Author: jmstine

Balrog Award Winner's Science Fantasy Classic!

Were the alien and his robot here to help or hinder humankind? Find out the surprising answer in the original story that inspired the classic 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Here is a must-read for any science fiction lover, for, as the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction says, "the film lost the story's ironic ending." Discover for yourself what Hollywood left out in this first-ever collection of the best work of the legendary 1930s idea man, Harry Bates (1900–1981).

Rounding out this collection of sophisticated plays-on-ideas that stood traditional science fiction on its head are "A Matter of Size" and "Alas, All Thinking" (1935). These three short novels, which the Encyclopedia calls his most "notable stories," have never before been gathered in one book.

Bates' "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1940 under the title, "Farewell to the Master"), with its poignant, haunting last line, would posthumously bring him the coveted Balrog Award (1983). When you have read it, you will understand why long-time science fiction fans rank it and its creator, Harry Bates, among the greats.

Contains Never-Reprinted Hugo Nominee Novelette!

This first-ever collection of novelettes by 1950s pulp master Stanley Mullen's science fiction contains his 1959 Hugo nominee, "Space to Swing a Cat." It also contains a rare treat for all aficionados of science fantasy: five novelettes sharing the same background or "future history."

Common elements in these stories are the planet Venus, seen as a dustbowl caused by an ancient atomic war, with life surviving mostly in the Tihar Forest. This mysterious abode becomes a rich breeding ground for all sorts of mutations due to its strong radioactivity. Other common elements include such creatures as Wrigglers from Callisto, Venusian swamp slugs and grull-cats, seven-limbed bat-noses from Mercury, iceworms from Neptune, the deadly windharps of Mars, the amiable moondogs from Titan, along with nympthons, gamma-men, space angels, and many of the other outré alien lifeforms Mullen specialized in creating.

Strong women were another of Mullen's specialties, and you will be enthralled by Marta, who dared rad-storms and grull-cats; Darbor, who called most men "fools" and was right; Kial Nasron, who would take any risk to save her sister from the horrors of the Tihar Forest, even if it meant her life, and others. To add to reader enjoyment, the original magazine blurbs for each of these stories are included.

Romance, Intrigue in this Contemporary Hard SF Classic!

Two women find themselves in a contest for a man—and the fate of the Earth—in this enthralling 1950s novel by Sam Merwin, Jr., author of the critically-acclaimed Elspeth Marriner alternate universe adventures (House of Many Worlds and Mission to Misenum).

Joyce Hartwick loves Miles Stannard. To many, Miles was just an average scientist, an expert in glaciers, part of a project to slowly drain the polar caps to provide fresh water and arable land for earth's ever-teeming billions. Miles has never even been to the moon! But he is smart, funny, and cute in his own way. Something had clicked between them, and Joyce thought she had Miles all to herself—until the fabulously wealthy Juan Wister invited them to one of his oh-so-exclusive parties and introduced Miles to Greta Saari, a Baltic bombshell with one of the best scientific minds on Earth!

Greta takes an immediate interest in Miles and, whether it is Greta's bikini or brains, Joyce doesn't know, but he seems to take an interest in her. Joyce senses something sinister in Greta and decides to protect Miles from her at all costs. It's an assignment made to order for Joyce, since she is a secret operative for Earth's government. What Joyce doesn't know is that Miles has becomes the center of galactic intrigue!

Then aliens with superior military technology seize the polar cap! Soon Joyce, Miles, and Greta find themselves rocketing to the Moon. The battle over Earth's water and future comes down to two women's battle over one man. Poor Miles! It's no picnic being the most important man in the universe!

The New York Times said Sam Merwin's novels are "Fast-moving adventure, told with engaging humor." The San Francisco Chronicle called them "exciting, modern science fiction." H. L. Gold of Galaxy magazine hailed them as "highly unusual, outstanding--realistic characters—an expert seasoning of thrills and horror."

Uncensored, unabridged edition! Most ebook editions follow the hardcover which was gutted by almost one third.

Jason Croft had willed himself across the cosmic void, and found his soulmate on the planet Palos. But could the magnet of her love draw him safely to Palos forever, forsaking the mortal chains of his earthbound body? When Princess Naia and their infant son are taken prisoner by the most ruthless ruler on Palos, Jason Croft must return to become the virtual warlord of this strange world and bring them back home safely. Don't miss the startling spiritual conclusion to this mighty battle of armies and nations!

Here you'll find the only uncensored, unabridged ebook edition—other ebook editions are taken from the hardcover edition, which was censored and cut by one third!

