Futures and Pasts, Fearless and Frightening.

This is a must-read collection for all fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. A celebration of legacy and endurance.

• Bizarre remains of a lost civilisation emerge from the ice.

• The ghosts of a drowned town wait to be awakened.

• A witch with a dragon problem.

• What Elvis will do to protect his fellow artists from annihilation.

• An ancient spaceship carries the last, fragmented memories of Earth.

• Broken souls of the dead are passed on to the new-born.

These and many more tales showcase the hopes, remnants, and fears of humanity.

Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Aiki Flinthart reached out for works from as many of her favourite authors as would answer the call. And many did.

Between these pages you’ll find stories by some of the world’s best science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers. Find new favourite authors and re-join old friends.

Their fabulous works are threads woven with a sure hand into a tapestry of the weird, the worrying, and the wonderful that make up mankind.

NIDOR LAY WRAPPED IN ETERNAL CLOUDS

The people of Nidor lived by the Law and the Scripture, remembering always the Great Cataclysm that had nearly destroyed their world only five thousand years before. They gave thanks daily to the Great Light that had spared their ancestors, and knew that only respect for tradition would keep their children safe.

Then the strangers arrived-falling from the clouds and clothed in light.

They called themselves Earthmen.

From the first appearances of Roger Zelazny’s short fiction in the early 1960s, it was clear that a dazzling new genius had burst into the field of speculative literature. Over the years, that incendiary talent blazed even brighter in novels such as Lord of Light, The Dream Master, and Creatures of Light and Darkness—incomparable works whose lyrical prose, imaginative virtuosity, masterful plotting, and unique blend of timeless myth and cutting-edge science won Zelazny the acclaim of critics and readers alike . . . as well as six Hugos and three Nebula Awards. His groundbreaking Amber novels are still counted among the most original and well-beloved fantasy series of all time.

Zelazny is no longer with us, but his shining legacy of genius endures—not only in his own fiction, but also in the work of fellow authors influenced and inspired by his example and touched by his friendship.

Alternative title: “The Man with Talent”.

As the behavioral sciences progress, we’re approaching the great adventure, the literal exploration of the human psyche. Someday soon a psychiatrist may be able to penetrate directly into the mind of his patient, and understand clearly what problems lie there. Robert Silverberg, in a narrative rich in archetypal insights, suggests that such an ability might have its drawbacks.

A spellbinding tale of a tradition-bound centuries-old Earth Colony and an Earthman who offers a magic drug that tears down the walls between men’s souls.

Here’s an elegant and darkly ironic look at the proposition that some things in life are better not to know…

Time travel is possible, but only forward in time. Visitors from the past are multiple and dangerous as they carry deadly germs people of the future do not have immunity against anymore. So all the time travelers are promptly apprehended and isolated. The head of the institution responsible for isolation of the time travelers is implacable and absolutely inflexible in carrying out his duties. Until one of the time travelers gives him a device allegedly capable of moving people back in time...

Set in the year 2375, the novel follows Tom Rice, a young archaeologist attached to a two-year dig on the planet of Highby V. He is searching for artifacts belonging to a long-lost and ancient race known simply as The High Ones. Throughout known space, details of this billion-year old civilization have been uncovered on many planets. What seems like a fairly straightforward expedition becomes a galactic odyssey when an artifact never seen before is uncovered. This device hints that perhaps the High Ones are not extinct at all. But, if they are not, then where are they? And will this lead to the culmination of Mankind’s greatest challenge or greatest disaster?

Later appeared as part of the novel The Alien Years.

Tras miles de años, el Largo Invierno producido en la Tierra por el bombardeo de cometas que causaron las estrellas de la muerte llegó a su fin. Los que salieron del capullo para enfrentarse a los peligros del mundo exterior en busca de la Nueva Primavera se llamaban a si mismos humanos... Su destino era la creación de un nuevo mundo.

From Robert Silverberg’s “Earthmen and Strangers” anthology, 1966:

The German word “gestalt” means “shape” or “pattern,” but it also has the sense of “group” or “formation.” The science-fictional concept of the gestalt mind has frequently been examined—the intelligence that includes more than one individual. On Earth, the rule of one-body-one-intelligence seems to hold true, but who knows what we may find on other worlds? We already know of some simple creatures, like the corals and sponges, that exist in colonies numbering many individuals. Such Unkings are purely physical; the possibility exists, though, that on another planet some higher form of life may have developed a colony of linked minds. What it would be like to encounter such a form of life is considered in this story.

In una Terra del lontano futuro una spaventosa catastrofe ecologica ha provocato lo sprofondamento delle Americhe e la decadenza della potenza terrestre nello spazio. La società del Terzo Ciclo si è strutturata in corporazioni feudali ed attende l’arrivo degli invasori, gli alieni che hanno salvato l’umanità dall’estinzione e che verranno a reclamare il possesso del pianeta.

Quando l’invasione arriva le misere forze della Terra vengono sconfitte, e gli invasori occupano con facilità quello che considerano un loro dominio.

L’affascinante vicenda si svolge in tre città, Roum (Roma), Perris (Parigi) e Jorslem (Gerusalemme), seguendo le avventure e gli incontri di Tomis, una Vedetta il cui lavoro, proiettare la mente negli spazi per avvertire dell’arrivo degli invasori, diventerà senza senso dopo l’invasione.

