Author: jmstine

"A most impressive example of understatement—in science fiction ... keeps the major components of the story within the bounds of the human. Quite an accomplishment in view of the cosmic nature of the plot!" that's how Galaxy Magazine describes the dazzling cosmic science fiction of pulp master Edmond Hamilton.

A husband and wife find themselves at odds with each other when they become the center of a whirlpool of galactic intrigue in this top-of-form and very adroit novel containing Hamilton's classic blend of pulp space opera and adult romance.

For two hundred years Earth's power and prestige as the center of galactic government has been increasingly eclipsed by that of her growing colonies in far distant star clusters. Now the weakened mother world, celebrating the anniversary of the first space flight, has become a helpless pawn in a struggle between the scheming Orion cluster and the other clusters it hopes to conquer.

Enter Jay Birrel, captain of a squadron of space ships in from the cluster Lyra for the celebration, and his brilliant wife Lyllin, whose exotic looks betray her birth on distant Vega. Jay is of Terrestrial descent, and a visit to the ancient family homestead earns him friends and stirs a sense of belonging to the mother world he never knew he possessed. Jay might even want to live here.

But the neighbors aren't as quick to cotton to the alien-looking Lyllin, and the pair soon find themselves at odds over their feelings about the old homestead and the old home planet. Then Orion strikes, and before he can work things out with Lyllin, Jay finds himself called to duty, with only hours to prepare for an epic battle between his own cluster and the aggressor—with the independence of Terra as the prize. Here is a masterful space epic with a human heart and sensibility such as only Jules Verne Prize winner Edmond Hamilton could write.

"Roistering adventure. Beautiful heroines, color and imagery. A final world-smashing slug-fest. Good fun!"—Analog/Astounding

The Science Fantasy Classic! He Flew Over the Rainbow—but Not to Oz!

The author of The Star Kings returns! In A Yank at Valhalla, the author's euphonious protagonist, a war-weary aircraft pilot on a scientific expedition in the Arctic, helps discover a strangely shaped gold cylinder covered with runic symbols. Flying it back to the mainland, he soon finds his plane is being drawn northward by an irresistible force. When he spots a vast chasm in the earth spanned only by a shimmering bridge of rainbow hues, with a noble castle rising on the far side, and a golden-haired Valkyrie on a flying horse being pursued by hideous giants, our hero realizes he may have flown over the rainbow, but he hasn't landed in Oz!

When he is rescued by the Valkyrie, he discovers her name is Freya, and although he wasn't planning to fall in love with a warrior-maid and demigoddess, he does. Soon Odin, Thor, Baldur, and the other Norse Gods welcome him into the fraternity of Valhalla as a brother warrior, and reveal the super-scientific secrets that have kept them alive—and hidden—for tens of thousands of years. But what he does not suspect is that he, and his love for Freya, are part of Loki's long-brewed plan to free the sinister giants of Jotunheim, trigger Ragnarok, and bring on the Twilight of the Gods!

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls A Yank at Valhalla "Memorable!" and one of Hamilton's most "formidably composed" novels, "dark in texture," "one of the novels for which he will be remembered."

Out of print for more than a quarter of a century!

Were the New Women and Men Human or Monster?

Brought back to life via vitaplasm, did they have souls? Or were they somehow less than human, people minus X? Here's what Amazing Stories had to say about this moving, thoughtful, highly-prophetic novel of the future: "This is a novel with a cosmic theme that has always been of interest to all people at all times: the process of regeneration and recreation. Through vitaplasm innocent victims of disaster are restored almost to their own selves."

Soon, humans begin to realize that the artificial people are their superiors in every respect. Mob feeling changes Mitchell Prell, one of vitaplasm's inventors, into a scapegoat and forces him to flee the human community. Ed Dukas, his nephew, and Ed's wife, Barbara, try to use reason to combat the mounting hysteria which threatens to explode into a war of annihilation. When failure seems near, Ed, Barbara and Prell sacrifice their humanity by becoming artificial people in order to function more effectively.

"...a suspenseful plot, unusual characterizations, relevant soul-searching on the place of scientific advances in everyday life." The Detroit Times raved that "Gallun depicts scientific experiments on the Moon—an explosion that sears Earth—restoring persons through personality records—a struggle between restored people and natural humanity—life on the asteroids—thought reading machines—a journey to Mars—a starship expedition to Sirius ... [Dawn of the Demigods] is packed with action scientific style."