Taking over the body of a dying man on another world who has just given up the ghost, astral traveler Jason Croft began his rise to power and his wooing of the Princess Naia in Palos of the Dog Star Pack. He saved her country and won her hand. But in this second novel in the Jason Croft trilogy, The Mouthpiece of Zitu, things get tricky when Croft returns to Palos, only to discover the council of priests has named him chief spokesman for their god, Zitu, who traditionally must be celibate and is barred from marriage. Even Princess Naia turns on him—at least until, as John J. Pierce says in Foundations of Science Fiction, "further wooing on a lofty astral plane overcomes her doubts."

But Jason must defeat even more powerful armies in order to lift the marriage ban. To do so, he "brings the industrial revolution to Tammarizia, introducing such wonders as electric power, automobiles, airplanes, modern weapons, democratic government and baseball to a world previously at approximately a Babylonian level in its culture." As the editorial staff of Famous Fantastic Mysteries noted when they reprinted Mouthpiece, it is "an outstanding masterpiece of that belongs in every fantastic fan's collection."

More Chilling Terrors from the Award Winning Fantasist!

As the author says, "Sand Devils and other Creatures of the Night is a horror/dark fantasy anthology in the vein of my first collection, Smoke Signals. I hope you enjoy it."

Inside are such chilling tales as "Waiting for Snicker-Snack," "Disciples of the Wolf," "Tierrones," "The Lycaon Cult," and many others. A not-to-be-missed anthology from a unique voice in the world of dark fantasy.

When Marc Pilsworth's dream girl, Toffee, came to life right out of a daydream, he knew he was in trouble. When he invented an antigravity device, he found that Toffee plus antigravity equaled dynamite! But pixelated girls from the dream plane—especially those who who couldn't keep their clothes on and kept appearing every time his real-life girlfriend Julie was around—were one thing. Communist spies, scheming capitalists, and the shades of the Pilsworth family were another, and a far more deadly, explosive mix.

If you like classic fantasy served up frothy and bewitching, don't miss this, the only full-length Toffee novel ever written. Marion Kirby had nothing on our gal Toffee. It's a deliriously heady brew recommended for whatever ails you.

"In the domain of the weird and bizarre, Lee Robinet has furnished us a masterpiece by writing The Second Man," raved horrormeister H. P. Lovecraft when this novel first appeared in The All-Story, "...the atmosphere created and sustained throughout the story can be the work only of a gifted and polished artist."

Two mystical beings, named Adam and Eve, had strange powers and lived in a new Garden of Eden. Then along came the second woman, Lilith, and Adam was tempted by the forbidden fruit. Once corrupted by the ways of the material world, he planned to use his powers to make both Lilith and Eve his concubines. The old story seemed about to repeat itself. Then along came the second man...

A never-reprinted novel of mesmeric battle from the legendary pulp that gave birth to Tarzan, John Carter, and Zorro, The All-Story, Feb. 1913.

A "Lost" Pulp Classic!

Straight from the pages of Fantastic Adventures magazine comes this tale of action, romance, intrigue and dinosaurs! A homage to Burroughs, and a treat to pulp and Tarzan fans, King of the Dinosaurs is a rollercoaster ride written by a master, Raymond A. Palmer, editor of Fantastic Adventures—who had also published some John Carter and Carson of Venus stories by Burroughs himself!  If you like adventure, dinosaurs, barbarian heroines and wild battles as only a master pulp writer can deliver, then Toka, King of the Dinosaurs is a must-read!

Cover: Reproduced from the original cover for King of the Jungle, Fantastic Adventures 1945.

A Man and A Woman Are Snatched Thousands of Years to Save All Humanity from the Destructive Fury of a Runaway Comet in This Pulp Classic!

Lance Vidor and Vale Marlow were part of that band of humans shanghaied backward through time, thousands of years, where they were known as the Exiles of Time. There Lance and Vale found they must struggle with other exiles to help Earth's civilization from the destruction of a runaway comet. But there were others among them, unscrupulous men who had been snatched through time too, and they saw a way to use the situation for their own gain and make themselves the rulers of the world and shapers of the future. And they were determined to stop at nothing, even if it meant that humankind might lose that titanic cosmic struggle passed down in legend as the Day of Ragnarok, bringing about the end of the world and the Twilight of the Gods. Lance and Vale had come thousands of years to fall in love, but they were willing to risk life itself, even if it meant stopping the evil plotters from their own age, if they could avert the end of humanity with their sacrifice. Or was there one way out?