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Lancelot: The Betrayal

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Lancelot: The Betrayal
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Set in a 5th century post-Roman Britain besieged by invading war bands of Saxons and Franks, Irish and Picts, Giles Kristian’s epic new novel will tell – through the warrior’s own words – the story of Lancelot, the most celebrated of all King Arthur’s knights. And it’s a story that’s ready to be re-imagined for our times.

It’s a story imbued with the magic and superstition that was such an integral part of the enchanted landscape of Britain during this dark times. Many of the familiar names from Arthurian mythology will be here – Mordred and Gawain, Morgana and, of course, Merlin -as will be those vital icons of the legend such as the Round Table and the sword in the stone but these will be reinvented, reforged for a new generation of readers.

Lancelot: The Betrayal is a story of warriors and kings, of strife, warfare and bloodshed but it is also a story of friendship, of over-arching ambition, of betrayal, of love and lust, guilt and tragedy.

Hold Back the Night

Hold Back the Night
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From the author of the classic Alas Babylon comes this riveting story of a Marine captain and his soldiers and their arduous, difficult retreat from Changjin Reservoir to Hungnam during the Korean War—a stirring portrait of courage and sacrifice.

“These are not stragglers, sir. This is Dog Company…”

In Pat Frank’s classic 1951 war novel, one-hundred-twenty-six soldiers commence their long, harrowing journey at Changjin Reservoir during the height of the Korean War, but few will survive the grueling fight and eventually reach Hungnam. Vividly bringing to life the bravery, daring, and turmoil a unit of soldiers endures, Hold Back the Night reveals their gripping stories.

Captain Mackenzie, commander of Dog Company, not only bears the responsibility for victory or defeat, but also feels the full weight of the emotional toll that the war inevitably takes on him and his troops. His one consolation to inspire his band of soldiers to keep on going is an unopened bottle of Scotch that holds bittersweet memories of his wife who gave it to him as a gift.

Sergeant Ekland, a cocky, determined communications sergeant, is due for a battlefield promotion and longs for the day his tour is over so he can be reunited with his fiancée—that is if he makes it out of Korea alive.

Private Couzens, finds himself in a precarious situation with the enemy due to circumstances out of his control—a situation that causes his loyalties to come into question with his superiors.

As readers follow the lives of these men and the other unforgettable soldiers, Pat Frank’s epic novel of war, loss, and survival recounts a crucial chapter in American history.

Forbidden Area

Forbidden Area
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From the author of the post-apocalyptic classic Alas Babylon, comes an eerie, cold war thriller

A young teenage couple having a rendezvous one night on a beach in Florida suddenly sees a submarine emerge from the ocean. Armed soldiers disembark the vessel and a Buick drives off its landing ramp. For Henry Hazen, who is scheduled to ship out to an army training camp the next day, the sight leaves him uneasy, but he tells no one what he has witnessed.

Katherine Hume is the only woman working for the Pentagon’s Atomic Energy Commission. From intelligence they have gathered, she and her team are convinced the Russians are poised to conduct a nuclear attack on the U.S. on or shortly before Christmas. But convincing their superiors an attack is imminent is proving far more difficult than she could have imagined—even after several stealth fighter planes and their pilots go missing over the Gulf.

Banker Robert Gumol sees all the signs that the big attack is finally coming. As a reluctant spy for the Russians, Gumol’s loyalties lie more with his adopted country than his motherland. Deciding to take the next flight to Havana, he risks being executed by the Russians if his betrayal is discovered—but he’s willing to put it all on the line for a chance at freedom.

With the clock ticking, the fate of America hangs by a very thin thread.

A classic of science fiction that is a cautionary tale of the dangers of nuclear power, Forbidden Area is as timely today as it was when it was first published in 1958.

Alas, Babylon

Alas, Babylon
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“An extraordinary real picture of human beings numbed by catastrophe but still driven by the unconquerable determination of living creatures to keep on being alive.” —The New Yorker

The classic apocalyptic novel by Pat Frank, first published in 1959 at the height of the Cold War, with an introduction by award-winning science fiction writer and scientist David Brin.

“Alas, Babylon.” Those fateful words heralded the end. When the unthinkable nightmare of nuclear holocaust ravaged the United States, it was instant death for tens of millions of people; for survivors, it was a nightmare of hunger, sickness, and brutality. Overnight, a thousand years of civilization were stripped away.

