Seeking the immortality promised in an ancient manuscript, The Book of Skulls, four friends, college roommates, go on a spring break trip to Arizona: Eli, the scholar, who found and translated the book; Timothy, scion of an American dynasty, born and bred to lead; Ned, poet and cynic; and Oliver, the brilliant farm boy obsessed with death. Somewhere in the desert lies the House of Skulls, where a mystic brotherhood guards the secret of eternal life. There, the four aspirants will present themselves–and a horrific price will be demanded. For immortality requires sacrifice. Two victims to balance two survivors. One by suicide, one by murder. Now, beneath the gaze of grinning skulls, the terror begins. . . .

In 2006, Robert Silverberg published In the Beginning, a generous selection of stories from the early, developmental stages of his distinguished sixty-year career. Fast-paced, energetic, and unabashedly pulp-like in their origins and ambitions, those stories proved to be an unexpected gift to Silverberg’s many readers. That gift continues with Early Days, a second volume of apprentice fiction as wide-ranging and enjoyable as the first. Early Days collects seventeen impossible to find stories from the years 1956 to 1958, supplemented by a fascinating introduction and extensive notes on the creation and publication history of each story. Together, these non-fiction pieces constitute both an episodic memoir and an affectionate history of an era when pulp magazines still dominated the SF marketplace. Without exception, each of the stories in Early Days offers honest, unpretentious entertainment. The astonishingly prolific Silverberg may have had a bit to learn back then, but he had an innate understanding of narrative that shines through every one of these tales. The stories range in tone from the grimly dystopian future of “The Inquisitor” to the playful “Space Is the Place,” in which a maintenance technician from Crawford IX experiences comic culture shock during a mandatory vacation on Earth. “Rescue Mission” revolves around the telepathic connection between two interplanetary intelligence agents. “Housemaid No. 103” provides a humorous glimpse into the romantic difficulties of a far future matinee idol. “Harwood’s Vortex” combines a mad scientist, alien invaders, and the possible end of life as we know it into a single colorful narrative. Silverberg, of course, would evolve into one of the genuine masters of the genre, and this retrospective collection of early work offers invaluable insights into his development. Silverberg himself calls Early Days “an affectionate tribute to my hardworking self of more than half a century ago.” It is all of that and more. Anyone with an interest in Silverberg’s career, or in the history and evolution of modern science fiction, needs to read this book. They may not write ‘em like this anymore, but once upon a time they did. And looking back has never been so much fun.

He was lying on a strangely made bed, the warm breezes of evening rolling in off the crashing sea and the woman stood in the ornate doorway that entered the bedroom. Her hair was as gold as the noon sun and her eyes, lifting slightly at the outer curves, were as blue as the sea. Her lips petaled back over the white strength of her teeth and her fingers did strange things to make the flimsy robe drop from the rounded softness of her shoulders. Then his fingers curled about the curve of her thigh. His fingers tightened and the crimson smile broadened; he pulled and felt her resist him with maidenly demureness, but in the end she came to him. He felt the yielding firmness of her body pressing down into his on the bed and his arms furled about the softness that she offered. The warm cones of her breasts worked on the hardness of his chest and his mouth fused against hers for a passionate kiss.

Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43 By Murray Leinster

In space, a vengeful fleet waited.... Then the furred strangers arrived with a plan to save Earth's children. But the General wasn't sure if he could trust an ALIEN OFFER. Show Excerpt loading, and if the President says it's okay, then it's okay with me!" He stepped out onto the grass of his yard, and quashed a little shriek of conscience somewhere in the back of his mind. * * * * * Blinding lights pinned him in mid-stride. A familiar voice sprang out of the glare, "Here he is now viewers, General James Rothwell, commander of the western armies, and head of the Earth evacuation project. General, International-TV cameras have been waiting secretly in your yard for hours for your return." As his eyes adjusted, Rothwell distinguished a camera crew, their small portable instrument, and a young, smooth-talking announcer that he had seen several times on television. He forced the annoyance out of his eyes. This, he thought, is all I need. "What the general doesn't know," the announcer went on, "is that earlier this evening it was announced by Moscow Central that the computers had picked his son as one of the evacuees!" The shock was visible on 150,000,000 TV se

