title
stringlengths
2
166
genre
stringclasses
10 values
summary
stringlengths
11
31.3k
index
int64
0
4.66k
Roadside Picnic
science
The novel is set in a post-visitation world where there are now six Zones known on Earth (each zone is approximately five square miles/kilometers in size) which are still full of unexplained phenomena and where strange happenings have briefly occurred, assumed to have been visitations by aliens. World governments and ...
600
Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance
science
The United States and Germany develop atomic weapons of their own and, alongside the Soviets, engage in a nuclear exchange with the Race. The Soviets may have detonated the first atomic bomb, but it was only because their original sample of plutonium (captured from the Race) was larger than the samples given to the US...
601
The Vanished Diamond
science
The protagonist is a French mining engineer, Victor Cyprien. He moves to the Griquland district to study the formation of diamonds. While he is there he falls in love with wealthy landowner Mr. John Watkins' daughter, Alice. He asks him for her hand in marriage but is denied on his lack of money and stature in the com...
602
Blast Off at Woomera
science
Strange objects have been sighted on the moon near Mons Pico and suspecting a communist plot the British Government hurriedly plans a mission to photograph the domes from above closer range. The rocket is not large enough to send a man - enter Chris Godfrey, a 17-year old science whizz with an interest in rocketry and...
603
The Runaway Skyscraper
science
"The Runaway Skyscraper" concerns Arthur Chamberlain, an engineer who works in a midtown Manhattan office building called the Metropolitan Tower. When the sun suddenly begins moving backwards in the sky, setting rapidly in the east, he is the only one to realize what is actually happening: a flaw in the rock beneath t...
604
Phylogenesis
science
Desvendapur is an anti-social Thranx poet native to the colony on Willow-Wane who believes he can find new inspiration for his poetry by coming in contact with the physically repulsive humans, an intelligent mammal race that is unlike the insectoid thranx. Desvendapur's aspirations lead him to a secret thranx colony i...
605
Off Armageddon Reef
science
Humanity is at war with a genocidal alien race known as the Gbaba, and after a long war, it becomes obvious that humans are losing. In order to preserve the species, several colonization expeditions are sent out to other stars, but all are tracked down by the Gbaba. Finally, a colony fleet manages to sneak away via tr...
606
The Outlaws of Mars
science
Jerry Morgan, a man with no future on Earth, is offered a new life on Mars. He starts out on the wrong foot, meeting a princess and killing the fearsome-looking Martian beast he takes to be menacing her, which actually turns out to be her pet. From there Morgan becomes entangled in the politics of the Byzantine Martia...
607
Knights of Forty Islands
science
Dima, a 14-years boy who used to fight on streets of his native city Alma-ata, now has to fight in a place where swords are used instead of fists. The new environment consists of forty islands, each connected to three others via high and narrow bridges. There is a castle on each island; and about 15-18 kids ("knights"...
608
We Can Build You
science
We Can Build You is set in the then-future year of 1982. It centers on Louis Rosen, a small businessman whose company produces spinets and electronic organs. Rosen's partner wants to begin production of simulacra, or androids, based on famous Civil War figures. The firm completes two prototypes, one of Edwin M. Stanto...
609
The Dosadi Experiment
science
The novel is set in a distant future when humans are part of an interstellar civilization called the ConSentiency composed of many species. One, the Taprisiots, provide instant mind-to-mind communication between two sentient minds anywhere in the universe, and the Caleban provide jump-doors which allow instantaneous t...
610
The Eyes of Heisenberg
science
Chs. 1-4: Harvey and Lizbeth Durant arrive to witness the cutting of their embryo. Svengaard, a low-ranking doctor, tries to convince them to skip the procedure, but they are adamant and insist on their right, all the while secretly communicating their contempt for Svengaard in a silent Courier code. Potter, a high-ra...
611
Reflex
science
Since the conclusion of Jumper, David Rice, a young man with the ability to teleport, has married Millie and occasionally works for the National Security Agency, only accepting jobs that he finds to be morally acceptable. During a meeting with Brian Cox, his handler, Brian is killed and David is kidnapped by a powerfu...