But for one small Florida town, miraculously spared against all the odds, the struggle was only just beginning, as the isolated survivors—men and women of all ages and races—found the courage to come together and confront the harrowing darkness.

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
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This Nebula- and Hugo-nominated novel is held in fond esteem by many Heinlein fans. Beginning in the early 1970s, Heinlein suffered from a number of health crises, including reversible neurologic dysfunction (toward the end of the decade), which greatly impacted the quality of his writing.

Friday, first published in 1982, is considered his “comeback” book. Much more reminiscent of his earlier, tighter works, it shows the Grand Master back in his earlier form. The novel revolves around a genetically engineered woman who is one of the strongest female protagonists in the science fiction genre of that era. The story follows the adventures of this highly trained, combat-ready courier, from the time she is ambushed and tortured by an enemy group seeking the package she is carrying, to an eventual betrayal that tests her extraordinary abilities and resolve.

Friday was met with widespread critical acclaim, from both fans and critics, with Publishers Weekly declaring that the book “should fly” and Poul Anderson claiming it among Heinlein’s best.

Double Star

Double Star
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Many of Heinlein’s fans consider the novels he wrote in the fifties amongst the author’s strongest work; when he was at the peak of his talents. Double Star is considered by many to be the finest of his titles. Brian Aldiss called it his “most enjoyable novel.”
Whether it is the simplicity of a lively tale, the complexity of the situation, or the depth of characterization, the book has developed a loyal following. It also won Heinlein his first Hugo.

The story revolves around Lawrence Smith—also known as “Lorenzo the Great”—a down-and-out actor wasting the remainder of his life in bars.

When he encounters a space-pilot who offers him a drink, before he knows what is going on, he is on Mars involved in a deep conspiracy with global consequences. He is given a mission where failure would not only mean his own death, it would almost certainly mean an all-out planetary war.

“Heinlein’s novels of the 1940s and 50s shaped every single science fiction writer of my generation and everyone currently writing science fiction. Or making science fiction movies … and Double Star is an excellent example of all the reasons why.”—Connie Willis

The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham

The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham
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Two complete novels in one volume of the adventures of the mysterious masked crime fighter known as The Spider™, hunted by the underworld and the police alike.

In one, the Spider battles an army of giant robots that has New York City under siege—a storyline so fraught with action and peril, that the very creators of Superman had borrowed it for one of the Man of Steel’s comic strip adventures. It also was the inspiration for the major motion picture, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

In the second novel, the spider battles a criminal mastermind who threatens the entire northeast with thousands of poison-fanged vampire bats unless his terms are met. Can even the Spider-hunted by the law as never before after faked evidence has branded him as the master of the killer bats-unmask the identity of the Vampire King before thousands die horribly.

Shadows of Eternity

Shadows of Eternity
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Shadows of Eternity is legendary author Gregory Benford’s return to interstellar science fiction as a discovery within the SETI library on the moon turns out to be deadly.

Shadows of Eternity is a novel set two centuries from now. Humanity has established a SETI library on the moon to decipher and interpret the many messages from alien societies we have discovered. The most intriguing messages are from complete artificial intelligences.

Ruth, a beginner Librarian, must talk to alien minds—who have aggressive agendas of their own. She opens doors into strangeness beyond imagination—and in her quest for understanding nearly gets killed doing it.

Gregory Benford is one of science fiction’s iconic writers, having been nominated for four Hugo Awards and twelve Nebula Awards. Shadows of Eternity marks Gregory Benford’s return to the sweeping galactic science fiction that readers have been waiting for.

“A fascinating plunge into a new world. I loved the idea of the SETI Library on the moon. Chasing wormholes is also a wild ride!” —Jack McDevitt, bestselling author of Octavia Gone

Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke

Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke
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This “marvelous lunar espionage thriller” by the science fiction grandmaster and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey “packs plenty of punch” (SFReviews.net).

Two hundred years after landing on the Moon, mankind has moved further out into the solar system. With permanent settlements now established on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, the inhabitants of these colonies have formed a political alliance called the Federation.

On the Moon, a government agent from Earth is tracking a suspected spy at a prominent observatory. His mission is complicated by the rise in tensions between Earth’s government and the Federation over access to rare heavy metals. As the agent finds himself locked in a battle for life and death on the eerie, lunar landscape, the larger conflict explodes across space, leaving mankind’s future in doubt.

First published in 1955, this suspense-filled space opera by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inductee was a significant forerunner of television hits like Star Trek and The Expanse.