La rottura dell’equilibrio della società feudale porterà gli uomini a stabilire nuovi rapporti umani e ad incrementare i loro poteri mentali, sino ad arrivare a dominare gli invasori, che non verranno combattuti con le armi ma con l’amore e la fratellanza, contribuendo a formare una società di impensabile ricchezza.

Un romanzo leggibile su più livelli e pieno di idee, un premio Hugo più che meritato.

El planeta Kalgash está al borde del caos, pero solo unas pocas personas se han dado cuenta de ello. Kalgash conoce únicamente la luz diurna perpetua, pues durante más de dos milenios la combinación de sus seis soles ha iluminado el cielo. Sin embargo, ahora empieza a reinar la oscuridad. Pronto se pondrán todos los soles, y el terrible esplendor del anochecer desencadenará una locura que marcará el final de la civilización. Anochecer , novela basada en un relato escrito por Asimov en 1941, permite al lector experimentar el cataclismo que sobrevendrá sobre Kalgash a través de los ojos de un periodista, un astrónomo, un arqueólogo, un psicólogo y un fanático religioso.

It was a fine car and a good buy, even without the trunk. But there was some question of who owned if.

After a recurrence of the cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs and a resulting Long Winter of 700,000 years, the eventual New Springtime sees only two of the far future Earth’s original Six Peoples emerge from their deep cocoons: the resilient, insect-like hjjk-folk and the simian tribes who regard themselves as heirs to humanity. Young Hresh-full-of-questions is a member of one of the latter, a small band that must radically change its ancient rituals and taboos to adapt to their new life. Taking up temporary residence in the shell of a once great city, the group fearfully meets another people, is itself torn in half by rivalry and, through Hresh, achieves a new realization of who they are. This solid, dramatic novel expands on a favorite motif of Silverberg’s: the mixed terrors and pleasures of freedom, of going out into the wider world without guide, map or a sure sense of one’s own capabilities.

Auf der Wasserwelt Hydros leben seit Generationen Siedler von der Erde friedlich nebeneinander mit den amphibischen Eingeborenen des Planeten. Als eines Tages ein Fischer ein paar von den intelligenten Fischen im Meer tötet, haben die Menschen ihr Siedlungsrecht verwirkt. Sie müssen ihre kleinen schwimmenden Inseln, die ihnen längst zur Heimat geworden sind, verlassen und sind gezwungen, ein geheimnisvolles dunkles Land zu sucher, das vielleicht nur in den Sagen existiert.

Later, along with “Hot Sky”, was used as the foundation of the novel Hot Sky at Midnight.

When the government wields its power against its own people, every citizen becomes an enemy of the state. Will you fight the system, or be ground to dust beneath the boot of tyranny?

In his smash-hit anthologies Wastelands and The Living Dead, acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams showed you what happens when society is utterly wiped away. Now he brings you a glimpse into an equally terrifying future — what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life?

From 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale, from Children of Men to Bioshock, the dystopian imagination has been a vital and gripping cautionary force. Brave New Worlds collects 33 of the best tales of totalitarian menace by some of today’s most visionary writers.

From Huxley's Brave New World, to Orwell's 1984, to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, dystopian books have always been an integral part of both science fiction and literature, and have influenced the broader culture discussion in unique and permanent ways. Brave New Worlds brings together the best dystopian fiction of the last 30 years, demonstrating the diversity that flourishes in this compelling subgenre. This landmark tome contains stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, M. Rickert, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and many others.

Una giovane orfana diciassettenne, vergine, e madre di cento figli. Un astronauta che, su un lontano pianeta, è stato vivisezionato e rimesso insieme, ma con criteri extraterrestri, da dei superchirurghi. Unite queste due vittime di un oltraggio insanabile. Dall’orrore che striscia sotto la loro pelle, pronto a prorompere, scaturiranno torrenti di paura, ira, odio, gelosia, tormento, terrore: le emozioni umane delle quali si nutre e si abbevera, e grazie alle quali ingrassa e si arricchisce, il “mercante di dolore”. L’astronauta, l’orfana e l’avvoltoio: il più strano “triangolo” coniugale che i mondi interplanetari abbiano mai veduto.

Vier junge Männer — miteinander befreundete Studenten einer amerikanischen Hochschule — starten eines Tages zu einem Trip in die Wüste von Arizona. Ihr Ziel ist ein geheimnisvolles Kloster, das es dort, abgeschieden von der Welt, geben soll. So steht es in den verstaubten Dokumenten, die einer der Studenten beim Quellenstudium gefunden hat. Wenn die Dokumente nicht lügen, leben in diesem Kloster Mönche, die das Geheimnis der Unsterblichkeit kennen. Unter bestimmten Bedingungen erlauben sie Außenseitern den Zutritt zu ihrer Bruderschaft. Sie müssen zu viert kommen und sich gemeinsam einem Ritual unterwerfen. Einer der vier wird sein Leben für die anderen geben müssen, und ein weiterer muß von seinen Freunden geopfert werden. Erst dann können die beiden Überlebenden in die Unsterblichkeit eingehen. In einer Mischung aus Spiel und Ernst versuchen die vier, die aus verschiedenen sozialen Schichten kommen und sich auch in ihrem Temperament, ihren Schwächen, Stärken und Vorlieben stark voneinander unterscheiden, sich auf das einzustellen, was sie in Arizona erwartet. Als sie das Kloster tatsächlich finden, wissen sie noch immer nicht, ob man ihnen nicht einen Mummenschanz vorgaukelt. Und vor allem wissen sie nicht, wer die Unsterblichen und wer die Opfer sein sollen …