612
A Scourge of Screamers
science
The novel opens in 1997, two years after the nuclear exchange. The "Screamies" have been afflicting humanity since the 1980s. Arthur Gregson, an American spaceflight engineer, and his close friend Kenneth Wellford, from England, are attacked by an odd flying craft while themselves flying a small plane to a meeting in ...
613
Babylon Babies
science
Set in 2013, the main character, Hugo Cornelius Toorop (hero of The Red Siren), is a mercenary whose mission is to escort a young woman with schizophrenia, Marie Zorn, from Siberia to Quebec on behalf of a sect. It appears that the young woman is the surrogate mother of twins, representing the next stage of human evol...
614
At All Costs
science
Due to the actions of the High Ridge government in War of Honor, which led to a successful attack on key Alliance shipyards by the Republic of Haven, the Star Kingdom of Manticore finds itself decidedly on the short end of the strategic balance between the two warring star nations. Admiral Honor Harrington is placed i...
615
1634: The Bavarian Crisis
science
Early revelations detail machinations by the Habsburg heiress Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria to gather information as aided and abetted by a dowager aunt and her younger sister behind the backs of her father Emperor Ferdinand II and his Jesuit watchdogs. Duke Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria becomes a widower in ne...
616
For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs
science
Perry Nelson, a normal 1939 engineer, is driving his automobile when he has a blowout, skids over a cliff, and wakes up in the year 2086. Though he was apparently killed in the summer, he re-appears in extremely cold snow, nearly dies again by freezing, and is saved by a fur-clad woman named Diana. The exact circumsta...
617
Parallelities
science
Max is sent to interview a rich man, Barrington Boles, who claims to have invented a machine that can break through the barrier between parallel worlds, or "paras." Max first assumes the man is a typical loony, but after returning home, he finds his apartment burglarized by identical triplets who don't seem to know on...
618
Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London
science
Set in the early 21st century, the book opens with Johnny Mackintosh living in a children's home (Ben Halader House) located in the fictional Castle Dudbury New Town in the county of Essex, United Kingdom. He has written a SETI-style program for the children's home's computers and, at the beginning of the book, an ali...
619
Byzantium!
science
Byzantium is an ancient Greek city near the Black Sea. Romans, Greeks, Zealots and Pharisee are all part of its mix. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki arrive for general sight-seeing. However, each soon has to face the possibility of being stranded in this place and time, alone and surrounded by political upheaval.
620
Mission of Honor
science
The book begins in January 1922 P.D. The Star Empire of Manticore remains at war with the Republic of Haven, despite their mutual losses during the Battle of Manticore. Now, the Star Empire is in danger of entering an entirely new conflict with the Solarian League, a galactic superstate with a population numbering sev...
621
Force Heretic: Remnant
science
Luke Skywalker leads a Jedi mission to find the lost, living world of Zonama Sekot, and on his way helps repel a Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Imperial Remnant, formerly the Empire. Peace is declared between the Remnant and the reorganizing Galactic Alliance, but this is marred by the ruin of Barab I and the destructio...
622
Against a Dark Background
science
Seven of the original eight Lazy Guns were destroyed before the events of Against a Dark Background. One disappeared with its user when he tried to fire it at the local sun, one suffered a lucky strike during an air raid, two self destructed when investigators tried to take them apart and another was destroyed by an a...
623
The Currents of Space
science
The story takes place in the backdrop of Trantor's rise from a large regional power to a galaxy-wide empire, unifying millions of worlds. This story occurs around the year 11,000 AD (originally 34,500 AD, according to Asimov's early 1950s chronology), when the Trantorian Empire encompasses roughly half of the galaxy. ...
624
Queen of the Empire
science
When a demonstration of a "decoy" Human Replica Droid of Leia goes wrong and the droid shoots a scientist, Han and Leia are forced to fly him to his home planet of Chad to get treatment. When they reach the planet's hospital a hurricane is ravaging it. After Han is able to bring the scientist to the doctors, he is tra...
625
2061: Odyssey Three
science
In the previous novel, 2010: Odyssey Two, Jupiter was converted into a mini-sun which was dubbed "Lucifer" following the Soviet ship Leonov’s mission to Jupiter to find out what happened to the Discovery. A message was sent to Earth by Dave Bowman, through HAL: This is due to Lucifer melting the frozen ocean beneath t...
