Download or read book The Florians written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They call them the "rat-catchers." They're the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost space colonies. Alex Alexander, ship's biologist, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. The planet Floria initially appears to be one of the few Earth colonies that's actually prospered since its initial settlement. But underneath the surface of the society, the "Planners" keep a strict, repressive rule over the Florians, while the police are apparently attempting to assert their own authority. But is either group actually what they seem? Daedalus Mission, Book One.
Download or read book The Paradox of the Sets written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2017-08-07 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final contact made by the Daedalus Mission begins badly, even before the ship makes a hard landing in the middle of nowhere. The situation of the colony doesn't seem to make any sense, and neither does the situation of the indigenous aliens--the Sets--that have helped the colony survive and thrive. Alex Alexander doesn't take long to work out a hypothesis that might explain the mystery--a hypothesis that the people on the ground have already worked out for themselves--and he's fortunate enough to fall in with a colonist who's obsessively determined to prove the hypothesis. Unfortunately, the quest seems likely to become so dangerous that both of them might die trying--and there's too much at stake not to take it to the very limit of possibility, no matter what the cost. The stunning conclusion (Book Six) of The Daedalus Mission series.
Download or read book Sexual Chemistry and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2013-08-16 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection brings together the ten earliest stories in Brian Stableford’s series of "Tales of the Biotech Revolution," all written in the 1980s, except for one anomalous example from the 1960s. The dates in some of the stories, located a comfortable distance in the future when the stories were written, have now long past, revealing certain anomalies of early expectation; but they have been left unaltered, as nostalgic samples of yesterday’s long-dead and perhaps much-lamented tomorrows. The collection begins and ends, as is surely only appropriate, with flamboyant utopian fantasies boldly asserting the perfectibility of humankind and the world of which the species has custody. Great science-fiction reading by a master of the form!
Download or read book The Mind Riders written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2012-01-20 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1976, "The Mind-Riders" features a remarkable anticipation of virtual reality gaming, in which the revised sport of boxing pits physically identical virtual fighters against one another, operated by electronically-connected "handlers" -- with viewers receiving transmissions of the combatants' emotions as their simulations slug it out. Ryan Hart, banished from the sport in its early days because of his lack of marketable emotion, is brought back by an obsessed media executive who wants to see the reigning champion beaten at any cost. Hart is not certain that he can win, after such a lapse of time, nor is he certain he can resist pressure to give the vast virtual crowds the dose of sadistic exultation they crave. But that doesn't stop him from heading into the virtual "ring" and fighting the bout of his life! Rousing science fiction adventure by a master of the genre.
Download or read book War Games written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the centuries that have passed since humans first ventured into interstellar space, they have been at war with the alien Veich. The human race has, in consequence, been fully militarized, its educational system being a form of military training--which includes, among other disciplines, the elimination of fear from the human psyche. Attitudes to the war have, however, been colored by the gradual discovery of relics revealing that it is echoing an earlier interstellar conflict whose antagonists have completely disappeared, victors and vanquished alike. On a neglected continent of an unimportant world, ex-sergeant Remy and other human and Veich deserters have joined forces to form a mercenary company that places its expert skills at the disposal of the dominant indigenes. This refuge from the greater war is, however, disrupted when archeologists on another world discover evidence that there might be significant relics of the earlier war buried in the inhospitable heart of the continent, where barbarian tribes are currently massing for a religious war. Remy has no alternative but to revert to working for his own race, knowing that whatever he enables them to find, or even if they find nothing at all, his own life will be in grave peril, and that nothing will ever be the same again.... Great military SF! Also published as Optiman.
Download or read book A Vision of Hell written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The people of the Euchronian Millennium had been reminded of the Underworld that existed beneath the platform on which they had constructed their better, cleaner, safer world--leaving the original surface of Earth a dark, dreary, and forgotten place. That awareness had become a political pawn, which many different people were trying to manipulate in their own interests. In the meantime, the search for more information about what actually existed in the Underworld went on, tentatively and ineptly. The hunter sent to help clarify the situation brought back a sensational prize, and revealed it to the world--but in so doing, he triggered an unexpected and unprecedented reaction, which changed the whole nature of the game, gave the people of Heaven a vision of Hell, and threw the fate of both worlds into the balance. The second novel in the exciting Realms of Tartarus series!