Naukowcy XXI wiku opracowali technikę podróży w czasie. Pozostaje ich do rozwiązania tylko jeden problem:Jak zmniejszyć do minimum niebezpieczeństwo nieodwracalnego zakłócenia istniejącej rzeczywistości. Decydują się więc na porwanie trzyletniego chłopca z Neandrtalskiego plemienia. Chłopiec pozostaje w XXI wieku pod ścisłą kontrolą, mieszka w zamkniętej strefie, w któej znajdują się obiekty przeniesione z jego czasu. Opiekuje się nim pielęgniarka, panna Fellowes. Mały Neandertalczyk okazuje się nader pojętnym uczniem. Po trzech latach jest cywilizowanym dzieckiem. Wtedy zapada decyzja, że zostanie odesłany w przeszłość. Dla uczonym przestał już być interesującym obiektem badań. Potrzebują przestrzeni, którą zajmuje, dla innych postaci przeniesionych z czasów historycznych. Razem z nim jednak przenosi się w świat epoki lodowcowej nieoczekiwanie jeszcze jedna osoba…

Micah-IV wasn’t human and couldn’t understand why humans did strange things—but he could imitate them!

The novel published as This Immortal first appeared under the title …And Call Me Conrad. It won Roger his first Hugo. In the following tale, Robert Silverberg’s Titan discovers, as did Conrad, that nothing ever goes quite as one plans.

No organization can function if a clearly transmitted message cannot produce the intended effect. If, no matter what the order is, it always comes out the same, unwanted way…

Majipoor, planète géante, abrite des dizaines de milliards d’habitants, humains, Hjorts, Métamorphes, Vroons, Skandars et autres étrangers. Parce que les métaux y sont rares, la technologie y est presque absente. Mais on y excelle dans les arts et les aménités de la vie. Jeune saute-ruisseau, Hissune est entré au service du Pontife de Majipoor. Il a accès au Registre des Ames où des millions d’habitants de Majipoor ont déposé au fil de milliers d’années des enregistrements de leurs souvenirs.

II suffit de prendre une capsule, de la glisser dans une fente spéciale et, d’un seul coup, c’est comme si on était devenu la personne qui a fait l’enregistrement.

Hissune en prend une et une autre et une autre encore, et c’est comme s’il voyageait à travers les continents démesurés, les océans interminables de Majipoor, comme s’il explorait les plaines, les déserts, les montagnes, les villes, les palais et les âmes aussi.

„Ciernie” to pasjonująca powieść znakomitego pisarza SF, jednej z największych gwiazd światowej fantastyki, autora m.in. „W dół, do Ziemi”, „Czasu przemian”, „Umierając żyjemy” i innych głośnych książek.

Autor porusza z głęboką i wnikliwą znajomością najbardziej mrocznych zakamarków duszy ludzkiej temat psychicznego wampiryzmu — dyktatury opartej na manipulacji ludzkim cierpieniem, ale także w wymiarze jednostkowym fascynuje go opis wzajemnego psychicznego pożerania się ludzi, „wysysania” z siebie sił witalnych, wzajemnego samozniszczenia się siebie.

Jeśli jesteś ciekaw:

— co czuje kobieta będąca matką stu tysięcy dzieci,

— czy superman może być nieszczęśliwym potworem,

— kto czerpie radość i rozkosz z bólu

to wszystko możesz odnaleźć w tej niesamowitej powieści.

La fatal colisión de dos imperios estelares, el terrestre y el de Norgla, cuando su mutua expansión los pone en inevitable contacto. Mediante una nave más rápida que la luz, los terrestres llegan a una región de la galaxia situada a 10.000 años-luz de la Tierra, donde descubren otra raza humanoide dedicada a la colonización de aquellos mundos. El choque hubiera sido inevitable, a causa del orgullo de los Norglanos, de no ser por una especie extragaláctica, los avanzadísimos Rosgollanos, que obligan a terrestres y norglanos a dividirse la Galaxia en los partes o esferas de influencia iguales.

Also appeared as “Catch ’em All Alive!”.

The novel details the response of the political leadership of Earth to an eventual collision of their aggressive expanding colonial empire with a newly-discovered alien race.

Hissune, el joven compañero de lord valentine en El castillo de Lord Valentine y El Laberinto de Majipur, aburrido de sus tareas rutinarias, consigue curiosear a sus anchas en el Registro de Almas, el lugar donde la prolífica vida pasada de Majipur se conserva en forma de grabaciones que contienen las vivencias de sus moradores.

Hissune conoce así los extraños amores de los humanos y seres reptilescos, vive la tragedia del pintor espiritual que encuentra a un metamorfo con apariencia de mujer bellísima, realiza la travesía del Gran Océano y se ve rodeado e inmovilizado por algas malignas...

