Author: jmstine

What can one android and three misfits hope to do to tilt the balance against all-powerful aliens?

The Spakerusms have taken over Earth and rule it through their android slaves. They believe that their rule is benevolent, and their only wish is to prepare mankind to join a galactic union of sapient races.

Takeover relates how three men fare under this "benevolent" rule. The first is Professor Courley, an eccentric and a bit of a recluse. One day he is ordered to report to the Anomalies Department of the Bureau of Social Engineering and is told that he must become more social.

George Majoraski joins a group of insurgents to fight against the Spakerusm's rule. During the day he appears to be an ordinary citizen—but at night he and his terrorist group sabotage and destroy, sometimes having to murder both humans and androids alike.

Jacob Martarono is an agitator who targets androids, convincing them that their work causes harm to humans. After Martarono is thrown in a cell, he is rescued by an android—one he's spoken to before, and who has been spreading his message to his fellows and attempting to build up quite a base of support...

He Fell in Love with an Android!

For Love of Kumiko is a science fiction romance about a torrid, yet bittersweet, love affair between an android and a human man. Allen Goodwin's life was turned upside down when he fell in love with Kumiko. The problem was that she came with an instruction manual. Love was never so complex!

Here's a stunning collection of romantic SF and fantasy from the bestselling author of the Morgaine the Sorceress series. Do love and romance mix well in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Dark Fantasy stories? They do in the stories in this collection!

In Joe Vadalma's new book, love (and lust) figures prominently. Here are fifteen stories in which love or romance are major factors in the outcome of the plot. They are stories of encounters with demons, robots, monsters and witches; adventures in time, haunted houses and fantasy lands.

Included are: "Kumiko"; "Rosepetal and the Hunter"; "Abandoned Mansion"; "Alvida"; "Magic Crystal"; "Shadow in the Sky"; "Strange Artifact"; "Box on the Seashore" and more.

Rated Mature; some sexual content.

A Novel of Lovecraftian Horrors!

Albert Keptopolos was a genuine genius. He had doctorates in Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Mathematics, Philosophy and Mysticism. When he was twenty-five, the Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts (CMI) awarded him a prize of one million dollars for solving one of the "Millennium Prize Problems," one of the important classic questions in mathematics that have resisted solution over the years.

After receiving this prestigious and lucrative award, he abandoned mathematics to delve into atomic physics, cosmology and the occult—especially the occult. Every room in his rambling Victorian house contained shelves overflowing with obscure books. Then Professor Keptopolos disappeared.

Detective Martin Kopinski is assigned to the case. First he meets a woman named Lillith and then he hears of the forbidden, blasphemous book called the Necronomicon. But Detective Kopinski doesn't believe in the occult—yet!

From Joe Valdama, author of the Morgaine the Sorceress series, comes a remarkable novel of terror in the Lovecraftian tradition.

Rated Mature; some sexual content.

Their Tower to the Stars was a Spaceship!

Star Tower is the enthralling hard science story of the first manned starship, how it came into being and what happens on its long journey.

John Huck, a bitter veteran of an exploitative war fought for control of the solar system, returns to the earth ghetto where he was born to discover his parents murdered by Earth's repressive government. Seeking revenge, he joins an underground revolution, but is betrayed, arrested and sentenced to die. Then he is offered an out: join a group of other prisoner volunteers on the risky first trip to the stars and back! Successful return means a pardon.

But, taken aboard a vessel so enormous many mistake it for a space station, John and the other prisoners learn they have been shanghaied onto a one-way trip. There can be no return. They will be lucky to live long enough to survive their long, long journey.

This is just the beginning of the story of the ship they christened Star Tower. What John cannot dream is that the hazards and disasters they will encounter along the way will force him to rise to become a leader and change their voyage completely.

The Last and Best of the Neustrian Books!

In this highly-acclaimed fantasy classic and sequel to Gerfalcon and Joris of the Rock, a young woman comes into her own and finds true love amidst danger, intrigue, and war. You'll find impeccable writing, rich characterization, an uncommon complexity of detail, and scenes as thrilling as any in fantasy literature.

"Away beyond the bulk of steel, a brush-tipped tail was waving … huge claws, fully extended, furrowed the smooth sand. The red cavern of a mouth had shut and was opening again. Four deadly corner-fangs, like white pickaxe-blades, ridged grinders ranked behind, a curling tongue like a flat, flayed serpent … a brown chin-tuft brushing the ground … another roar that filled the world… The great shape rose and blotted out the sunlight, Lioncel was already whirling the axe, and flung it hard and true. The roar was twisted to a scream as he ripped out the short sword. Then he was shocked and overborne, crusted and banged and battered; great claws screeched on metal, a hot stink blasted into his helm, and he saw the lion’s palate, ridged like a red tidal beach, above him.”

Filled with the same quality of poetry and song that helped make The Lord of the Rings famous, the Neustrian Cycle is one of fantasy's most beloved works. One reader proclaimed it "Head-and-shoulders above any writing marketed as 'fantasy' today. I am nearing the end of the entire trilogy, and regretting that end is near. The next rereading will not be very far in the future." Another on Goodreads says, "The heroine Yolande is one of the most fully realized and engaging characters in fantasy, and her coming of age is handled so adroitly I hardly noticed how much she'd grown throughout the novel until I reached the end and looked back to the beginning." Yet another Goodreads reviewer proclaims the book "a beautifully written and exciting coming-of-age epic with a loveable introspective hero who learns that peace has a price and that his own heart’s desires are not to be trusted. The prose, though slightly archaic, is easily read and the story is full of incisive insights into (and sometimes gentle mocking of) human behavior."