626
The Glass Bead Game
science
The Glass Bead Game takes place at an unspecified date, centuries into the future. Hesse suggested that he imagined the book's narrator writing around the start of the 25th century. The setting is a fictional province of central Europe called Castalia, reserved by political decision for the life of the mind; technolog...
627
The Empress of Mars
science
The story follows Mary, a woman who owns the only bar on Mars. After being let go as the xenobotanist for the British Arean Company, she and a few loyal supporters work very hard to create not only a bar, but a business empire that deals in everything from barley to diamonds.
628
The New Rebellion
science
Kueller, a Dark Jedi, destroys millions with his powers. Luke Skywalker feels this genocide, and is afraid that the destruction will continue. Meanwhile, an assassination attempt is made on Princess Leia Organa, which is blamed on Han Solo. However, this is quickly discovered to be Kueller's doing. Luke decides to see...
629
Stand on Zanzibar
science
The story is set in 2010, mostly in the United States. A number of plots and many vignettes are played out in this future world, based on Brunner's extrapolation of social, economic, and technological trends. The key main trends are based on the enormous population and its impact: social stresses, eugenic legislation,...
630
The Postman
science
Despite the post-apocalyptic scenario, and several action sequences, the book is largely about civilization and symbols. Each of the three sections deals with a different symbol. The first is the Postman himself, Gordon Krantz, who takes the uniform solely for warmth after he loses everything but his sleeping clothes....
631
The Masks of Time
science
Vornan-19 arrives on Christmas day, 1998 in Rome. He floats down from the sky naked, landing on the Spanish Steps. The police try and arrest him but he knocks them over with a touch. He is helped and given clothes by Horst Klein who believes that the apocalypse will come in 389 days, Vornan-19 tells him that he is fro...
632
The Last of the Jedi: Return of the Dark Side
science
Things go wrong when Palpatine comes to Samaria, ordering Ferus, who is a double agent, to kill his companions. Years ago, when they were both Jedi Apprentices, Ferus Olin and Anakin Skywalker were rivals. Now their paths are about to cross again.... Abandoning the Jedi Order saved Ferus's life. As a result, he is the...
633
What Price Honor?
science
The second original novel to be based on the brand new Star Trek series Enterprise, currently wowing audiences on both Sky and Channel 4, poses a tense and gritty dilemma for one member of the crew. The Starship Enterprise NX-01 is Earth's flagship - the first vessel to embark on a systematic exploration of what lies ...
634
The Caves of Drach
science
A multi-billionaire's grandson gets lost in the Caves of Drach in Majorca. The grandfather employs the team of astronauts (who are on holiday) to investigate. The expedition finds him in a huge and airy underground civilization peopled by practically immortal age-old humanoid beings who hail from the stars and took re...
635
Making History
science
The story is told in first person by Michael "Puppy" Young, a young history student at Cambridge University on the verge of completing his doctoral thesis on the early life of Adolf Hitler and his mother. He meets Professor Leo Zuckerman, a physicist who has a strong personal interest in Hitler, the rise of Nazism and...
636
Convergence
science
The book takes place millennia in the future with the same group of explorers introduced in the first two books of the series, Summertide and Divergence. After millions of years of apparent inaction, the Builder artifacts are changing quickly. After exploring several new artifacts, rediscovering the existence of a rac...
637
Path of Unreason
science
The novel concerns a physicist who is trying to explain the mysterious "Lawson Radiation" while his researches drive him insane.
638
Children of the Jedi
science
Han Solo and Princess Leia learn of the now-abandoned Jedi stronghold on the planet of Belsavis from Drub McKumb and travel there, only to discover a chilling conspiracy involving a Force-adept, members of the Ancient Houses and the Emperor's Hand who is able to change the programming of droids and mechanicals. Meanwh...
639
Dinosaur Planet
science
A team visits fictional planet Ireta to survey its mineral wealth. Several anomalies are discovered. Before all can be explained the Heavyworlder "muscle people" mutiny.
640
Killing Ground
science
The Doctor returns his companion Grant to Agora, the human colony planet where he was born, and upon arrival discovers that Agora has been conquered by the Cybermen, who have enslaved the population and return every three years to take the five hundred fittest humans for conversion in order to add to the Cybermen's ga...