En el mismo Registro de Almas, el jovencito se divierte con la pintoresca historia del Pontífice que, hastiado tras muchos años de encierro en el Laberinto, decide nombrarse miembro del sexo femenino como único medio de abandonar aquel mundo subterráneo.

Hissune asiste también al nacimiento del Rey de los Sueños, el primer hombre que acosará a los habitantes dormidos con "envíos" maléficos mediante un instrumento de su invención.

La primera noche de amor de Lord Valentine en compañía de una bruja y su hermano Voriax…

Wieloletni władca Majipooru, który zapewnił swoim poddanym niebywały dobrobyt, spoczywa na łożu śmierci. Zanim jednak tron obejmie Lord Confalume, musi zostać wyznaczony również jego następca. Niemal pewnym kandydatem jest książę Prestimion, gdyż Korsibarowi, jako synowi Confalume’a, tradycja zakazuje dziedziczenia władzy po ojcu. Korsibar postanawia zburzyć panujący porządek, używając w tym celu magii. Wybucha krwawa wojna domowa.

Ludzka kolonia na nieprzyjaznej, ubogiej planecie Borthan, pozbawiona kontaktu z Ziemią, wypracowała niespotykany nigdzie indziej system społeczny. Człowiek jest w niej skazany na samotność w tłumie — normy i zasady społeczne zakazują mówienia o sobie i swoich potrzebach czy uczuciach, bo to prowadzi jakoby do zbytniego pobłażania sobie, litowania się nad sobą i zepsucia moralnego. Kinnall Darival, syn arystokraty, pisze pamiętnik (rzecz sama w sobie niebywała), w którym używa słów “ja”, “mnie” (uznawanych powszechnie za obsceniczne) — licząc, że poruszy w ludziach jakąś czułą strunę i zdoła odmienić swój świat.

Kultowa książka Silverberga, jedna z jego najbardziej znanych w Polsce powieści. Znany badacz kosmosu, spec od kontaktu z obcymi cywilizacjami ? Richard Muller zostaje przez obcych przenicowany i obdarzony pewną skazą, z powodu której ludzkość go odrzuca. Muller chroni się w starożytnym labiryncie na planecie Lemnos. Ale mijają lata, ludzkość napotyka potężną obcą cywlizację, z którą nie potrafi nawiązać kontaktu. Muller znowu jest potrzebny. Jak go jednak wywabić z tajemniczego labiryntu, pełnego pułapek, miraży i dzikich zwierząt.

Eine phantastische Reise in die Totenwelt jenseits der Erde — dort trifft König Gilgamesch seinen geliebten Freund Enkidu wieder — nur um ihn erneut zu verlieren. Auf seiner Wanderschaft durch die dunklen Einöden begegnet er Menschen aus der Steinzeit ebenso wie Menschen des Industriezeitalters, die mit ihren seltsamen technischen Gerätschaften die lärmende Hektik ihrer Epoche ins Totenreich eingeschleppt haben. Er begegnet der schönen Helena, die Picasso Modell sitzt, und Robert E. Howard, der glaubt, in ihm seinen Conan leibhaftig vor sich zu haben. Es gelingt Gilgamesch sogar, den Weg zurück ins Land der Lebenden zu finden, ins New York des ausgehenden zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, doch er wendet ihm schaudernd den Rücken.

Die fremdartigen Wesen, mit denen Colonel Devall zu tun hatte, waren verhältnismäßig primitive Geschöpfe, deren Kultur noch von Riten und Tabus beherrscht wurde. Es kann aber auch geschehen, daß Terraner in der Sternenwelt Fremden begegnen, die wesentlich komplizierter geschaffen sind — Fremde, die eine ganz unirdische Überzeugungskraft besitzen…

Es wird Welten geben, die von unterentwickelten Wesen bewohnt werden. Diese primitiven Wesen werden ihre eigenen Gesetze haben und sie angesichts der Besucher von der Erde zäh verteidigen. Das Ergebnis werden Gewissenskonflikte sein, in die die Angehörigen des zukünftigen Friedenskorps gestürzt werden. Schwankend zwischen der ethischen Struktur ihrer eigenen Welt und dem Wunsch, fremde Sitten zu respektieren, werden sie sich oft vor schwerwiegende Entscheidungen gestellt sehen…

Soldiers in every age have learned that the military’s unofficial motto is “Hurry up and wait.” But suppose all you ever did was wait? And wait. And wait…

In sehr naher Zukunft, wenn die Raumfliegerei zu einer Routineangelegenheit wie unsere heutige gewerbsmäßige Fliegerei geworden ist, wird eine Art von Raumpiloten in Erscheinung treten, um sich der schwierigsten Aufgabe der Welt zu widmen, John Glenn, Juri Gagarin und unsere anderen Raumpiloten saßen noch untätig in einer Kapsel, die sich auf einer festgelegten Umlaufbahn bewegte. Die Raketenpiloten von morgen haben es schwerer. Sie werden an den Kontrollgeräten von Schiffen sitzen, die riesige Entfernungen mit unvorstellbaren Geschwindigkeiten auf verzwickten Flugbahnen durchqueren. Um diese Schiffe zu steuern, wird man auf ganz besonders getestete und ausgebildete Piloten zurückgreifen müssen, und diese Männer werden sich ganz besonderen Problemen gegenübersehen…

Die letzten Tage des galaktischen Imperiums brechen an.