A Classic of Black Magic and Banditry!

Joris of the Rock—a bandit for whom there is no law, church or king, only his own might and sword—kidnaps Red Anne, the witch, from the arms of her lover the Comte Louis de Campscapel, and takes her for his own. Thus begins the second of the three books of the magical trilogy, too long out of print, that BookLoons describes as "a marvelous fantasy" brimming with "non-stop action, chivalry and romance."

Joris is a unique figure, one of the most memorable in all fantasy literature, a charismatic rogue of rare fascination. Believing himself "one of those men for whom the world is made," Joris succeeds by relying on born leadership and the medieval saying, "Black and gold/Red shall hold."

Opposed to Joris is the magic of an equally arresting figure, the hideous shaman, Yaan, who is determined Joris shall die. What Yann knows and Joris doesn't is that Joris has a son, Juhel, and Juhel, through mistaken identity, is growing up heir to a dukedom, sworn to defend the kingdom against all who would disturb its peace. What happens when the inevitable meeting between outlaw father and knightly son takes place will knot forever the twisted strands of their destinies.

Set against the enthralling kingdom of Neustra, Joris of the Rock is an unforgettable fantasy-adventure The New York Times hailed as "escape from the world of skyscrapers and motor cars to a world—filled with vividness and imagination—charm and horror—Recommended."

"A Marvellous Fantasy, Non-stop Action, Chivalry and Romance."

That's how Hilary Wilson of BookLoons describes Gerfalcon, the first volume in the long-out-of-print Neustrian Cycle. "The Neustrian Cycle" is set in medieval France, in an alternate universe where witchcraft is real and so are the ghosts. In it Raoul, the young heir to the barony of Marckmont (described as "a blend of elf and owl and boy") grows up to become a sensitive, intelligent young man who prefers reading and song to the so-called knightly virtues of war and slaughter.

At seventeen, he takes off on his own and thus begin a series of adventures that will try and mature him. Along the way, he falls in love, survives attempted murder, saves Red Anne (Mistress of the Witches' Coven of the Singing Stones), and is forced to join a band of outlaws, where his life is one of constant danger. Only after many more thrilling incidents does he finally comes into his inheritance.

The New York Times wrote that Gerfalcon is "…recited with vividness and imagination … recommended." While one fantasy-weary reviewer noted: "In a genre clotted with saccharine imitations of Tolkien, Barringer's Neustrian Cycle is a true breath of fresh air. The stories are all tightly written, the dialog is a marvel of subtlety, and the fantasy is distinctly grown up in its sophistication. It is filled with multifaceted characters, fascinating looks at medieval life, desperate struggles, and an overall sense of reality that is lacking from much other fantasy. Barringer's characterizations make most fantasy characters look as bland and uninteresting as cardboard. For my money, Barringer is the most unfairly least appreciated fantasist (barely) on the market today. All three of his novels—Gerfalcon, Joris of the Rock, and Shy Leopardess—are more than worth the effort of tracking down. I can't recommend them highly enough."

From Mercenary to Monarch!

This collection of classic Conan tales from the pen of the immortal Robert E. Howard follow the second half of the barbarian swordsman's career. Included are "Beyond the Black River," "The Jewels of Gwahlur" and the climactic Conan novel, Hour of the Dragon, detailing his fight against blackest magic and betrayal to hold on to the kingdom he has conquered.

Here is the pure quill barbarian as Howard created him, and not the watered down character of the comic books and de Camp paperbacks.

Classic of Devil's Son Rebelling Against His Father!

The legendary Unknown Worlds is considered the best and most literate of the fantasy pulps of the 1940s. The magazine's roster of authors included Ray Bradbury, Fritz Leiber, Jane Rice, Robert A. Heinlein, Alfred Bester, Theodore Sturgeon, L. Sprague de Camp, A. E. Van Vogt, Raymond Chandler, and other masters of the genre. Yet author Cleve Cartmill, almost forgotten today, was considered the leading light of Unknown's stable.

In part, this is because one controversial science fiction story, "Deadline" (in Deadline and Other Controversial SF Classics), came to, in the words of multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Robert Silverberg, "overshadow such nicely done fantasy novellas as A Bit of Tapestry (1941) and Hell Hath Fury (1943)."

In Hell Hath Fury, it's the Devil who is scorned—by his own son by a human bride. Like all fathers, Lucifer has plans for his son, which include setting up the kingdom of hell on earth. But with both human and devil in him, Satan's offspring has a mind of his own and is determined to have things his own way, even if it means a doomed rebellion against the awesome might of his satanic father. It's a clear case of "like father like son".

Also included are two other chilling Cartmill classics from the pages of Unknown, 1941's "Oscar" and 1942's "The Bargain." Rarely reprinted, the electronic publication of these three unique works of dark fantasy by Cleve Cartmill is a major genre event.