Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: The Ophiuchi Hotline, Demon, Millennium, Titan, Wizard, the Golden Globe, Steel Beach, Gaea Trilogy. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Ophiuchi Hotline is a Locus nominated 1977 science fiction novel by John Varley. It opens in the year 2618. The novel both introduces and finalizes the story elements of Varley's Eight Worlds series which are further explained in other novels and short stories, which explore earlier stages of the story of humanity, post-2050. On Earth, a race called only Invaders has destroyed all human technology in the year 2050, so that the remaining people there exist at a stone-age level. The rest of humanity survives on all available solid bodies in the solar system with the aid of a technology derived from information in the Ophiuchi Hotline, a radio signal apparently beamed from the star 70 Ophiuchi. They live mostly underground on bodies such as Luna, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Pluto. There are no settlements on the moons of Jupiter, because the Invaders live in the atmosphere of that planet. Using Symbiotic Spacesuits ("Symbs"), thousands of humans also enjoy an odd existence floating in the rings of Saturn. The Invaders' purpose is simple - they recognize two kinds of intelligent life: themselves, evolving in the atmospheres of planets like Jupiter, and sea-living mammals like whales and dolphins. Humans and other tool-users qualify only as vermin. They reduced humanity to the stone-age (starving billions to death in the process) to protect the whales and dolphins. Important technological elements of the stories are cloning and the ability to record memories and restore them to a brain at a later date. There is also advanced surgery used for cosmetic body alteration. Everyone is fitted w...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2907127 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Joseph Wright, John Mulcahy, George Reiffenstein, James Juvenal, Louis Abell, William Varley, John Exley, George Strange, Michael Begley, Donald Mackenzie, Frederck Suerig, Martin Formanack, Charles Armstrong, Joseph Ravannack, Michael Gleason, Thomas Loudon, Frank Dummerth, John Freitag, Robert Farnan, Frederick Cresser, John Joachim, Harry Lott, Phil Boyd, William Wadsworth, Charles Aman, Arthur Stockhoff, Gustav Voerg, Albert Nasse, August Erker, Joseph Buerger, George Dietz, Constance Titus, Joseph Dempsey, Jamie Mcloughlin, James Flanagan, Frank Schell, Frank Greer, John Hoben. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 83. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Joseph Walter Harris Wright (January 14, 1864 October 18, 1950) was a Canadian rower and municipal politician. He was born in Villanova, Ontario. He competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics and 1908 Summer Olympics. In 1904 he was a member of Canadian boat, which won the silver medal in the eights. Four years later he was a member of Canadian boat, which won the bronze medal in the eights. Again four years later at the 1912 Summer Olympics, he was a coach of the Canadian eights crew. He was elected to Toronto City Council in 1928, and served three terms before being defeated in the 1931 election. His son Joseph Wright, Jr., who's coach he also was, won a silver medal in the double sculls competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12679876 ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 4412. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Spring 1977; Vol. 1, No. 1; Editor: George H. Scithers. Contents: Editorial, essay by Isaac Asimov; Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe, by John Varley [1978 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Fiction (Place: 16)]; Think!, by Isaac Asimov; The Doctor's Dilemma, by Martin Gardner; Quarantine, Arthur C. Clarke; The Homesick Chicken, by Edward D. Hoch; Perchance to Dream, by Sally A. Sellers; On Our Museum: Preview of the New Smithsonian, by George O. Smith; Air Raid, by John Varley [as by Herb Boehm]; Kindertotenleider, or, Who Puts the Creamy White Filling in the Krap-Snax?, by Jonathan Fast; Period of Totality, by Fred Saberhagen; The Scorch on Wetzel's Hill, by Sherwood Springer; Coming of Age in Henson's Tube, by William John Watkins; On Books, essay by Charles N. Brown; Time Storm, by Gordon R. Dickson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
If there was a thesaurus where one of the words was W@nkerAuthor, the antonym might be IsaacAsimov, or at least that is how he often comes off in print :

"I suppose I ought to start by introducing myself, even though that seems needless. The whole point about putting my name on the magazine rests on the supposition that everyone will recognize it at once, go into ecstatic raptures, and rush forward to buy the magazine.
Well, just in case that doesn't happen, I'm Isaac Asimov..." and after credentialling "But let's not go on with the litany since I am (as is well known) very modest,-and since I am the least important person involved with this magazine."

He says, of Joel Davis suggesting publishing a science fiction magazine: 'I can't say I fell all over myself with joy. The truth is I was worried. I told Joel that no science fiction magazine had ever borne a person's name on it, to my knowledge, and that the writers and readers would surely resent this as an example of overweening arrogance. He said, "Nonsense, Isaac, who could possibly accuse you of arrogance?"'

Not having the time or capabilities to be Editor, the good doctor fills us in: "So we agreed to that; now let me introduce the Editor. He is George H. Scithers, an electrical engineer specializing in radio propagation and rail rapid transit, who is a Lieutenant Colonel (retired) in the United States Army and who does a bit of writing on the side."

On the style : "Now what about the magazine itself ? Life is risky for magazines in these days of television and paperbacks so ... we will work our way up to monthly as soon as we can.
We are concentrating on the shorter lengths, and there will be no serials. Novels have plenty of outlets these days, the shorter lengths relatively few. With my name on the magazine, it won't surprise you to hear that we will lean toward hard science fiction, and toward the reasonably straightforward in the way of style. However, we won't take ourselves too seriously and not every story has to be a solemn occasion. We will have humorous stories and we will have an occasional unclassifiable story as, for instance, the one by Jonathan Fast in this issue. We will have a book review column that will favor short notices of many books rather than deep essays on a few. We will have non-fiction pieces that we will try to make as science-fiction-related as possible."

Later, on reviews he says "There were 890 science fiction books published in 1975, of which 411 were originals and 479, reprints. The year 1976, only half over as I write this column, will probably have just as many. Obviously, there's no way to discuss all of these books or even to mention them..."

He picks out a few crappy books to talk about, among others - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Children of Dune, Imperial Earth, and a few collections by no-names : the Best of Arthur C. Clarke, and some Silverberg, etc.

On the stories, for a first issue not too bad I guess, and of course it is 1977.A 3.32 average, with 3 good ones.


ASIMOVS001 : Air Raid - Herb Boehm
ASIMOVS001 : Think! - Isaac Asimov
ASIMOVS001 : Quarantine - Arthur C. Clarke
ASIMOVS001 : Time Storm - Gordon R. Dickson
ASIMOVS001 : Kindertotenleider or Who Puts the Creamy White Filling in the Krap-Snax? - Jonathan Fast
ASIMOVS001 : The Homesick Chicken - Edward D. Hoch
ASIMOVS001 : Period of Totality - Fred Saberhagen
ASIMOVS001 : Perchance to Dream - Sally A. Sellers
ASIMOVS001 : The Scorch on Wetzel's Hill - Sherwood Springer
ASIMOVS001 : Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe - John Varley
ASIMOVS001 : Coming of Age in Henson's Tube - William John Watkins


Computer brain power talk.

3 out of 5


Plane crash Time Snatch paraleprosy repopulation.

4 out of 5


Chess a waste of computing resources.

4 out of 5


One bloke, one leopard, one girl, and not bloody much else.


3 out of 5


Kid processing.

3 out of 5


Why cross the road? What use is super-chicken strength unless to break out and escape?

3.5 out of 5


Particle eclipse problem.

2.5 out of 5


Immortality transplant.

4 out of 5


Polygala alien.

3 out of 5


Transplant Disneyland ghost shark shag shot cash fightback.

3.5 out of 5


Wing test.

3 out of 5
... Read more