The 27th century: beleaguered elites decide to melt the Greenland icecap. Why? - to open up a new continent, for colonisation by the unruly masses. How? - by harvesting the primordial heat of the Earth from Iceland's volcanoes. Nature fights back, and it all goes horribly wrong... In the early 1920s confirmed city-dweller Alfred Doblin - he was 15 before he saw his first cherry tree - became puzzled by a nagging sense of Nature: "I experienced Nature as a secret. Physics as the surface, begging for explanations. Textbooks... knew nothing of the secret. Every day I experienced Nature as the World Being, meaning: weight, colour, light, dark, its countless materials, as a cornucopia of processes that quietly mingle and criss-cross." Readers accustomed to following a story via Plot and Character may at first be disoriented by this epic of the future. Its structure is more symphonic than novelistic, driven by themes and motifs that emerge, fade back, emerge again in new orchestral voicings and new tempi. The prose - supple, rhythmic, harsh, elegiac, tender, unsparing - propels the reader on through scene after vivid scene. Mountains Oceans Giants is a literary counterpart to the painted dreams and nightmares of Hieronymus Bosch, in The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Last Judgement. Alfred Doblin, born in Szczecin in 1878, initially worked as a medical assistant and opened his own practice in Berlin in 1911. Doblin's first novel appeared in 1915/16. His greatest success was the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz published in 1929. In 1933 Doblin emigrated to France and finally to the USA. After the end of the 2nd World War he moved back to Germany, but then moved in 1953 with his family to Paris. He died on June 26, 1957. Berlin Alexanderplatz (translated by Michael Hofman) is published by Penguin in the UK and New York Review Books in the USA.

Pan, 1969. British mass market paperback. Alfred Bester was one of the best SF authors to emerge post- WWII, and this collection of some of his shorter works will delight the reader. Includes: Time Is the Traitor (1953); The Men Who Murdered Mohammed (1958); Out of This World (1964); The Pi Man (1959); The Flowered Thundermug (1964); Will You Wait? (1959); They Don't Make Life Like They Used To (1963).

"From the jungles of Indonesia to the very heart of New York City comes a plague that kills 100 percent of its victims. Medicine's greatest nightmare, this modern black death is caused by the most virulent and uncontrollable mutant virus humanity has ever witnessed. And medicine can do nothing to stop its merciless spread. Scientist Debra Hart and her team of experts are tasked by the United Nations to stop the disease. Racing against time, they must find the cause and the cure and figure out why this deadly disease-spread by bats-is killing thousands in cities across the globe. Debra and her team will struggle to stop the disease from spreading to millions more, even if it means killing off every bat alive. But fighting to prevent her are manic animal rights' activists who rail against species genocide, even if it means risking the deaths of human beings. And hidden behind a cloak of secrecy is a crazed academic who'll even kill top American government officials to save one living creature. This is the nightmare scenario that Debra faces as the public becomes so terrified of bats that entire communities become vigilantes. "--

"To Write Like a Woman is a rare example of a feminist tackling science fictuion using postmodern theory, which makes for a much more sophisticated and nuanced appraisal than the usual fare." ―Passion"Russ’ essays are witty and insightful. An excellent book for any writer or reader." ―Feminist Bookstore News"In her new book of essays... Russ continues to debunk and demand, edify and entertain.... Appreciative of surface aesthetics, she continually delves deeper than most critics, yet in terms so simple and accessible that her essays read like lively, angry, humorous dialogues conducted face-to-face with the author. Russ is the antithesis of the distant critic in her ivory tower." ―Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post Book World"... 20 years of the author’s feisty reports from the front lines of literature." ―The San Francisco Review of Books"This is a book of imaginative and provoking essays, but you should read it for the sheer fun of it." ―The Women’s Review of Books"Collects more than two decades of criticism by Joanna Russ, one of the most perceptive, forthright and eloquent feminist commentators around." ―Feminist Bookstore News"... a super book....This is a book that, for once, really will appeal to readers of all kinds." ―Utopian Studies"If you enjoy science fiction, this is definitely a book that you’ll want to talk about. I found myself sneaking a few pages at times when I really didn’t have time to read." ―Jan Catano, AtlantisClassic essays on science fiction and feminism by Nebula and Hugo award-winning Joanna Russ. Here she ranges from a consideration of the aesthetic of science fiction to a reading of the lesbian identity of Willa Cather. To Write Like a Woman includes essays on horror stories and the supernatural, feminist utopias, popular literature for women (the "modern gothic"), and the feminist education of graduate students in English.