Richard Muller war einst Botschafter der Erde auf Beta Hydri IV. Etwas an seiner Aura, der Ausstrahlung seiner Gehirnwellen, stieß die Fremden derart ab, daß sie ihn veränderten. Mit dem Ergebnis, daß seine Gegenwart für sie erträglich wurde. Und mit einem zweiten Ergebnis: Menschen sind nicht länger fähig, seine Gegenwart zu ertragen. Richard Muller wurde zum einsamsten Menschen des Alls, zu einem Außenseiter, der sich auf einen sterbenden Planeten zurückzog, um sich dort in dem tödlichen Labyrinth einer verlassenen Stadt zu verstecken. Bis eines Tages Menschen von der Erde zu ihm kommen. Sie suchen ihn. Nur er kann ihnen helfen. Denn genau jenes Etwas, das ihn zum Ausgestoßenen gemacht hat, läßt ihn nun zur letzten Hoffnung der menschlichen Rasse werden. Nur er allein ist in der Lage, mit jenen gefährlichen Aliens in Verbindung zu treten, die plötzlich auf der Bildfläche erschienen sind…

Seine Mission ist der Tod — für andere und für sich selbst.

Einige der Welten der Milchstraße werden überhaupt nicht von lebenden Wesen bewohnt sein. Wenn die Menschen sie erreichen, werden sie nur die Zeichen vergangener Zivilisationen finden – die Pompejis und Chichén Itzas anderer Planeten. Mit solchen Welten werden sich weder die Zoologen, Diplomaten und Militärs befassen, sondern nur die Archäologen. Und bei ihren Grabungen werden sie vielleicht auf Dinge stoßen, die von größter Bedeutung für die Welten lebender Wesen sind…

Vielleicht gibt es Planeten, die von menschenähnlichen Wesen bewohnt werden. Mag ihre Haut auch von seltsamer Farbe sein, mag ihre Biologie uns fremd und ihr Aussehen ungewöhnlich sein, so ist es doch möglich, daß ihr Verstand in bemerkenswert menschlicher Weise arbeitet. Daraus können sich Komplikationen für Erdenbewohner ergeben, die sich unter die Fremden mischen und sich plötzlich in heikle Probleme verstrickt sehen…

Eine der vorhergehenden Stories befaßte sich mit der Frage, wie Menschen Planeten kolonisieren könnten, die ihnen physisch nicht die von der Erde gewohnten Lebensbedingungen bieten. Ein möglicher Vorschlag ging dahin, daß es notwendig werden könnte, die Menschen den neuen Welten anzupassen, und nicht umgekehrt.

Gehen wir mit diesem Vorschlag einen Schritt weiter. In ferner Zukunft, wenn die Menschen sich den Welten des Universums angepaßt haben, kann es immer noch vorkommen, daß ein Mensch sich ohne diese Anpassung auf einer Welt findet, auf die er nicht gehört. Was wird dann aus ihm werden, welches Schicksal erwartet ihn dann…?

The novel’s main character, David Selig, is an undistinguished man living in New York City. David was born with a telepathic gift allowing him to read minds. Rather than use his ability for any greater good, however, Selig squanders his power, using it only for his own convenience. At the beginning of the novel, David earns a living by reading the minds of college students so that he can better plagiarize reports and essays on their behalf.

As the novel progresses, Selig’s power grows more and more weak, working sporadically and sometimes not at all, and Selig struggles to maintain his grip on reality as he begins to lose an ability on which he has long since grown dependent.

Nominated for Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1972.

Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1973.

Nominated for Locus Award in 1973.

Miles de años después de nuestra era, en el planeta Majipur existe un arcaico imperio feudal en el que, no obstante persisten restos de una avanzada tecnología. En este marco Valentine, un juglar itinerante, descubre a través de sueños y portentos su verdadera identidad: él es Lord Valentine, la Corona. Su cuerpo y su trono han sido ocupados por un usurpador.

Clay, el protagonista, despierta en un futuro muy lejano donde los descendientes del hombre adoptan formas de vida muy diversas y alucinantes. En su entrada a ese tiempo es acogido por Hammer, una criatura que tanto puede adoptar formas sexuadas como asexuadas, y también macho y hembra, y en cuya compañía vive asombrosas experiencias de percepción y explora todas las posibilidades de la sexualidad.

Una raza de arañas de extraordinaria inteligencia, de arañas pensantes, lo había transformado en un nuevo Minotauro. El representaba la única —y la última— esperanza del género humano, y era indispensable encontrarlo. Pero un objetivo semejante suponía internarse en un superlaberinto y realizar un trayecto cuyos riesgos y secretos excedían toda imaginación.

El hombre en el laberinto es, indiscutiblemente, la novela más inquietante y hermosa de Silvegberg, acaparador de premios Hugo y Nebula y uno de los escritores más audaces y polémicos de los últimos años.

