The five, irreverant, satirical and imaginative stories contained in Diaboliad caused an uproar upon the book's first publication in 1925. Full of invention, they display Bulgakov's breathtaking stylistic range, moving at dizzying speed from grotesque satire to science fiction, from the plainest realism to the most madcap fantasy. Diaboliad is a wonderful introduction to literature's most uncategorisable and subversive genius.

The After-Hero, the guy that's always in the heroes' shadow, twisted by existential woes and sexual perversions, wishing to be a protagonist himself... alas no one writes about him.If you're looking for selfless heroes, true love, adventures on the high seas and heroic sacrifices you should go back to reading the Bible. If you're looking for a neurotic protagonist in a trench coat who is willing to become a villain to defeat the villain (and just for fun), if you want to read about a man who compensates for his shortcomings with a short-barreled shotgun and gratuitous violence, if you want to LOL, then this is the story for you. Would you like to see what's under the trench coat, little girl?

The darkest future is yet to come…In an age where freedom has no meaning, and liberty is now unknown, everyone lives in the shadow of the panopticon.Only by the creation of a Kubic Kat can there be any hope for the future. But is the Kubic Kat what it seems to be? Or are darker forces secretly at work?If there is only one book that you will read this year, then it should be this one!A tale of life and love in the surveillance age"The digiSleep did not wake him. His wife did not wake him. Instead an enormous cube of light, the size of a skyscraper dropped on his head. In fear he covered his eyes with his arms, but it did not block out the sight of the lump of solidified light descending upon him. As it fell he could feel its weight, oppressive and crushing. Yet when it came to rest, it seemed to hover right upon his nose, as light and ephemeral as a feather."The Kubic Kat is a tale of the near future. It is a time like ours, and a place like this. But in this future everything is slightly different, slightly more repugnant, and slightly more sinister.Only by the creation of a Kubic Kat can there be any hope for the future. But is the Kubic Kat what it seems to be? Or are darker forces secretly at work?From the humorous beginnings to the breath-taking conclusion this book will force you to re-evaluate your preconceptions about technology, and the direction that the world is now taking.

Meet Calvin Blake a narcissistic billionaire, the founder and president of NeuroCorp.A Bioengineering lab, NEUROCORP owned by the brilliant and obsessed billionaire “Calvin Blake” is trying relentlessly to create “Mental Body transference” through a project he has labeled OMD “Optical Mind Download” This will be achieved through a highly classified type of Nano technology. This will enable people to transfer their memory from one person to another. Calvin Blake desires to become an elite SIS operative, he was born in a wheelchair and was never able to experience a life that he believes he was robbed of ,Calvin is getting older and of poor health and only through this OMD project can he stay young forever.

When Sam travels back to 1930 from the future, he only has seven years to make his mark on the world.This is the story of two 12-year-old boys who were best friends growing up on the mean streets of the Kensington section of Philadelphia. It chronicles their friendship and the conflicts that they faced. It also tells the remarkable, untold true story of how Babe Ruth came to their local parish to play in one incredible baseball game. On a September day in 1923, Babe Ruth was whisked away from the Yankees game to play charity baseball to raise money to pay off the debt for their field. That day would forever change the lives of these two friends.Coming of age in the era of prohibition two young boys find themselves facing the many challenges and dangers of the inner-city. Their love of baseball is their guiding light and source of hope. The improbable events that unfolded during Babe Ruth’s appearance at Boger Field have been lost in baseball history. From the moment Babe put on the Ascension of Our Lord Parish uniform and took the field against the Lit Brother’s team baseball folklore was made.

The usurper has gathered his fleet in orbit, and he prepares to invade the Bion home world and end the war. The true emperor knows that the invasion will cripple his empire. He has to stop the usurper before it is too late.On the other side of the front, the team of Bion criminals is determined to find the mysterious sect and use their knowledge to defeat the Empire and save their home world.Emperor Titus is dead and a usurper has claimed the throne. With an empire-wide broadcast he revealed his plans – the ceasefire with the Bion tribes is no longer in effect and the final battle is about to begin.Far from the capital, the true emperor is still in the hiding. He knows that the final clash between the two rivaling civilizations will devastate the Empire. He has to claim the throne and stop the slaughter before it is too late. But that is not an easy task for a man without a body and with limited resources.Meanwhile in the shadows, the mysterious sect is growing their numbers…

In this hallucinatory novel, the car provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughan, a "TV scientist" turned "nightmare angel of the highways," experiments with erotic atrocities among auto crash victims, each more sinister than the last. James Ballard, his friend and fellow obsessive, tells the story of this twisted visionary as he careens rapidly toward his own demise in an intentionally orchestrated car crash with Elizabeth Taylor. A classic work of cutting edge fiction, Crash explores the disturbing potentialities of contemporary society's increasing dependence on technology as intermediary in human relations.