This stellar collection of Jewish science fiction and fantasy carries on in the tradition of its companion volume--the enduring classic Wandering Stars --breaking new ground with every story. Trouble with mothers; invading aliens and demons; the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah ... all these phenomena and more are tackled in these tales from a creative group of extraordinary writers. We go to the edges of the universe, finding humor, pain and humanity in the unlikeliest of places and situations. Filled with wit, vigor and sharp insight, this is a fantastic feast for the imagination that will intrigue and delight everyone who picks it up, Jew and non-Jew alike.

A non-binary teenager may be from a small town but they remember at least a dozen past lives; a young trans woman auditions as an anime voice actor while the world is ending; in a future of constant change and transformation, one person is hesitant to undergo the next metamorphosis; a trans man comes back home to discover his parents have added to the household an android that has his deadface installed. Award-winning editor Bogi Takács has assembled a stellar line-up of stories that explore the frontiers of gender--using the imaginative tools of speculative fiction.

Hobson's Island (so called because Mr. Hobson bought it, or did Mr. Hobson buy it because it was so called?) enjoyed decades of isolation in the Atlantic Ocean. For years, the caretakers lived there peacefully, with only a cow for company and an empty house to care for. But all is suddenly disrupted when a wave of unusual visitors arrive: a deposed African king fleeing a revolution, a Hobson descendant claiming ownership, government agents eyeing the nation-less real estate, and scientists looking to test a dangerous new invention. In typical Themerson fashion, the comic is wound up with the serious and let go to devastating effect. A clever and apt parodying of Cold War power plays and twisted science, Hobson's Island is a strangely touching, sympathetic, and emotional account of the families and individuals brought together and broken up by Hobson's Island.

Robert Silverberg is a prolific American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, a Grand Master of SF.

This is an omnibus of four novels by Robert Silverberg, issued by the Science Fiction Book Club (not to be confused with the 1973 anthology of stories by the same title, edited by Silverberg). With an introduction by the author, and these novels: The Man in the Maze (1969); Nightwings (1969); Up the Line (1969); Dying Inside (1972).

Contents: Raider of the Spaceways (Weird Tales, Jul 37) Avengers of Space (Marvel Science Stories, Aug 38) The Time-Trap (Marvel Science Stories, Nov 38) The Lifestone (Astonishing Stories, Feb 40) Monsters of the Atom (Super-Detective, Apr 41) Red Gem of Mercury (Super Science Stories, Nov 41) The Crystal Circe (Astonishing Stories, Jun 42) War-Gods of the Void (Planet Stories, Fll 42) Thunder in the Void (Astonishing Stories, Oct 42) We Guard the Black Planet (Super Science Stories, Nov 42) Soldiers of Space (Astonishing Stories, Feb 43) Crypt-City of the Deathless One (Planet Stories, Win 43) The Eyes of Thar (Planet Stories, Fll 43) What Hath Me (Planet Stories, Spr 46) Carry Me Home (Planet Stories, 50) The Interplanetary Limited (First Time in Print)

"Recollections of one of the grand masters of science fiction, on his storied career as a celebrated author and on his relationships with other luminaries in the field. This memoir is filled with all the humor and irreverence Harry Harrison's readers have come to expect from the New York Times bestselling author of the uproarious Stainless Steel Rat series. This also includes black and white photos spanning his sixty-year career"--

Vigilante JusticeSpider Webb and her partner Tommy Chan are police detectives on the edge of serious burnout. They've spent too much of their lives and too much energy collaring perps just to watch them slip through gaping holes in the system. So when a vigilante, dubbed "The Fry Guy" by the news media, starts to systematically kill the scum of the city by somehow microwaving their brains, they don't think of him as a "serial killer," they see him as an implement of justice. As far as they're concerned, "The Fry Guy" is doing their job for them and in a way that they never could - a permanent way."Strange Robby is a sharp, satisfying page-turner, a thrilling ride like a cross between N.Y.P.D. BLUE and THE X-FILES. Be smart: Buy your ticket -now-." -Esther M. Friesner"Selina Rosen's 'just like' nothing else. She's a creative soul, a builder in wood and stone and words. Out of this absolute wealth of experience come truly outrageous ideas and a way of looking at the universe with attitude with a capital 'A'. She's one in a million " -C.J. Cherryh"She's a great gal and a damn good storyteller." -Michael Sheard

