Fiction : Science Fiction

It Eats Planets. And It's Here. It starts when Venus explodes into a brilliant cloud of dust and debris, showering Earth with radiation and bizarre particles that wipe out all the crops and half the life in the oceans, and fry the ozone layer. Days later, a few specks of moon rock kicked up from the last Apollo mission fall upon a lava crag in Scotland. That's all it takes . . . Suddenly, the ground itself begins melting into pools of dust that grow larger every day. For what has demolished Venus, and now threatens Earth itself, is part machine, part life-form: a nano-virus, dubbed Moonseed, that attacks planets. Four scientists are all that stand between Moonseed and Earth's extinction, four brilliant minds that must race to cut off the virus and save what's left of Earth--a pulse-stopping battle for discovery that will lead them from the Earth's inner core to a daredevil Moon voyage that could save, or damn, us all. more...

Price: $11.99

Can You Guess Who's Who? In this murder mystery set at a 1960s World Science Fiction Convention, real-life authors and fans behind fictional names are mixed with fictional characters. Match wits with the book's author, J. D, Crayne, try to identify the real characters and their actual names in this unique roman a clef. It's a holiday weekend, and the World Science Fiction Convention is ready to roll. The first speaker for the first panel steps up onto the speaker's platform -- and finds a corpse under the table. Not only is it a corpse, it's the body of a writer/editor that no one liked, and he's been brained with one of science fiction's most prestigious awards -- the Hugo. Enter the FBI. The dead man had a day job as a biochemist and there seems to be a conspiracy afoot to murder American biochemists. Is there a link between Coubra's murder and those other deaths? Special Agent Noel Minden finds himself cast adrift on a sea of make-believe as he tries to make sense out of science fiction fandom. Lovely "Grub" Witchety and her grandfather, Dr. J. R. Derry (known as "Gramps"), introduce the bemused agent to amateur press publishing, monster movies, and the Mystic Water from the Well of St. Fanthony. You'll laugh out loud at the antics of this slightly cockeyed investigative trio as they cope with masquerade beauties, fan parties, filk song sessions, and those dog-eared, vintage copies of Astounding, Amazing, and Arkham House reprints in the huckster room. The luckless convention chairman is just beginning to get over the death of Coubra, when there's a second murder. This time the victim is a man that everybody liked! Is there a connection between the two killings? The convention ends on Monday, and time is running out. Meet mutated mice, big-headed aliens, and amiable drunks in the hotel lounge. It's a hoot, it's a yell, it's a blast! It's black jelly beans and wandering bagels! It's a sci-fi con! And while you're reading, test your knowledge of sixties and seventi more...

Price: $4.99

The Night Watch series has caused a sensation never before seen in Russia -- its popularity is frenzied and unprecedented, and driven by a truly great, epic story. In 2005 Fox Searchlight announced it had acquired the Russian film adaptation for an American release. Interest in the books here is now set to reach a fever pitch. Set in modern day Moscow, Night Watch is a world as elaborate and imaginative as Tolkien or the best Asimov. Living among us are the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. A thousand-year treaty has maintained the balance of power, and the two sides coexist in an uneasy truce. But an ancient prophecy decrees that one supreme "Other" will rise up and tip the balance, plunging the world into a catastrophic war between the Dark and the Light. When a young boy with extraordinary powers emerges, fulfilling the first half of the prophecy, will the forces of the Light be able to keep the Dark from corrupting the boy and destroying the world? An extraordinary translation from the Russian by noted translator Andrew Bromfield, this first English language edition of Night Watch is a chilling, engrossing read certain to reward those waiting in anticipation of its arrival. more...

Price: $9.99

Critics have compared the engrossing space operas of Peter F. Hamilton to the classic sagas of such sf giants as Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. But Hamilton’s bestselling fiction—powered by a fearless imagination and world-class storytelling skills—has also earned him comparison to Tolstoy and Dickens. more...

Price: $8.99

The people of Masterville Valley carry prions in their bodies that could make the world a much better place-but most of humanity will never willingly accept them, for once infected, a person is able to reason much better, rejecting religious, sexual and political dogma. Being born with the prions or trying to infect others with them carries a death penalty in most Islamic nations. In America and the rest of the world, the Masterville prions have become a political football because religious leaders are so utterly opposed to them, despite compelling evidence that they imbue their carriers with a much saner life style, both sexual and social. When a newly elected moderate president is assassinated, his successor again begins using a secret cabal of the National Security Agency to spread lies and deception about Masterville Valley and its prions. The happy, peaceful people of the valley are forced to fight back, and they begin their battle by secretly spreading their prions out into the world, including the halls of congress and into the president’s own inner circle. But will the prions take effect in time to save them from zealots intent on completely destroying the people of Masterville valley and the hope for a peaceful earth it represents? more...

Price: $5.99