**Four generations of Jedi. One common enemy.** The Jedi Temple is a place of secrets and trust. Inside its walls, a legacy is passed down from generation to generation of peace, justice, and strength. But that legacy can be broken. Sometimes the greatest enemies rise from within.... Lorian Nod is a promising Jedi apprentice. A Padawan named Dooku is his best friend. Under the watchful eye of Yoda, they are preparing to become Jedi Knights. Dooku knows their fate is intertwined...yet he is not prepared for a turn of events that reveals the dark side to him for the first time. Years later, Dooku is a Jedi Master and Lorian Nod is a pirating outcast. With an unforeseen desire for revenge, Dooku works to thwart his former friend -- even if it means crossing his own apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn.... When Qui-Gon himself becomes a Jedi Master, the specter of Lorian Nod still looms. As Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi struggle to find their place as Master and Padawan, they must work together to prevent an interplanetary threat -- and to outwit a very familiar enemy.... During the Clone Wars, Lorian Nod wants to play a pivotal role as the Republic battles to keep hold of a strategic planet. On one side, Obi-Wan and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, must decide whether they can trust such an infamous figure. On the other side, the now compromised Count Dooku has a score to settle against his old nemesis.... Four generations of trust and betrayal. One legacy.

Space Viking is a science fiction novel written by H. Beam Piper and is set in his Terro-Human future history. It tells the story of one man's search for his wife's murderer and its unexpected consequences. The story was originally serialized in Analog magazine. Background Ten thousand refugees from the losing side of The Big War (The System States War of The Cosmic Computer) fled far beyond the boundaries of the Terran Federation and colonized the planet Excalibur. By the beginning of Space Viking, they had expanded to a handful of Sword Worlds (so-called because they are named after legendary swords) and had grown to a total population of three and a half billion, organized in a feudal system of kingdoms, duchies, and other small states, ruled by frequently-warring noblemen. Despite their isolation and the political instability, the inhabitants managed to retain a high level of technology, including space flight. One day, a starship rediscovered the Old Federation. Civilization had collapsed, presumably due to the war; many of the planets had regressed to varying stages of semi-barbarism. Taking advantage of the situation, "Space Vikings" (reminiscent of Norse vikings) proceeded to raid the poorly defended Federation worlds over the next three hundred years for loot.

When Argus Kirkham disappears, his older brother Alex returns to the city of his youth to join in the search, but finds himself instead at the edge of a baffling mystery he can neither see nor begin to understand, in this fourth and final re-mix of the Dragon City series.Welcome to the Stone Age! Flint Dog is the story of a ten-year-old boy, Youngest. He has just two dreams — the first is to be a Hunter like his big brother and his father, and his second is to have a new dog of his own, after his beloved White Tail dies. Both dreams are fulfilled in the form of misshapen lump of flint — the flint dog of the story’s title. On the way Youngest has several adventures concerning baskets, caves, a mammoth and a menhir.Flint Dog, set in France, has been very carefully researched. It brings to life a period in our history that is often neglected. Suitable for 7-13 year olds - young readers who are ready to be stretched.

Ensign Brahma is the newest member to join the Starship Victory on her mission of peaceful exploration. The crew is nice enough, but he still feels isolated from them because, while the rest of the crew come from just about every species and culture in the galaxy, humans, Gamar, the Symphony of Life, Sparta and more, they are all still limited corporeal beings and Brahma is a space god.Perhaps his abilities and insights can help the Victory on her latest mission...The Starship Victory is en route to check the technology level of a primitive world on the outskirts of the Galactic Union, but finds only a burned out cinder. A strange energy signature emanates from the planet below. Can the Victory face down whatever strange force destroyed this planet?Also along for the ride are Engineering Chief Golem, a neurotic alcoholic android, Security Chief Kylie Hayes, who is tough as a neutron star, and the Executive Officer Elorg, a man from a race of musical cyborgs. Can the crew of the Victory discover the shocking secret behind the graveyard world below them?Find out in the first episode of the Starship Victory saga!

A collection of stories about a frightening world inhabited by people dehumanized by the daily threat of nuclear war and postwar survivors deformed by its results. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Fairies Tales: Kharon.Upon landing, the ferryman slowly held out a skeletal hand.Payment to cross was due.The Fairies Tales: Kharon, is largely dependant on a Fairy Tale of 'The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs'. With a twist of course. Anyone who is interested in Myths and Legends will appreciate this story. Kharon (Charon) is the ferryman of souls across the river Styx. Kharon carries these souls to their final resting place. But have you ever heard the tale of how he became the carrier of those souls?

In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked -- Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives. Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all....

A horror novel by John Brunner? A science-fiction shocker by the man who wrote the "Hugo" winning STAND ON ZANZIBAR? By the author of THE JAGGED ORBIT, CATCH A FALLING STAR, TIMES WITHOUT NUMBER? Of course! The Brunner talent is manifest in this edge-of-the-seat novel about what happened when the first sea-bottom explorers brought up a not-so-dead body of an inhuman intelligence that had been sealed up for innumerable eons. Godzilla, Gorgo, King Kong...stand aside for THE ATLANTIC ABOMINATION!