far from his homeworld and his childhood sweetheart. Pomp and pageantry mingle with honor and routine duty. Hunting pirates and maintaining order are vital duties among the far-flung worlds. When civil war erupts throughout the galaxy, Girndt is forced to decide where his loyalties lay. Old friendships are tested and the fate of entire worlds rest on the decisions he must make…and what ultimate price he must pay.

She Schemed to Rule the Stars!

From the author of the bestselling novel of military sf, The Price to Be Paid: A Novel of the Stellar Republic, comes a book set in a distant solar system where aristocratic forces that lost to the Republic have set up their own little empire.

Now, centuries later, the Cadian Lords wage seemingly endless Resource Wars, trying to  control their system's natural resources. Political scheming and constant raiding on far-flung shipping routes have prevented outright warfare from consuming the Freeholds' tenuous grips on civilization. But one brilliant, ambitious woman, Yvonne Thibeau, schemes to make her House supreme and all the other Cadin Lords its vassals. With the power of an ancient technology at her command, Yvonne is willing to wage a full-scale war—risking the very civilization she hopes to rule in order to fulfill her dream.

Empress of all the Stars is a sweeping saga of war, politics, and romance that will thrill Matt Kirkby's fans and win him new ones.

"Fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate will love Matt Kirkby's work!" says Jean Marie Stine, former personal assistant to Gene Roddenberry.