641
Star of Danger
science
The novel concerns a hero who combats aliens to decide the fate of the Terrans on the planet Darkover.
642
My Name is Legion
science
The protagonist of these stories was involved in the creation of a global computer network designed to give ultimate economic control by keeping track of all human activity. Just before the system went live, the hero expressed his concerns about the possible misuse of such power to his superior, who gave the hero the ...
643
The Arrival
science
When the Animorphs see a front-page article about the Sharing in the Chronicle, they attempt to break into the office of the major local newspaper to determine how deeply infiltrated it is by the Yeerks. Mr. King (a Chee android) is captured and is about to be destroyed, and the group bursts out of hiding to rescue hi...
644
Drowning World
science
On the distant planet Fluva, torrential rains that leave it barely habitable also make it a treasure trove of rare botanical specimens. When the human prospector Shadrach Hasselemoga crashes in a remote area, the only crew available to search for him is the warrior Jemunu-jah, one of the native Sakuntala, and the immi...
645
Men Like Gods
science
Men Like Gods is set in the summer of 1921. Its protagonist is Mr. Barnstaple (his first name is either Alfred or William), a journalist working in London and living in Sydenham. He has grown dispirited at a newspaper called The Liberal and resolves to take a holiday. Quitting wife and family, he finds his plans disru...
646
Lord of the Trees
science
At the end of A Feast Unknown, Grandrith and Doc Caliban (a thinly disguised Doc Savage) cease fighting each other upon learning that their personal war and indeed their entire lives were engineered by the Nine, a megalomaniacal and powerful secret society. The two men have a sexual affliction in common; they are impo...
647
The Jesus Incident
science
The book takes place at an indeterminate time following the events in Destination: Void. At the end of Destination: Void the crew of the ship had succeeded in creating an artificial consciousness. The new conscious being, now known as 'Ship', gains a level of awareness that allows it to manipulate space and time. Ship...
648
Betrayal
science
Ambassadors from all over the Federation have assembled on Deep Space Nine for a conference that will determine the future of the planet Bajor. Keeping dozens of alien ambassadors happy is hard enough, but when hidden terrorists start blowing up the station, Commander Benjamin Sisko must track a hidden enemy who strik...
649
Nova
science
By the year 3172, political power in the galaxy is split between two factions: the older Earth-based Draco and the historically younger Pleiades Federation. Both have interests in the even newer Outer Colonies, where mines produce trace amounts of the prized power source Illyrion, the superheavy material essential to ...
650
Competitors
science
A Moscow freelance journalist named Valentin Saphonov finds an ad on a pole from the Stellar Time Agency, inviting people to sign up to become a pilot of a space fighter. Assuming this is an ad for a computer game, Valentin goes to the address specified in the ad and is greeted by an attractive woman named Inna. She w...
651
Earth Made of Glass
science
Giraut and Margaret, now married, are sent on a diplomatic mission to the politically turbulent planet Briand, a distant Outer Sphere colony cut off from the rest of humanity for centuries until instantaneous travel became possible with the springer. Not only is Briand a very hot, high gravity planet, but the oppressi...
652
Genus Homo
science
A bus is trapped in the cave-in of a tunnel, and its passengers are preserved for millennia in a state of suspended animation. When their vehicle is ultimately uncovered they awaken to a future in which humankind has vanished from the face of the earth, and gorillas have evolved to intelligence and become the dominant...
653
The Texas-Israeli War: 1999
science
Sol Inglestein is the commander of a tank squadron of Israeli mercenaries fighting for the United States government, promised land for their efforts. Their tanks, Centurions, which Sol designed, are powered by nuclear reactors and armed with Gatling lasers. His squadron is ordered across the Red River into Texas to ta...
654
Homeward Bound
science
The Admiral Peary travels at approximately one-third c and took a little over 30 years, instead of 24 (the Race's starship velocities were one-half c), to cross the twelve light years between Earth and Tau Ceti. The ship is named Admiral Peary for its role as a military exploration ship, after Adm. Robert Peary, who d...