Download or read book Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2012-01-24 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the problems of writing fantasy and science fiction include all those pertaining to the writing of any kind of fiction, particular problems arise in stories in which unprecedented things can and do happen, as well as stories that often involve unhuman characters of various sorts, and that might require the elaborate design of entire imaginary worlds. This book provides an elementary introduction to problems of those kinds, and the ways in which they modify the general problems of writing fiction. It also suggests strategies that might enable the problems to be handled constructively and productively. The author has published more than seventy novels in the field, more than twenty short story collections, and more than twenty related works of non-fiction; he has, as the saying goes, been there, done that, and chewed his t-shirt in relevant frustration. Robert Reginald says: "An absolutely first-rate guide to writing fantastic literature. Stableford has much to say that potential writers of ALL fiction might find valuable, interesting, and highly illuminating. His reasonable discussion and dissection of the basic issues facing authors of creative fiction--and the solutions to be found to each problem--are dollops of solid gold advice, in this editor's humble opinion. Every would-be author should read this book--and more than once!"
Download or read book Wildeblood s Empire written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2017-08-07 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: hey call them the "rat-catchers." They're the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which a declining Earth has sent to re-establish contact with its long-lost colonies. Biologist Alex Alexander, together with his staff, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that they encounter far from home. On the world called Wildeblood, named for the ecologist/Emperor who founded it, the settlers' descendants harbor a terrible secret--a secret that Alex must uncover, if the colony is to survive. But he must also make contact with the world OTHER intelligent species, something that will take time--time that the colonists are determined not to give him. And even if can solve the biological problem, what about the diplomatic one? The Daedalus Mission, Book Three.
Download or read book Asgard s Conquerors written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Asgard's not an easy world to get away from. Mike Rousseau only wants to take a vacation in his home system, but he's back before he has time to draw breath, and he's been drafted into the Space Force once again. His new mission is even more dangerous than the last one, the number of his enemies has increased vastly, and his friends haven't improved at all. By way of compensation, he has another chance to get closer to the mystery at Asgard's heart--but the inhabitants of the megaplanet's core are no longer content to sit quietly and wait to be found. They've discovered the outside universe, and are trying to decide what to do about it--but they have problems of their own. Only Rousseau can cross the boundaries between species, and offer each of the races a possible solution. Another great entry into an exciting SF series!
Download or read book Yesterday Never Dies written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At an 1847 revival of Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable, the ghost of Blaise Thibodeaux, the author of La Résonance du temps, appears in one of the boxes, just as Thibodeaux had predicted to Auguste Dupin that it would, thirteen years before. Unfortunately, Dupin is unable to attend the performance, leaving his uninformed friend and narrator Reynolds to try to make sense of the apparition and all the confusing circumstances surrounding it. Once Dupin has returned to the intellectual fray, however, and pulled the multitudinous threads of possibility together, seven individuals must set forth for the forest of Fontainebleau in the dead of night in order to bring the "temporal resonance" that Thibodeaux had earlier attempted to produce to its full fruition, hoping at least to understand why he wanted to do so--although the Comte de Saint-Germain, apparently in control for once, has much greater ambitions than that... Another riveting entry in this ongoing historical fantasy series.
Download or read book Sheena and Other Gothic Tales written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2013-12-06 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sheena is a vampire from Leeds who works in a call center, and has a dark secret that even she doesn't know about. Her boyfriend has to discover it the hard way, alas. Like the other two vampire stories included in the book, both of which feature vampire babies, "Sheena" is a love story, which shares the life-enhancing attributes common to all love stories. Here are ten tales of the fantastic, the horrific, and the gothic, including: "Rose, Crowned with Thorns," "Rent," "Tenebrio," "Behind the Wheel," "Innocent Blood," "Emptiness," "The Woman in the Mirror," "Regression," "Heartbreaker," and "Sheena." Great reading by a great writer!
Download or read book A Glimpse of Infinity written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2013-08-05 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The masters of the Euchronian Millennium are panicking. The fabric of their ideal society on the platform built over the Earth has been ripped, and the order that they hold so precious seems to be teetering on the brink of collapse. In order to save it, the Hegemon has decided to obliterate all life in the perpetually covered Underworld of Earth from which the threat comes--but his followers are of two minds as to whether that's even possible, let alone justifiable. As the opposition grows, the plan goes forward--but then the Underworld begins to fight back, and everything's thrown into chaos: a chaos with which the citizens of a supposedly ideal society are simply not equipped to deal. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, the fight for survival goes on, as bitterly and ruthlessly as ever. The smashing conclusion to The Realms of Tartarus Trilogy!