1 of 8. Ensign Romyana Casparian has only recently been rewarded a position on a deep space station and already she is confronted with the dangers of working at the far edge of Federation space. Poisonous gas floods the station and Casparian is the only one to stay conscious, but for Casparian that is not her biggest moment of fear...Santa’s Ninja Elves: two short stories depicting elite elves whose missions are to protect Santa against all enemies using an assortment of cinna-bombs, candy cane bullets, tinsel traps and throwing bells and intelligence from the fortune-telling Mrs. Clause. After years of dedicated service, Santa decides to reward them by helping them find love on Christmas.Past retirement, Natasha is sent from the North Pole to Ohio on a final mission to identify a threat to Santa. Natasha runs the lead to ground, only to find Santa sent her there for an entirely different mission. She’s been set up with a handsome stranger, a final gift from Santa to his favorite Ninja Elf.Hunter gets drunk on eggnog one day and beheads an innocent snowman. His punishment: he’s banished from the North Pole to work at a mall in Arizona, managing a fake Santa’s long line of kids. When the fake Santa sheds the fat suit to reveal a beautiful woman, Hunter falls fast for the woman who makes him feel the thrill Christmas Eve with one look.

Ascension: The Rising Son is a science-fiction novel based on a world that exists decades after the fall of the United States. The story centers itself around a teenage boy and his adventures between war and power, love, and the salvation of his city.Apollo is an orphan in the walled farming community of Alcazar. Everyone else his age is eagerly awaiting their apprenticeships that proceed the ritual that will determine their place in society, the Ceremony of Ascension. Without a heritage, Apollo knows it's something he can never have. But then the last week of school is canceled and Apollo's dread is turned into surprise when he's summoned by the leader of their community. The boy soon learns of the unique bond they both share, that's also littered with a long trail of deceit and genetic manipulations.

When Greyboar, a professional strangler, discovers the Supreme Philosophy of Life, he becomes a new man--but how can a villain in good standing pay the bills with his philosophical exploration getting in the way? Then Greyboar's long-lost sister asks him to help persecuted dwarves escape their human oppressors.

The Space Saga contains five unforgettable tales of deception, greed, and revenge. Watch as Dick attempts to outsmart a broken machine in Robot’s Bluff, as he searches for an answer to the Robot Wedding, and join him and HN-R3 in the search for the missing persons inJoin Captain Dick Shannon and the harvest bot HN-R3, as they solve some of the most unusual mysteries in inter-planetary history. The Space Saga contains five unforgettable tales of deception, greed, and revenge. Watch as Dick attempts to outsmart a broken machine in Robot’s Bluff, as he searches for an answer to the Robot Wedding, and join him and HN-R3 in the search for the missing persons in The Headless Hover Biker.

The eighth book in the epic series the Obernewtyn Chronicles is full of romance, action, and suspense. Fans of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series will rejoice to see such a breathtakingly elaborate YA fantasy series! After years spent struggling to balance her desires with her responsibilities, Elspeth Gordie has fully embraced her role as the Seeker. Battle-scarred and haunted by memories of her beloved Rushton, she must continue her final quest to find and stop the computermachine Sentinel from unleashing the deadly Balance of Terror arsenal. But although she has long prepared for this day, nothing is as she anticipated. Elspeth’s search will take her where she never thought to go, and give her stranger companions than any she ever imagined. And it will test her, as she has never been tested before. Award-winning author Isobelle Carmody continues the story of Elspeth Gordie, a heroine in the vein of Tamora Pierce’s most memorable and empowering characters.

The national bestselling saga from the stunning imagination of Robert Silverberg continues in the first new hardcover Majipoor novel in nearly a decade. As a prequel to Silverberg's earlier Majipoor novels. Sorcerers of Majipoor provides a deep, dark vision for the background of the conflict inLord Valentine's Castle and Valentine Pontifex. Treachery and wizardry run rampant under the reign of the mighty Pontifex, as both the rightful and the unworthy heirs to the throne anxiously await his demise. Korsibar, son of the current Coronal, plots with his twin sister and ambitious companions to seize the power of the Coronal when his father ascends to the throne of the Pontifex. But the burdens of the crown and scepter exactahigher price than Korsibar is prepared to pay. His rival fights to take his appointed place as keeper of his beloved Majipoor . . . and to restore order to the utter chaos that has befallen their world.

What if — whoosh, right now, with no explanation — a number of us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down? That's what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened — not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children. Kevin Garvey, Mapleton's new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin's own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne. Only Kevin's teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she's definitely not the sweet "A" student she used to be. Kevin wants to help her, but he's distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start. With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

A fan fiction based in the universe of EliteDony and Hera are to transport some risky goods through several planetary systems. Will they make it to their destination? Will their old battered ship last long enough to reach the space station?