655
Operation Thunder Child
science
It is a science fiction novel about UFOs and alien abductions, which shows how the government and military cope with an increasingly intrusive and hostile alien presence. It draws on government work on UFOs and is a "what if" novel that reflects some of the author's concerns about the defence and national security iss...
656
Logan's Run
science
The introduction to the book states: :"The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer during the mid-1960s, with sit-ins and student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970s over 75 percent of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. The population continued to climb...
657
Dirge
science
It has been twenty years since the chance meeting of street thug Cheelo Montoya and thranx poet Desvendapur revealed the insectoid alien colony hidden deep within the Amazon Basin, and not much has changed. Humanity has recently discovered the planet Argus V, better known as Treetrunk, with the intention of colonizing...
658
The Feast of the Drowned
science
When a Naval cruiser sinks in mysterious circumstances in the North Sea all aboard are lost. Rose is saddened to learn that the brother of her friend, Keisha, was among the dead. And yet he appears to them as a ghostly apparition, begging to be saved from the coming feast of the drowned.
659
The Gray Cloth
science
The novel is set in the middle of the twentieth century, and opens in Chicago, where the protagonist Edgar Krug has designed an enormous colored-glass exhibition hall. An art exhibit is held there, accompanied by an organ concert. Krug, fiercely dedicated to his esthetic concepts, is unhappy that the bright colors of ...
660
Gideon the Cutpurse
science
The novel focuses on the adventures of Peter Schock and Kate Dyer in 1763 after they are accidentally transported there by an anti-gravity machine while chasing Molly, Kate's dog. They awoke in the eighteenth century to see their time machine being carted away by a dark character known as the 'Tar Man', or "Blueskin"....
661
Star Wars Republic Commando: Order 66
science
Etain Tur-Mukan finally tells Darman that her son, Kad Skirata, who is under the guise of Kal Skirata's grandchild from one of his biological children, is also Darman's son. Though Darman is angered by this initially for Etain and Skirata keeping this from him, he finally starts to spend time with Etain and Kad during...
662
Limes inferior
science
The hero, Adi Cherryson, also known as Sneer (named after one of Zajdel's fellow science fiction writers Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg), is a lifter who "helps" people cheat during the computer controlled IQ exams by giving them the correct answers through a micro-radio communicator or taking the exam for them. Sneer, who is ...
663
Matriarch
science
Mohan Rayat and Lindsay Neville have been sent to the bottom of the ocean, after having been infected with c'naatat in the World Before, to spend forever living with the bezeri to help them rebuild and recover. But first they must undergo cellular reconstruction in order to survive in the depths, which happens at an a...
664
Shadow
science
Section 31, an amoral, rogue branch of Starfleet, manages to affect the starship Voyager, lost on the other side of the galaxy. 'Seven', a new and trusted crewmember rescued from the Borg, is being targeted with a series of incidents. The crew, whom Janeway thought she trusted implicitly, is harboring a traitor.
665
The Magic Labyrinth
science
The book begins from the point of view of The Mysterious Stranger, also known as X, the renegade Ethical who has been contacting people in the valley and enlisting their aid. He had posed as the engineer Barry Thorne on the airship Parseval where he had murdered Milton Firebrass and several others, all of whom were fe...
666
Infernal Devices: A Mad Victorian Fantasy
science
The novel takes place primarily in Victorian London. The story begins as a mysterious Brown Leather Man enters George's watch shop with a strange device in need of repair, claiming it was made by George's father, a brilliant watchmaker skilled in all forms of clockwork devices. George, who has inherited his father's s...
667
Diplomatic Immunity
science
Miles and Ekaterin are enjoying a much-delayed honeymoon while their first two children are approaching birth in their uterine replicators back on Barrayar. They have just left Earth to begin the journey home when Miles is dispatched by Gregor to Graf Station in Quaddiespace to untangle a diplomatic incident in his ca...
668
Eyes of the Calculor
science
Mirrorsun, which orbits earth and prevents electrical machines from functioning, had been defunct for some time. However, when it comes back to life with a vengeance, the new Highliber must reform the Calculor, a large computer whose components are human beings. At the same time, Americans are working with an undergro...
669
The Sound of His Horn
science
British naval lieutenant Alan Querdillon becomes a POW during the Battle of Crete during World War II. He awakens in a Nazi controlled world 102 years after World War II. He is hunted (literally) by a "Reichsforester" (a title Hermann Göring had during the Third Reich). He takes refuge with genetically mutilated "unde...
