The Humanoids by Jack Williamson

Related Posts
Awakening: Book One of the Ragnarok Rising Saga

The dead are rising. Reports of rioting and mob violence begin to appear in the news as more and more major cities go silent. The CDC and FEMA are powerless to stop the spread of the deadly “Reaper Virus.” Rumors Read more

A Woman of the Sword

A Woman of the Sword is an epic fantasy seen through the eyes of an ordinary woman. Lidae is a daughter, a wife, a mother - and a great warrior born to fight. Her sword is hungry for killing, her Read more

The Humanoids by Jack Williamson
MainCategory:
Narrator:
Reception:

The story takes place thousands of years in the future when humankind has spread out and settled much of the galaxy. A powerful new technology called rhodomagnetics has emerged. On a distant planet called Wing IV, the new science resulted in weapons that wiped out most of the population. The inventor, wracked with guilt, then used rhodomagnetics to build the “humanoids”, perfect sleek black androids, all identical and all controlled by a central transmitter on Wing IV..He imbued them with a Prime Directive: “To Serve and Obey, And Guard Men From Harm”. But the robots were too powerful and their prime directive robbed human life of meaning wherever they went. They are rapidly spreading throughout the galaxy, and they appear to be irresistible..

 

Clay Forester is a scientist working in a weapons laboratory on a distant planet, when a vast army of robotic “humanoids” land and, as they have done on countless other worlds, take control of every aspect of human society. The official line is to “guard men from harm”, but in fact the humanoids deny any meaningful freedom to their human victims. Forester tries to fight back, with the help of a vagabond band of “psychophysical” adepts with amazing transphysical powers. Forester’s long fight against the strictures and despotic “protections” offered by the humanoids makes a fascinating tale, which Damon Knight called “without a doubt, one of the most important science-fantasy books of its decade.”
Author’s self-revealing Afterword, “Me And My Humanoids”, also included.

“Without a doubt, one of the most important science-fantasy books of its decade.”
– Damon Knight

“On looking back over his long and influential career, I have no hesitation in placing Jack Williamson on a level with the two other American giants, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.”
– Arthur C. Clarke

Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson

Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson
Date:
MainCategories: ,
Lenght:
Reception:

While researching a story on a mysterious box brought back from Mongolia, newspaper reporter Will Barbee meets the intriguing and seductive April Bell. After a series of frighteningly vivid dreams, and a string of murders that leave his close friends dead, Barbee starts to piece together the mystery of shapeshifter and werewolf April Bell, and comes to realize his part in the murders. As the truth starts to emerge, Barbee struggles with the reality of his past, and what this box and its contents mean to his future.

Written by Jack Williamson, the only writer to receive both SFWA’s Grand Master Award and the Horror Writer of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

“On looking back over his long and influential career, I have no hesitation in placing Jack Williamson on a level with the two other American giants, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.”
– Arthur C. Clarke

“Darker Than You Think yields sheer enjoyment, generating wonder and suspense as Williamson springs his sequence of trapdoors with the effortless agility of a master”
– Peter Straub

“A giant in the field of science fiction…When you’re the acknowledged Dean of Science Fiction, you’re allowed to coast a little. Jack is the only writer around who has demonstrably improved with every passing decade.”
– Mike Resnick

“I think the first SF novel I ever read was his book Seetee Shock, although it wasn’t until I read his novel of shapechangers, Darker than You Think, as a teenager, that I knew I was a fan.”
-Neil Gaiman

“He is a man of extraordinary talent and consummate humility, of penetrating intelligence and great kindness, a scholar and a gentleman. We are unbelievably lucky to have him as one of the forefathers of the field.”
– Connie Willis

“Not only is he (Jack Williamson) one of the best-loved figures in the field of science fiction, he has been a pioneering writer, breaking ground in new areas long before most of us had learned how to read.”
– Ben Bova

“Like the best of… wines, vintage Williamson travels well.”
– David Weber