This collection of stories from the Hugo Award–winning science fiction author ranges from alien planets to the more peculiar corners of the American landscape. A pioneering voice in twentieth-century science fiction, Clifford D. Simak earned his place alongside such luminaries as Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. While some of his stories imagined interplanetary space travel, many others depicted strange events in otherwise ordinary American towns—in what some readers would come to think of as “S...
Perfect for fans of Iain M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton.It is the 147th century. The mighty era of Homo Sapiens is at an end.In the Westerly Provinces of the Old World, the hunt is on for the young queen Arabis, and the beast that holds her captive. In the brutal hominid Investiture, revolution has come. The warlord Cunctus, having seized the Vulgar worlds, invites every Prism to pick a side. In the Firmament, once the kingdom of the Immortal Amaranthine, all ships converge on the foundry of Gli...
“One of the most satisfying science fiction novels I have read in years.”—The New York Times Book Review Here is a novel as original as the breathtaking, unspoiled world for which it is named, a place where all appears to be in idyllic balance. Generations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. Over time, they evolved a new and intricate society. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It, too, had developed a culture. . . . Now, a...
Menace from Mercury
by Victor La Salle, Lionel Fanthorpe, and Patricia Fanthorpe
The Wide syndromeIt is the not-too-distant future. The space colony Lagrangia, on the moon's orbit, is an idyllic utopia of parks, mountains, streams and blue skies. Lulled by its beauty, citizens can sometimes forget that the 'stream' are recycled water, and the 'blue skies' are titanium strips bound together. But there are a few who can never forget. There are the victims of the Wide syndrome - a terrifying form of contagious, claustrophobic madness that can strike anyone - at any time - on La...