Download or read book The Return of the Djinn and Other Black Melodramas written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six stories of fantasy and science fiction by a modern master, including three pieces published for the first time: "The Path of Progess," "Kalamada's Blessing," "The Shepherd's Daughter," "Shadows of the Past," "Reconstruction," and the original short fantasy novel, "The Return of the Djinn."
Download or read book The Gates of Eden written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the development of a faster-than-light drive, Earth’s space program has been in the doldrums for centuries, as has Earth itself. Hyperspace being impossible to navigate without beacons at which to aim, there is no alternative but to wait for vessels sent out at sub-light speed decades previously to find somewhere worth going. Unfortunately, when a worthwhile planet finally turns up, it doesn’t take long for political conflicts to materialize over its exploitation. Then, when an entire survey team perishes, the problems intensify. Lee Caretta is the man most likely to solve the problem—if his conflict-ridden employers will let him, if he can keep his tendencey to suffer unexplained blackouts under control, and if the world really is sufficiently Earth-like not to be deadly to the explorers. And then the humans begin to die once more! Despite the development of a faster-than-light drive, Earth’s space program has been in the doldrums for centuries, as has Earth itself. Hyperspace being impossible to navigate without beacons at which to aim, there is no alternative but to wait for vessels sent out at sub-light speed decades previously to find somewhere worth going. Unfortunately, when a worthwhile planet finally turns up, it doesn’t take long for political conflicts to materialize over its exploitation. Then, when an entire survey team perishes, the problems intensify. Lee Caretta is the man most likely to solve the problem—if his conflict-ridden employers will let him, if he can keep his tendencey to suffer unexplained blackouts under control, and if the world really is sufficiently Earth-like not to be deadly to the explorers. And then the humans begin to die once more!
Download or read book Journey to the Core of Creation written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is 1847, and Paris is edging closer to its next revolution, but something is also astir inside Mont Dragon in the Ardèche. This is a place of annual pilgrimage for a band of enigmatic nomads, and also a place of interest to the ambitious Bishop of Viviers. In spite of his distaste for travel, Auguste Dupin makes the long southward journey, in the hope that he might be able to help an old friend, the evolutionist Claude Guérande. Guérande believes that he has made discoveries in the caves of Mont Dragon that might cast new light on the origin of humankind, and of life itself. Over the years, however, not everyone who has gone into the caves has come out again, and not everyone who has come out has been unaltered...and 1847 promises to be a critical year, more dangerous than any before it. And when the bizarre flameflower begins to bloom, everything changes! Another great tale in the Auguste Dupin series.
Download or read book Critical Threshold written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2011-09-09 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They call them the “rat-catchers.” They’re the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost colonies in space. Alex Alexander, the ship’s biologist, together with his staff, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. Dendra is a stable world, covered by a huge, unchanging forest—except that nothing living can really be free of change. The planet has no seasons, but its animal life still undergoes life-cycles involving birth, maturation, metamorphosis, and death. The Earth colony sent to tame the world has failed, at least in the terms expected of it, and seems beyond redemption; but the crew of the Daedalus still has to find out exactly why and how the program has gone wrong. Provided, of course, that they can survive the investigation itself!
Download or read book Streaking written by Brian Stableford and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2011-11-14 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For hundreds of years the male members of the Kilcannon family have considered themselves to be the beneficiaries of distortions in the statistical distribution of chance, associating their most fortunate windfalls with visual distortions that they call “streaks.” This belief has led to the accumulation of a vast heritage of superstitions—rules which, if broken, might allegedly terminate the privilege. The current heir, Canny Kilcannon, is anxious to dispose of this burden, but is unsure as to how far he can go in tempting fate. When his father dies, his life is further complicated when a female beneficiary of a similar centuries-old lucky streak reveals herself to him. Lissa suggests that they attempt the ultimate experiment—to test the boundaries of their gift. Can they succeed? Or will they bring down upon them the “black lightning” of which both of their traditions warn? A truly compelling tale of luck and probability in the real world. BRIAN STABLEFORD has written and edited almost 200 volumes of science fiction, horror, fantasy, literary criticism, and reference, among others, many of them being published by the Borgo Press Imprint of Wildside Press. He lives and works in England.