As RJ and her crew are heading for a pivotal meeting with the Argy government, the Reliance catches up with them and they are forced to make a course change that shoves them out of known space. The Reliance immediately claims they’ve killed the charismatic rebel leader and her band of malcontents, but the truth won’t be known for nearly 100 years. Since her unsuccessful attempt to kill RJ and her subsequent murder of sector leader Jago, Jessica Kirk has been between a rock and a hard place. Forced to live as a slave on a cesspool of an Argy-held planet called Pete with no real hope for escape unless of course RJ really is gone

In Chains of Destruction, the sequel to 2001's Chains of Freedom: Three years have passed. The New Alliance has successfully kept the Reliance out of zone 2-A and has set up a new government. After a few initial problems, the new country is running like a well-oiled machine. Jessica Kirk fell from grace in the Reliance's eyes and jumped planet, successfully disappearing without a trace. With no hope of settling her score with Kirk and no battles to fight, RJ becomes restless. She is a genetically engineered humanoid created and trained for war, with nothing to keep her mind occupied but her grief and uncertainty about her real place in the universe. To ease the pain in her heart and the confusion in her mind, RJ decides to go on a quest to the planet of her maternal origin, the planet Argy, in the hope of enlisting the Argy's help in further campaigns against the Reliance. She hopes to go alone except for her robotic brother Poley but soon finds that Topaz, David and Levites will not be left behind. As they are hijacking a Reliance ship they uncover a Reliance conspiracy and soon find themselves charting a course for an obscure, mostly inhospitable planet called Beta 4. The con

THREE SURVIVED: Tom Rand, a practical engineer, and two other men are the only survivors of a spaceship explosion. Marooned on a hostile planet, they are being held captive by a group of "aliens." Their one slim chance of survival is to reach a rescue beacon placed on the planet years before by men from Earth. Can the three survivors escape what seems like certain, immediate death? And if they do, can they make their way through a jungle filled with untold dangers and reach the beacon in time? PLANET OF DEATH: Earthman Roy Crawford is framed for murder on the planet Velliran. He has two choices. He must escape from the planet within three days or go to prison for life. But the only spaceship leaving the planet within three days belongs to the Exploration Corps. This is a group of scientists which investigates new planets. They are about to leave for World Seven on the Star System Z-16. With help from his friends, the dazed Crawford finds himself in the ship. The scientists, of course, think he is one of them. But World Seven is no escape for Roy. It is a planet of death. The team of scientists find themselves in a world where even the trees are killers. And one more killer is on the spaceship - the real murderer who framed Crawford!

The world that these stories sprang from was the troubled, bewildering, dangerous, and very exciting world of those weird years when the barriers were down and the future was rushing into the present with the force of a river unleashed. But of course I think these stories speak to our times, too, and that most of them will remain valid as we go staggering onward through the brave new world of the twenty-first century. I am not one of those who believes that all is lost and the end is nigh. Like William Faulkner, I do think we will somehow endure and prevail against increasingly stiff odds. A great many strange and dizzying things happen to the characters in these sixteen stories, and in the fourteen stories of the 1972-73 volume that will follow. The reader who makes the journey from beginning to end of all thirty stories will be taken on many a curious trip, that I promise-as was their author during the years when they were being written. -Robert Silverberg, from the Introduction

With a mighty twist, the Space Ship Garden lunges into overdrive and shoots out into space. Ahead lies Alpha C IV, eerie world of three suns. But the Garden arrives on Alpha C right in the thick of a revolution against Earth. Treason! Then young cadet Larry Stark finds himself caught up in the revolution...on both sides!

Life can be hard as an orphan at Mending Hearts Children's Home, but Abicus Turne is no ordinary orphan. A nefarious trick that results in tragedy causes Abicus to discover his ability to 'slide back' in time and change the past. But he quickly learns that changing the past can have unintended consequences. At the Spring Festival, events spin out of control and expose a secret plot by enemies that would destroy the world. Aided by genius younger sister Binny, street-wise Bosh, and sweet-talking Kendra, Abicus and his fellow 'castaway' orphans race to open mysterious time locks hidden by his parents. Within them lies the key to saving their future. But can Abicus find it in time to also save their past?

In Jews vs Aliens, editors Lavie Tidhar and Rebecca Levene have gathered together brand new stories from the light-hearted to the profound, with authors ranging from Orange Prize winner Naomi Alderman to Big Bang Theory writer/producer Eric Kaplan, all asking, for the first time, the question you didn't even know you wanted answered - what happens when the aliens arrive, only to encounter... Jews?