Lew Nichols se dedica a formular predicciones estocásticas, una mezcla de análisis sumamente perfeccionado y de conjeturas basadas en informaciones sólidas. Estas predicciones son el enfoque más aproximado a la predicción del futuro que el ser humano es capaz de realizar a finales del siglo XX. En manos de Nichols, constituyen un instrumento de asombrosa exactitud, y su notable capacidad le gana un importante puesto en el equipo de Paul Quinn, el ambicioso y carismático alcalde de la prácticamente ingobernable ciudad de Nueva York, cuyas ambiciones se cifran en alcanzar la presidencia de Estados Unidos en 2004.

A pesar de su efectividad, las predicciones estocásticas no tienen nada de paranormal. Nichols adivina el futuro, pero no puede “verlo” realmente. Ese es el extraordinario don que se ofrece a enseñarle el misterioso Martin Carvajal, el de un conocimiento totalmente clarividente del futuro. Obsesionado por ayudar a Quinn a llegar a la Casa Blanca, Nichols no puede desperdiciar la oportunidad, a pesar de sobrecogerse al observar el efecto que causa en Carvajal el conocimiento de todos y cada uno de los actos de su propia vida, incluyendo el de su muerte.

“El hombre estocástico” constituye una exploración a fodo y enormemente satisfactoria de uno de los conceptos básicos de la ciencia ficción. La trama, de gran perfección, muestra a su autor, Robert Silverberg, en una de sus más brillantes facetas.

“Lord Valentine’s Castle” fue publicada fraccionada en dos volúmenes en esta colección, “El Castillo de Lord Valentine” y “El Laberinto de Majipur”, si bien el editor las presentó como dos novelas independientes.

El lector de “El castillo de Lord Valentine” dejó al protagonista convencido ya de su verdadera identidad: él era la Corona de Majipur aunque ni su cara ni su cuerpo fueran los que había tenido como tal.

Decidido a recobrar el trono, el aventajado aprendiz de malabarista debe llegar al Monte del Castillo, montaña gigantesca salpicada de ciudades inmensas en cuya cima reina el impostor Barjacid. Pero el camino hacia el Castillo es un laberinto plagado de peligros.

Valentine tendrá que convencer primero a su madre, La Dama de la Isla y del Sueño, y para ello deberá merecer ese honor, como cualquier peregrino que acude a la Isla, escalando Terraza tras Terraza.

Y antes de llegar al castillo, Valentine habrá de pasar por la prueba más peligrosa: el verdadero Laberinto de Majipur, un mundo subterráneo de tortuosas cavernas donde casi nadie ha visto el sol y donde reside el Pontífice rodeado de su impresionante burocracia.

Escenarios, personajes y monstruos fabulosos como los dragones marinos de hasta cien metros de longitud son los ingredientes principales de esta segunda parte de “El Castillo de Lord Valentine” al igual que lo eran en la primera, conformando eses mundo fantástico que tan merecida fama ha dado su creador, Robert Silverberg.

Son cuatro:

Timothy, 22 años, rico, vividor, dominante.

Oliver: 21 años, guapo, atlético, un bloque de mármol con una falla secreta.

Ned: 21 años, homosexual, amoral, poeta de vez en cuando.

Eli: 20 años, judío, introvertido, filólogo, descubridor del Libro de los Cráneos.

Todos iban en busca del secreto de la inmortalidad: la prometida en el Libro de los Cráneos. Al final de su busca, una prueba iniciática y terrible que llevaráa cada uno de ellos a contemplar cara a cara el rictus de sus propias facciones.

Una prueba en la que dos de ellos deben morir y los otros dos sobrevivir para siempre.

Este es el año 2381, y esta es la Mónada Urbana 116: 885.000 seres humanos viven alojados en las mil plantas de esta gigantesca torre, una obra maestra de ingeniería de la nueva humanidad. En este mundo interior nadie siente deseos de abandonar existe la perfecta felicidad: se desconocen las inhibiciones, los traumas y las frustraciones: el equilibrio emocional es mantenido a toda costa; los descontentos son enfermos... Y la Mónada Urbana 116 es tan solo una de las cincuenta y una torres que forman la constelación Chipitts, la cual a la vez, es tan solo una de las muchas constelaciones semejantes que hay por toda la Tierra. Un planeta que ha conseguido eliminar las guerras y albergar a setenta mil millones de habitantes en su pequeña superficie. Sin embargo, no siempre resulta tolerable la vida fácil, planificada...

Nominado para el premio Hugo en 1972.

Minner Burris: un maduro astronauta convertido por los cirujanos alienígenas en un ser que ya no es completamente humano.

Lona Kelvin: cobaya de un experimento genético la madre virgen de un centenar de hijos a los que nunca llegará a ver.

Duncan Chalk: un vampiro psíquico que alimenta a través de su imperio del espectáculo a millones de mirones, al tiempo que se alimenta a sí mismo con el dolor y la desesperación de los demás.

Tres personajes, un amor, un odio, un ansia. Y, por encima de todo, una maravillosa historia de amor en los límites de lo concebible.

Espinas, publicada originalmente en 1967, y reeditada constantemente desde entonces, inició, dentro de la carrera literaria de Robert Silverberg una segunda época de esplendor en la que el autor sustituyó la gran cantidad de su producción por una mucho mayor calidad literaria. El éxito de esta novela, a su aparición en los Estados Unidos, fue fulminante; fue nominada para el premio Hugo, y quedó finalista, en segundo lugar, en el premio Nebula. Más adelante, Robert Silverberg sería premiado con un Hugo y media docena de Nebulas por su obra, que ha gozado siempre del continuado favor del público de todo el mundo.