670
The Day of Reckoning
science
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi go to the planet of Telos on an unofficial mission to apprehend Xanatos, the Dark Jedi who had tried to destroy the Jedi Temple. Upon their arrival, they are surprised to find that Xanatos wields significant financial and political power on Telos. They soon discover that Xanatos and the...
671
The Graveyard Game
science
Segments titled "Joseph in the darkness" appear before and after each of the episodes described below. Joseph, apparently talking to his father-figure, Budu, fills in historical detail in the storyline and discusses his own motivations. In Mendoza in Hollywood, the botanist Mendoza and her companion Einar were thrown ...
672
Firstborn
science
The novel's action switches stage frequently between the Earth of 2069, the 'jigsaw-planet' Mir 31 years after its creation, and various settlements on Mars. Firstborn opens with Bisesa Dutt waking up after 19 years of suspended animation, only to be informed of the fact that a 'bogey' has entered the Solar System. Fu...
673
A Scanner Darkly
science
The protagonist is Bob Arctor, member of a household of drug-users, who is also living a parallel life as Agent Fred, an undercover police agent assigned to spy on Arctor's household. Arctor/Fred shields his true identity from those in the drug subculture, and from the police themselves. (The requirement that narcotic...
674
The Sands of Mars
science
Martin Gibson, a famous science fiction author, is travelling to Mars, as a guest of the crew of the spaceship Ares. After arriving at Space Station One, in the orbit of Earth, from which all interplanetary journeys start, he makes the trip to Mars. The youngest crew member, Jimmy Spencer, who is still in training to ...
675
Reprieve from Paradise
science
The novel is set after an atomic war and the world is run by Polynesians. The hero discovers a plot to turn the earth on its axis in order to create an Antarctic utopia.
676
Lord Jim
science
Jim (his surname is never disclosed), a young British seaman, becomes first mate on the Patna, a ship full of pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the hajj. Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and...
677
Prime Directive
science
On a local moon of Talin IV a Federation first contact observation post is monitoring the events on the planet below with growing confusion and concern. Talin IV, a world inhabited by a reptilian society with a culture equivalent to late-20th century Earth, and possible first contact prospect for the Federation in the...
678
Robopocalypse
science
In the near future, an increasingly robot-reliant society faces extinction after a computer scientist accidentally unleashes a sentient artificial intelligence named Archos. After failed attempts at making a non-homocidal artificial intelligence, the safeguards in a computer science lab are compromised. Archos, a supr...
679
The Shape of Things to Come
science
As a frame story, Wells claims that the book is his edited version of notes written by an eminent diplomat, Dr. Philip Raven, who had been having dream visions of a history textbook published in 2106, and wrote down what he could remember of it. It is split into five separate sections or "books": #Today And Tomorrow: ...
680
Incandescence
science
The novel has two narratives in alternate chapters. The first follows two citizens of the Amalgam, a Milky Way-spanning civilisation, investigating the origin of DNA found on a meteor by the Aloof. The Aloof control the galactic core and until the novel begins, have rejected all attempts at contact by the Amalgam. The...
681
Icerigger
science
After an unfortunate accident, Ethan Fortune, a simple salesman and sophisticated interstellar traveler, finds himself stranded on the deadly frozen world of Tran-Ky-Ky with professional adventurer Skua September. Together they search for a way off the planet while fighting against both the extreme weather and deadly ...
682
The Martian General's Daughter
science
As with his previous work Fitzpatrick's War, The Martian General's Daughter borrows heavily from classical history; in this case, the setting is reminiscent of the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and his son, Commodus. Unlike Fitzpatrick's War, Judson provides little background to explain how the worl...
683
The Eye of the Giant
science
The year is 1934. According to legend, the Polynesian island of Salutua disappeared after a fire god rose up from the volcano and drove away the natives. However, the eccentric Professor Sternberg believes that he’s located the legendary island, after tending to a man found floating in the Pacific Ocean with giant ani...
684
334
science
The future in 334 has brought few technological advances except for new medical techniques and recreational drugs. There have been no dramatic disasters, but overpopulation has made housing and other resources scarce; the response is a program of compulsory birth control and eugenics. A welfare state provides for basi...
