Showing results by author "Frederik Pohl" in All Categories

After millennia had passed, Mankind discovered the Heechee legacy (an alien culture that fled to the relative safety of a black hole) - in particular an asteroid stocked with autonavigating spacecraft. Robinette Broadhead, who had led the expedition that unlocked the many secrets of Heechee technology, is now forced once more to make a perilous voyage into space - where the Heechee are waiting. And this time the future of Man is at stake....

Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.

Frederik Pohl was on a streak when this Hugo Award-finalist novel was published in 1980. Now back in print after an absence of nearly a decade, this unique science fiction novel is as fresh and entertaining as ever. The story begins when the hero of Gateway finances an expedition to a distant alien spaceship that may end famine forever. On the ship, the explorers find a human boy, and evidence that reveals a powerful alien civilization is thriving on a transport ship headed right for Earth....

Wan-To was the oldest and must powerful intelligence in the universe, a being who played with star systems as a child plays with marbles. Matter occupied so tiny a part of his vast awareness that humans were utterly beneath his notice.

The Boy Who Would Live Forever has a sense of wonder and excitement that will satisfy those who loved Gateway and will delight new listeners as well. In Gateway, long after the alien Heechee abandoned their space-station, Gateway (as humans dubbed it) allowed humans to explore new worlds. The Heechee, alarmed by the alien Kugel whose goal was to destroy all organic lifeforms, had already retreated to the galactic core, where they now lived in peace.

In a vastly overpopulated near-future world, businesses have taken the place of governments and now hold all political power. States exist merely to ensure the survival of huge transnational corporations. Advertising has become hugely aggressive and boasts some of the world’s most powerful executives. Through advertising, the public is constantly deluded into thinking that all the products on the market improve the quality of life.

Two of science fiction’s most renowned writers join forces for a storytelling sensation. The Last Theorem is a story of one man’s mathematical obsession, and a celebration of the human spirit and the scientific method. It is also a gripping intellectual thriller in which humanity, facing extermination from all-but-omnipotent aliens, the Grand Galactics, must overcome differences of politics and religion and come together...or perish.

The biggest collection yet of favorite sci-fi stories - 16 full hours!

Advanced Heechee technology had enabled Robinette Broadhead to live after death as a machine-stored personality, enjoying his life by flitting along the wires from party to party with a host of other machine-people. But suddenly his decadent existence ends when an all-powerful alien race intent on the utter destruction of all intelligent life reappears after eons of silence, and threatens the lives of all heechee and humans.

When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!

A walk around the block, a quick drive, before shutting down your PC ? these short story collections are perfect for when you only have a few minutes to listen."

A science fiction fantasy of a small town in America that has been taken over by robots. The book included annotations comparing the story to the current climate over AI in society.

Search the Sky is a satirical science fiction novel set in the far future, at a time when humanity has long since colonized the stars. It begins on a planet called Halsey's, which is in a state of decline. When a Longliner generation ship arrives, having failed to make contact with at least six other colonised planets, Ross (the main protagonist in the story) is sent to investigate what is going on at the other colonies. He is given access to a faster than light spacecraft that can make each journey almost instantly.

Twenty-four of the greatest science fiction stories of all time in this fourth sci-fi short story collection, including works by Jerry Dunham, Emmett Dowell, James Causey, Gordon Randall Garrett, James A. Cox, Phyllis Sterling Smith, Richard A. Sternbach, Robert Sheckley, E. G. Von Wald, Keith Laumer, Jerome Bixby, Frederik Pohl, Roger Dee, Arnold Marmore, James H. Schmitz, Lester del Rey, Cordwainer Smith, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick.

Plague of Pythons is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller set in a dystopian world where people are randomly possessed and forced to commit horrifying crimes. Branded a Hoaxer, Chandler sets out to uncover the terrifying truth behind the so-called plague—and what he finds is darker than he ever imagined.

Incredible Science Fiction: Amazing Tales from the 50's and Beyond, Volume Two collates a collection of some of the very best science-fiction stories published in the '50s together. All these stories (with the exception of The Anatomy of Fear) are now in the public domain and were original published in various science-fiction magazines that were very popular in the 1950s. This is a lovingly curated collection of some of the very best stories published during this time. This collection includes a further story from the Hugo Award-nominated Rog Phillips.

The Earth has been ripped from the solar system by a runaway alien planet, whose inhabitants have their own sinister plans for Earth's resources. Humankind is dying out, but there are those who defy convention and refuse to give in. Feared by ordinary citizens, these wolves are preparing to fight back against the aliens. Wolfbane is widely regarded as one of the very best science fiction stories from the 1950s.

"The Tunnel Under the World" is a science fiction short story by Frederik Pohl. It was first published in 1955. Guy and Mary Burckhardt wake up in their house in Tylerton on June 15, having both had terrible nightmares, but they can't recall the events of their dreams. Guy dismisses the dream and goes to work as usual, the downtown offices of Contro Chemicals, which operates a highly automated and robot-staffed petrochemicals plant. But something isn't right at all.

A catastrophic flood devastates a quiet town, testing the courage, morality, and resilience of its residents. A Town is Drowning is a gripping and deeply human story of survival and community in the face of natural disaster. As the waters rise, greed clashes with selflessness, ambition meets sacrifice, and the true character of the town is revealed. Written in the 1950s but eerily relevant today, this novel offers a vivid and powerful exploration of how disaster reshapes lives.

Join Pohl on a whimsical journey into a future where the population of the United States has dwindled to a mere 10,000 souls. Yes, you read that right‚Aîthere was a war, and the clean bombs did their job, taking lives but leaving much of the world intact. Meet our unlikely trio of Knights‚Aînot particularly skilled, courageous, or bright, yet somehow theyve managed to survive. Now, they embark on an absurd quest in New York City, all in the name of Arthur. But heres the twist Arthur is a disembodied voice with no legs, no arms, and no body, yet he has plenty to say! Dive into this ...