En las primeras décadas del siglo XXI se instala en Estados Unidos un gobierno autoritario que secuestra a los disidentes y los mete en la cárcel secreta de mayor seguridad de todos los tiempos: el pasado remoto. Usando una nueva tecnología que permite trasladar objetos y seres vivos por el tiempo, las autoridades crean en el período cámbrico, a mil millones de años de nosotros, la Estación Hawksbill, una penitenciaría sin rejas pero cercada por un paisaje rocoso, inhóspito y monótono, y por mares en los que abundan primitivas formas de vida. En ese mundo gris, lo único que anima a los presos es la llegada de nuevos compañeros con noticias de un futuro cada vez más borroso y lejano.

From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition. What are the social/religious/environmental/technological implications of living in such a vast society? What happens when expansionist tendencies on a galactic scale come into conflict with the indigenous peoples of other planets, of other races? And what of the issue of communicating across such distances, or the problems caused by relativistic travel? These are just some of the questions and issues that the stories in Federations will take on.

From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition. What are the social/religious/environmental/technological implications of living in such a vast society? What happens when expansionist tendencies on a galactic scale come into conflict with the indigenous peoples of other planets, of other races? And what of the issue of communicating across such distances, or the problems caused by relativistic travel? These are just some of the questions and issues that the stories in Federations will take on.

Kriminalsekretär Joseph Quellen, Angestellter Klasse VII, besitzt eindeutige Beweise für die Existenz der Zeitspringer: Die alten Polizeiakten des Jahres 1979. Sie berichten vom Auftauchen seltsam gekleideter Frauen und Männer, die nach scharfen Verhören gestehen, aus dem 25. Jahrhundert geflüchtet zu sein, um dem hoffnungslosen Leben unter dem Regime der Maschinen zu entgehen. Kriminalsekretär Quellen befindet sich in einer Zwangslage. Er soll die illegale Organisation der Zeitreisenden zerschlagen — darf aber durch sein Eingreifen kein Zeitparadoxon verursachen, das das Regime in seinen Grundfesten erschüttern würde.

We’re all eager to see the wonders that the future is likely to bring; that’s one of the reasons we read science fiction. Here’s a typically mordant Silverberg story about a man who manages to visit the future and is not delighted by what he finds.

Anche pubblicato come “Base Hawksbill”.

“Gilgamesh el rey” es una de las más recientes obras de Silverberg, escrita después de una de sus últimas etapas de inactividad. Silverberg nos plantea en este libro una reexploración de la epopeya/mito de Gilgamesh, enfocada aquí no desde el punto de vista del héroe, sino del hombre. La figura legendaria del rey-dios de Sumer se convierte así en un personaje profundamente humano, con todos sus miedos, debilidades y ansias. Su temor a la muerte le llevará a un desesperado periplo en busca de la inmortalidad y a tomar conciencia de la verdad absoluta de la vida. Escrita en primera persona, como un diario íntimo, “Gilgamesh el rey” tiene a un tiempo la fuerza de la épica que le ha dado origen y la profundidad de un inimitable estudio psicológico.

Gli osservatori è la versione di una storia sugli UFO fatta da uno scrittore di talento come Robert Silverberg: una vicenda in apparenza trita e banale diventa nelle sue mani un racconto avvincente i cui protagonisti spiccano con figure vive e reali dalla carta stampata.

In una notte illune del 1982 il cielo del Nuovo Messico viene vivacemente illuminato da un’improvvisa esplosione: una stella lucente fiorita in un lampo biancazzurro che si muove da nordest verso sudovest, sopra la valle del Rio Grande ed i polverosi piccoli puebli, va a spegnersi dopo l’ultima accecante vampata nei pressi di Albuquerque.Ma soltanto tre esseri umani scopriranno che la stella cadente apparsa in cielo è in realtà un disco volante precipitato sulla Terra per un’avaria ai motori, soltanto Charley Estancia, il giovane messicano del pueblo di San Miguel dalla sveglia intelligenza, Kathryn Mason, la vedova melanconica e solitaria di Albuquerque, e Tom Falkner, colonnello delle forze aereeamericane, vedranno con i loro occhi gli alieni venuti dalle stelle, gli osservatori extraterrestri che studiano e controllano lo sviluppo della civiltà umana. Soltanto loro sapranno del pericolo che corre la Terra e potranno impedire lo scoppio di un conflitto galattico. Una storia umana e affascinante che solo un maestro come Silverberg poteva.

Also appeared as “The Fight with the Gorgon”.

Fatalny zbieg okoliczności sprawia, że Harpirias, błyskotliwy młodzieniec z arystokratycznego rodu, zamiast objąć urząd na Górze Zamkowej, zostaje wysłany na odległy kontynent Zimroel w roli ambasadora. Niespodziewanie otwiera się przed nim szansa zmiany losu: ma poprowadzić wyprawę na daleką Północ w poszukiwaniu zaginionej grupy paleontologów. W górach Majipooru czyhają jednak niebezpieczeństwa, które trudno przewidzieć… Bogactwu świata słonecznej planety Majipoor i rozmachowi narracji dorównuje psychologiczna prawda w konstrukcji postaci jego bohaterów.