685
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
science
Arthur Dent has hitch-hiked through the galaxy and is dropped off on a planet in a rainstorm. He realises that he appears to be in England on Earth, even though he saw it destroyed by the Vogons. While he has been gone for several years, it appears only a few months have passed on Earth. He manages to hitch a ride wit...
686
The Kobayashi Maru
science
When communications with the Venkatsen Research Group were lost, the U.S.S. Enterprise was sent to investigate. In a system with 47 planets, the transporter is not usable, so Kirk and crew take a shuttle to Hohweyn VII. En route, a gravitic mine damages the shuttle. Communications and navigation are not responsive, an...
687
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
science
Set in the distant future, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub is the horrifying first-hand account of a bureaucratic agent trapped deep within the subterranean bowels of a vast underground military complex. In a Kafkaesque maelstrom of terrifying confusion and utter insanity, this man must attempt to follow his mission direct...
688
War of the Worlds: New Millennium
science
After a remote Mars Rover (Vision) loses contact with Earth, a series of flashes appear on the face of Mars, once every Martian day (24 hours, 37 minutes). The flashes baffle scientists at first, until strange objects are discovered heading towards Earth. A space shuttle is sent out to investigate, and becomes the fir...
689
Excession
science
The Excession of the title is a perfect black-body sphere that appears mysteriously on the edge of Culture space, appears to be older than the Universe itself and resists the attempts of the Culture and technologically equivalent societies (notably the Zetetic Elench) to probe it. The Excession is what the Culture's s...
690
Junior Jedi Knights: Kenobi's Blade
science
Uldir, a classmate of Anakin Solo's at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, wished to become a great Jedi, but his skills in the Force are weak, such that he can't even lift a feather with his mind. He gets the idea to use a Holocron to learn the secrets of the Jedi of the Old Republic. He "borrows" the Holocron along with Ob...
691
Dreadful Sanctuary
science
The novel concerns an international conspiracy to prevent humanity from achieving space travel.
692
Strike Zone
science
In this book a race of aliens who have fought with the Klingons for centuries, called the Kreel, find a large stash of advanced weapons hidden on a strange planet on the Kreel-Klingon border. They are established as scavengers. They had, in the continuity of the novel, plundered the destroyed colony that was Worf's ch...
693
The Doomed City
science
The novel is set in a mysterious world where enigmatic Mentors run a sociological experiment. The mentors gathered volunteers from Earth from various places and times: from Germany of 1940s, the USA of the 1960s, Sweden of the 1970s, etc. The volunteers do not know the goals or conditions of the experiment. In spite o...
694
The Dangerous Games
science
When Obi-Wan Kenobi and his gifted Padawan are dispatched to the Galactic Games on a peacekeeping mission, an illegal Podracing competition catches Anakin's eager eye. As a Jedi Padawan, Anakin is supposed to abandon his past life in service to the Force, but his racing days and old rivalries return at high speed. Ana...
695
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
science
In the year 2194, in Zimbabwe, the Chief of Security, General Matsika, leads a battle against the many gangs which terrorize the nation. His three children, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are kept in a fortified mansion to ensure their security. This soon bores the children, who are seeking adventure, and they escape the hous...
696
The Girl Who Owned a City
science
A deadly virus has swept the world, killing off everyone over the age of twelve in the span of a month or so. In suburban Chicago, ten-year-old Lisa Nelson and her younger brother Todd are surviving, like all the children in the story, by looting abandoned houses and shops. Although there are abandoned cars in every d...
697
Solar Lottery
science
Solar Lottery takes place in a world dominated by logic and numbers. Loosely based on a numerical military strategy employed by U.S. and Soviet intelligence called minimax (part of game theory), the head of world government is chosen through a sophisticated, computerized lottery. This element of randomization in the s...
698
The Final Key
science
Eldrinson Valdoria took over a year to heal from serious injuries inflicted on him by the Aristo Vitarex. He is happy to reconcile with his daughter Sauscony (Soz) whom he disowned for leaving home to become a Jagernaut. But he can't do the same with his son Althor, who is lying near death in a military hospital after...
699