(Also published as People Minus X, but Dawn of the Demigods is the author's preferred title.)

Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-94) began writing science fiction in 1929, produced his first acknowledged classic, the much anthologized Old Faithful, in 1934, stopped writing in the 1950s and then returned for a triumphant last decade in the mid-1970s-80s. This last decade of his career would see him nominated three times for the Nebula Award.

In her two-issue career, her nakedness only accentuated by her brightly colored harem costume, Malu the Slave Girl concurrently performed the dual roles of a BDSM sex fantasy and a strong woman who fights for love and freedom.  In the process, artist Howard Larsen created an iconic character that helped establish the Good Girl Art genre.

This full color collection includes all the Malu stories from both issues of Avon Comics, Inc.'s Slave Girl Comics.  Between the almost-camp title, the frequent pin-up poses of a nearly-nude woman bound by ropes and fighting for her life against a range of thugs with knives and swords, the generally uninhibited eroticism and the iconic covers, Slave Girl Comics still excites readers today.

Malu, the Slave Girl—actually the kidnapped princess of Ormuz—meets Garth, the Ormuzian soldier sent to free her. They escape and Garth vows to take Malu to her country. After a series of adventures where she is frequently enslaved, they get to her kingdom—where we discover that her evil uncle lusts for the throne and has her kidnapped again! At the end of the first issue they are sold into slavery on a pirate ship.

All this makes Slave Girl Comics a unique story—a combination of barbarian adventure, sex, and super-heroine romance, with perhaps a pinch of feminism. Stories include: The Banquet of Thuzp; The Bandits of Tal Azmut; The Slave Market of Manochr; The Pirates of Abmur; The Tower of Indecision, and others.

Both volumes in one ebook! With Introduction by comics authority Robert Gluckson, MA.

The Nebula Nominee Story and More!

Here is the only collection of stories by the Nebula nominee author of Skyclimber, Bioblast, and Dawn of the Demi-Gods. One of the only two writers to produce science fiction of increasing quality and sophistication from the earliest days of the pulps and into the last quarter of the 20th century, the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction hails Raymond Z. Gallun as "the best of those pre-1939 writers who failed to remain well-known."

Featuring "A First Glimpse," one of the author's two Nebula nominee novelettes for Analog, this mammoth 100,000-word collection includes the novelettes "Comet's Burial" and "Stamped Caution" and the two novellas "Brother Worlds" and "Forbidden Moon," which have been virtually unobtainable for nearly half a century; plus a quartet of reader favorites that have been out of print for more than twenty years, including "Davy Jones, Ambassador," "Hotel Cosmos," "Prodigal's Aura," and the masterful "Seeds of the Dusk."

Here is a collection—and an author—not to be missed by lovers of science fiction. These are stories the Encyclopedia has described as "plotted with vigor and packed with ideas, often decidedly original."

A Horror Lover's Treat!

Far too frequently, compilations of classic horror stories reprint the same two dozen or so standards, until readers begin to believe no others were ever written. By now most horror readers are only too familiar with "The Upper Berth," "Mrs. Amsworth," "Markheim," "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot," "The Open Door," "The Mark of the Beast," and "Casting the Runes." The Horrors! series of classic reprints, however, aims to correct this imbalance by searching out great masterpieces of terror that are harder to find and less frequently anthologized.

In this volume you will discover such gems as Perceval London's "Thurnley Abbey," E. F. Benson's "The Confession of Charles Linkworth," Erickmann-Chatrain's "The Invisible Eye," Edith Nesbit's "Man-size in Marble," Hume Nisbet's "The Haunted Station," and John Metcalfe's "The Smoking Leg." How many have you read before?

Is there No Rest for the Wicked?

In the sixth volume of Joe Vadalma's bestselling Morgaine saga, the answer is no! At the end of Book 5, the ruthless witch Morgaine, driven by her age-old love for the sorcerer Michael, gained everything she ever wanted when she possessed the body of his wife Melody.

But can evil ever lead to a happy ending? Morgaine thought so; now, she learns otherwise. The dark gods are determined to have the last laugh, for Morgaine's triumph will be short-lived. She only has weeks to enjoy her new life as Michael's Melody. The end of the world is at hand.

