Showing results by narrator "Arthur Vincet" in All Categories

"The Hour of the Dragon", also known as "Conan the Conqueror", is a fantasy novel by American writer Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. Conan, defeated in battle, captured and placed in a monster-infested dungeon, finds an unexpected ally and escapes; meanwhile, the population of the Aquilonian capital, believing him dead, riots and is ready to accept an alternative King.

"The Cosmic Computer" is a sci-fi novel by H. Beam Piper, published in 1963. Conn Maxwell, our hero, is returning from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, a.k.a "The Junkyard Planet", with news of the potential whereabouts of Merlin, a military super-computer said to have been dumped there after the last war. The people of Poictesme hope to find the super-computer, perhaps their only hope out of poverty. Will everything go according to plan and wishes, though?

"Pellucidar" is a fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, part of his series about the fictional "hollow earth" land of Pellucidar. David Innes and his captive, a member of the reptilian Mahar master race of the interior world of Pellucidar, return from the surface world in the Iron Mole invented by his friend and companion in adventure Abner Perry. Emerging in Pellucidar at an unknown location, David frees his captive.

"At the Earth's Core" is a fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, part of his series about the fictional "hollow earth" land of Pellucidar. David Innes is a mining heir who finances the experimental "iron mole," an excavating vehicle designed by his elderly inventor friend Abner Perry. In a test run, they discover the vehicle cannot be turned, and it burrows 500 miles into the Earth's crust, emerging into the unknown interior world of Pellucidar.

"The Chessmen of Mars" is a science fantasy novel from the "Barsoom" series. Tara - daughter of regular series-hero John Carter and Deja Thoris - meets Prince Gahan of Gathol, and is initially unimpressed, viewing him as something of a popinjay. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom.

"The Night Land" is a classic horror novel by William Hope Hodgson. As a work of fantasy it belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre. When the book was written, the nature of the energy source that powers stars was not known: Lord Kelvin had published calculations based on the hypothesis that the energy came from the gravitational collapse of the gas cloud that had formed the sun and found that this mechanism gave the Sun a lifetime of only a few tens of millions of years.

"Thuvia, Maid of Mars" is a science fantasy novel from the "Barsoom" series. The principal characters are Carthoris (the son of John Carter of Mars) and Thuvia of Ptarth, each of whom appeared in the previous two novels. Carthoris is madly in love with Thuvia. This love was foreshadowed at the end of the previous novel. Unfortunately Thuvia is promised to Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol. On Barsoom nothing can break an engagement between a man and woman except death, although the new suitor may not cause that death.

"The Defiant Agents" tells of an encounter between Western heroes, and the Russian Communists, and a mysterious alien race that has used time travel to alter Earth. The alien library discovered in the previous novel ("Galactic Derelict", published in 1959) proved to have locations of many unknown worlds. Finding the secure location of planet Topaz compromised, Apache operatives, including Travis Fox, are sent on an emergency trip by Earth with a mind-altering machine, Redax, that crash lands.

There was no life on the asteroid, but the miles of rock-hewn corridors through which the earth party wandered left no doubt about the purpose of the asteroid... What race had built this stronghold? What unimaginable power were they defending themselves against? Why was it abandoned? There was no answer, all was dead. But not quite all. For in a room above the tomblike fortress a powerful transmitter beamed its birdlike, fluting sounds toward earth.

"Space Prison" is a sci-fi novel by Tom Godwin. A ship heading from Earth to Athena, a planet 500 light years away, is suddenly attacked by the Gerns, an alien empire in its expansion phase. People aboard are divided by the invaders into Acceptables and Rejects. The Acceptables would become slaves for the Gerns on Athena, and the Rejects are forced ashore on the nearest 'earth-like' planet, called Ragnarok. The Gerns say they will return for the Rejects, but the Rejects quickly realize that that isn't going to happen.

"Space Viking" is a sci-fi novel set in his Terro Human future history. It tells the story of one man's search for his wife's murderer and its unexpected consequences. Ten thousand refugees from the losing side of The Big War (The System States War of The Cosmic Computer) fled far beyond the boundaries of the Terran Federation and colonized the planet Excalibur.

"The Moon Pool" is a fantasy/science-fiction novel by Abraham Merritt. The plot concerns an advanced race which has developed within the Earth's core. Eventually their most intelligent members create an offspring. This created entity encompasses both great good and great evil, but it slowly turns away from its creators and towards evil. The entity is called either "the Dweller" or "the Shining One"... This is just scratching the surface of an incredibly complex and suspenseful plot.

Tom Swift is the main character in the book series of science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention and technology. First published in 1910, the series total more than 100 volumes. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer. Tom's adventures have been written by various ghostwriters. Most of the books are credited to the collective pseudonym Victor Appleton. Most of the various series emphasized Tom's inventions.

"The Planet Savers" is a 1962 science fiction book by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It is part of her "Darkover" (a fictional world) series. Desperate to discover a cure for the cyclical 48-year-fever, known as "Trailmen's fever", Dr. Randall Forth persuades a colleague, Dr. Jay Allison, to undergo hypnosis. He calls forth a secondary personality, Jason Allison, who is gregarious and an experienced mountain climber, while Dr. Jay Allison is a cold, clinical man with no outdoor skills...

"Voodoo Planet" is a 1959 sci-fi novella by Andre Norton. Dane, Captain Jellico and the medic Tau are left stranded on the planet Khatka, settled a long time ago by Africans, after the Second Atomic War. The heroic trio experiences fights with dangerous life forms and also take on an evil witch doctor who is plotting to overtake the government... This is the third part of the "Dane Thorson/Solar Queen" series.

"Last Enemy" is a science fiction story written by H. Beam Piper, and is a part of his "Paratime" series. The title is a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (KJV) It made its first appearance in August 1950, in Astounding Science Fiction magazine (now Analog). The story begins at a dinner party given by Garnon of Roxor. The party is a voluntary discarnation feast, or suicide party.

A sci-fi novel by Edmond Hamilton, originally published in 1951. A nuclear war could cause the end of the world, but not really the way you would imagine it! An entirely new kind of atomic bomb explodes over the community of Middletown, but instead of the immediately anticipated destruction, the whole town is sent ahead millions of years into the future! The sun is dying and so is the earth. As for humanity, it will have to try its utmost in order to survive.

"The Dunwich Horror" takes place in a fictional town in Massachusetts, its main hero being the distinctly not ordinarily human Wilbur, a product of a deformed albino mother and an unknown father. Strange events surround his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. Locals shun him and his family, and animals fear and despise him (due to his odor). All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft.

This classic is a French Romantic/Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The story centers on the famous cathedral. Esmeralda captures the hearts of men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but also Quasimodo and his adoptive father, Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but the hunchback is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda.

They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men and two women, all Psionic Primes, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the cosmos to find their way back to Earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's classic science fiction novel - one of the greatest space operas of all time!