Helliconia is emerging from its centuries-long winter. The tribes of the equatorial continent emerge from their hiding places and are again able to dispute possession of the planet with the ferocious phagors. In Oldorando, love, trade and coinage are being redisovered,
This is the first volume of the Helliconia Trilogy -- a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today's imaginative writers.
]]>It is the summer of the Great Year on Helliconia. The humans are involved with their own affairs. Their old enemies, the phagors, are comparatively docile at this time of year, yet they can afford to wait, to take advantage of human weakness?and the king?s weakness. How they do so brings to a climax this powerfully compelling novel, in which the tortuous unwindings of circumstance enmesh royalty and commoners alike, and involve the Helliconia continents.
This is the second volume of the Helliconia Trilogy?a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today?s imaginative writers.
]]>The centuries-long winter of the Great Year on Helliconia is upon us, and the Oligarch is taking harsh measures to ensure the survival of the people of the bleak Northern continent of Sibornal. Behind the battle with which the novel opens lies an act of unparalleled treachery. But the plague is coming on the wings of winter and the Oligarch's will is set against it-and against the phagors, humanity's ancient enemies, who carry the plague with them.
This is the concluding volume of the Helliconia Trilogy-a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today's imaginative writers.
]]>Non-Stop is the classic SF novel of discovery and exploration; a brilliant evocation of a familiar setting seen through the eyes of a primitive.
]]>For more than four decades Brian Aldiss has been confounding the limits of satire, poetry, and science fiction, creating stories from the well of dreamscapes that come up sharp against the cutting edge of our technological society.
]]>The Secret Place by Richard McKenna - "[A} sensitive piece of writing, a perfect example of second generation science fiction, the retelling and reexamination of a theme that originated in the pulp years..."
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw - The memorable classic featuring "slow glass" through which light takes a very long time to travel.
Who Needs Insurance? by Robin S. Scott - If one can be accident prone, then perhaps one can be "safety-prone" -- but why?
Among the Hairy Earthmen by R.A. Lafferty - Earth is nothing more than a bloody playground for the children of the gods.
The Last Castle by Jack Vance - A prime example of one of Vance's "haunting mood-possessed visions of the distant future, written in a style that stirs the reader to reaction and response."
Day Million by Frederik Pohl - A very short story "jewel-like conciseness" of future love, life, and romance.
When I Was Miss Dow by Sonya Dorman - "[A] sense of strangeness, more than a bit of human warmth, as well as a good strong whiff of alien strangeness."
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson - Earth proves to be a testing ground for the son of an emperor of a hundred worlds.
In the Imagicon by George Henry Smith - "What good was paradise without something to compare it to? Without a taste of hell from time to time, how could a man appreciate heaven?"
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick - Now better know as the story on which film Total Recall was based, the original is a far more subtle questioning of reality.
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss - The sole survivor of crash landing on Mars returns to Earth, but is 3.3077 minutes ahead of the rest of the world.
Contents
Afterword: The Year in Science Fiction • (1967) • essay by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison
Among the Hairy Earthmen • (1966) • shortstory by R.A. Lafferty
Call Him Lord • (1966) • shortstory by Gordon R. Dickson
Day Million • (1966) • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
In the Imagicon • (1966) • shortstory by George H. Smith [as by George Henry Smith]
Introduction (Nebula Award Stories 2) • (1967) • essay by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison
Light of Other Days • [Slow Glass] • (1966) • shortstory by Bob Shaw
Man in His Time • (1965) • shortstory by Brian W. Aldiss
Nebula Awards 1966 and Roll of Honor • (1967) • essay by uncredited
The Last Castle • (1966) • novella by Jack Vance
The Secret Place • (1966) • shortstory by Richard McKenna
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale • (1966) • novelette by Philip K. Dick
When I Was Miss Dow • (1966) • shortstory by Sonya Dorman
Who Needs Insurance? • (1966) • novelette by Robin Scott Wilson [as by Robin S. Scott]
His manner was less severe than well controlled. He showed great determination for the cause in which he believed, yet softened it with humour, which sprang from an innate modesty. He was not above self-mockery. In his speech he adopted the manner of a plain man, yet what he said was often unexpected.This is a very English, very urbane book, in which there is an awful lot of talk--about utopia, about consciousness, about subatomic particles; Aldiss collaborated on parts of the book with mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose. It is a wise book and a knowledgeable one. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk]]>