While Michael seeks a way to avert the calamity, Melody/Morgaine is captured by the vampire leader, Vlad Tepes, who makes her his slave. In league with the darkest of deities, Tepes has created a host of vampires and other monstrous creatures which he unleashes on helpless humanity.

Meanwhile, a terrible plague is sweeping across the globe, and a world-destroying comet is headed toward Earth. The selfish Morgaine discovers she has the power to save the world, but only at a fearful price. She must be willing to sacrifice her love for Michael and return Melody's body to its rightful owner, while she herself opposes the awesome might of Lucifer's legions.

Rated Mature; some sexual content.

"Rings with Truth!" writes Amazing Stories of Jean Marie Stine's science fiction.

In this first-ever collection of her shorter work, you will discover why The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction hails her work as "razor-blade fiction" and the award-winning fantasist Fritz Leiber said she writes with "passion, pain, real pluck [and] a good eye for physical detail."

Here you will find novelettes and shorts previously published in Amazing Stories, Galaxy, Pegasus, SF Sagas, and other top-flight publications. Meet the unforgettable Amy, a little girl with a doll, who lives where life is at its most dangerous—"In the Canal Zone." What if God really was female? What if one woman had the power to make it so? Read about her world-changing decision in "Herstory." What is a woman? How many different kinds of women are there? Discover one answer in "Jinni's So Long at the Fair," a peek into a dark, harrowing future and a love that linked two ages. When a corrupt governor discovers there are some crimes even he balks at, his life is in danger and he must turn for help to the newest incarnation of the legendary sorceress, Marie Laveau, in "Gris-Gris". What is truth? Pontius Pilate wanted to know. One man finds out when he has an encounter on "The Darkside of the Moon."

Then in "Phantom of the Aquarius," "Feelin' Bold," and "Reckless" you'll meet Sven Fort, a man fleeing a doomed future for an ideal past, who just can't help destroying the golden ages into which he flees. As a special bonus you will find "No Exit," co-written with Hugo and Nebula winner Larry Niven.

"Stine exploits beautifully a full-blooded, taut style which bears comparison with the best mainstream fiction." —Foundation (U.K.)

"A Story That Stayed with Me!" —Isaac Asimov

Meet the Zoromes, who inspired Asimov's own characterization of his positronic robots.

After spending forty million years in suspended animation while his one-man ship circles twenty thousand miles from earth, Professor Jameson awakes to discover humanity has perished and he is the only one left alive. Jameson faces a very lonely existence indeed—until he meets the Zoromes, highly advanced intellects who have transferred their minds into near-immortal metal bodies, roaming the universe in search of strange worlds and high adventure.

Soon the Professor has been persuaded to accompany them in a metal body of his own. With his trivial human passions off-screen, the author is free to focus on creating and painting wonder after wonder: planets with double suns, societies of intelligent fish, hollow planets, metal moons, cat people, twin worlds, mausoleums of vanished races...

In fact, the Jameson series is one of the seminal sf works that gave birth to the term "sense of wonder." Professor Jameson Interstellar Adventures #1 presents the two short novels in this classic series from the early 1930s: The Jameson Satellite and The Planet of the Double Sun. In the second short novel, Jameson and the Zoromes encounter a planet of two suns whose triped inhabitants pose a problem in space exploration that threatens to end the professor's career before it has started!

As Asimov would write, "What I responded to was the tantalizing glimpse of possible immortality and the vision of the world's sad death, to say nothing of the contracting spirals of the planetary orbits forty million years hence [and the way] Jones carried his Zoromes to a new and startling world in each... Jones's Zoromes—were robots really. Their organic brains were just a detail. Jones treated them as mechanical men, making them objective without being unfeeling, benevolent without being busybodies. Although the Zoromes remained without individual personality, I could easily recite the number-letter combinations of those who appeared most often. It is from the Zoromes, beginning with their first appearance in 'The Jameson Satellite,' that I got my own feeling for benevolent robots who could serve man with decency, as these had served Professor Jameson. It was the Zoromes, then, who were the spiritual ancestors of my own 'positronic robots,' all of them, from Robbie to R. Daneel."