Imagine walking up a street and having the sky literally burst open over your head; imagine invaders pouring down and you have —

In the mid-21st century, time travel is used to send political prisoners to Hawksbill Station, a prison camp in the late Cambrian Era. When the latest arrival suspiciously deflects questions about his crimes and knowledge of ’Up Front’, the inmates decide to find out his secret. [NOTE: a novella length version of this story is also available.]

He had been sent to the psiless world to learn to hide his t.k. power. That was very clear. But how was he to survive?

Un uomo del nostro tempo viaggia a miliardi d’anni nel futuro ed incontra le formi diversi dell’umanità del futuro.

Nel mondo del prossimo futuro immaginato da Silverberg in questo romanzo, i criminali incalliti non vengono più condannati alla prigione ma mandati in particolari Centri di Riabilitazione, dove subiscono un trattamento di droghe che cancella come una spugna la loro personalità, lasciando un corpo con una mente vuota come quella di uno “zombie”. Su questa mente pulita come una lavagna, i terapisti del Centro di Riabilitazione costruiscono, con un paziente lavoro di anni, una nuova identità: una persona “fittizia”, dotata di un passato inventato ma dalle caratteristiche morali più salde di quelle della vecchia personalità. Paul Macy è una di queste persone “ricostruite”: il suo corpo apparteneva prima a Nat Hamlin, il più grande psico-scultore del mondo, un uomo di indubbio talento ma totalmente schiavo dei suoi istinti sessuali, al punto di diventare un inveterato stupratore nei sobborghi di New York.

Per i “ricostruiti” l’inserimento nella società non è facile, ma per Paul Macy le difficoltà si presentano fin dall’inizio quasi insormontabili: l’imbarazzo dato dalla notorietà di cui godeva la vecchia identità del suo corpo, il brusco incontro con Lissa, una ragazza telepatica con cui Hamlin aveva avuto una tempestosa relazione e soprattutto una serie di incubi ricorrenti in cui compare sempre la figura di Hamlin metteranno a dura prova la stabilità di Macy. E presto quello che appariva solo un incubo si trasformerà in realtà: la personalità di Hamlin non è stata affatto annullata ed ora torna all’attacco della mente di Macy con demoniaca violenza e con la precisa volontà di riprendersi il suo corpo.

Il Tecnarca McKenzie ha fretta, perché vuol gli uomini sparsi per tutto l’Universo durante il periodo del suo governo. Per questo lo irritano tanto le notizie portate dall’equipaggio dell’astronave che ha compiuto felicemente un viaggio di prova sperimentando la nuova propulsione. Gli uomini non sono i soli esseri intelligenti. Gli astronauti hanno notato tracce di attività su uno dei pianeti scelti da Tecnarca per la colonizzazione terrestre. Un’altra civiltà vi sta installando una sua colonia. Il Tecnarca McKenzie ha fretta di definire la questione, perciò bisogna mettersi in contatto con gli altri, far loro capire chi sono i terrestri, ed accordarsi perché le sfere di influenza delle due civiltà non vengano mai a conflitto, e si dividano amichevolmente l’Universo. E l’astronave appena tornata dal difficile viaggio deve ripartire subito, con lo stesso equipaggio, che è stanco ma è l’unico di cui il Tecnarca si fidi. Con l’equipaggio viaggeranno i cinque uomini migliori della Terra, ognuno eccellente nel proprio campo, per negoziare con l’altra razza e concludere secondo i desideri del Tecnarca il quale, avendo già rinunciato a una parte del suo sogno, non intende rinunciare anche alla metà dell’universo che gli è rimasta. Ma le cose non vanno come stabilito, e il Tecnarca dovrà mettersi a segnare il passo insieme a tutta la razza umana, perché la spedizione terrestre fa una scoperta che costringerà McKenzie a rinunciare ai suoi sogni.

Anno galattico 3806. Corwin, un’antica colonia terrestre persa nello spazio, sta per essere distrutta dall’orda devastatrice dei Klodni. Lanciandosi in un’impresa disperata, Baird Ewing torna sul pianeta madre in cerca d’aiuto. Ma la Terra è ormai lontana dai grandi giorni di gloria. Asservita alla volontà degli abitanti di Sirio IV, debole e inerme, preda di una decadenza totale, non può offrire nulla contro l'invasione aliena. Eppure, in un edificio fuori del tempo, è nascosto il segreto che può permettere di annientare la flotta dei Klodni… Un grande romanzo di avventure spazio-temporali, presentato per la prima volta in Italia.

Velada Borthan è di certo uno dei pianeti più singolari dell’universo, inquietante intreccio di contraddizioni: un clima dolce accanto alle condizioni più aspre, la vita più naturale accanto alla costrizione dei propri sentimenti, una civiltà raffinata accanto alla barbarie morale. Insomma, un inferno o un paradiso a seconda dei punti di vista: e, fatto assurdo, i suoi abitanti avevano scelto deliberatamente l’inferno. Giardino dell’Eden alla rovescia, Velada Borthan era completo anche di tentatore e di frutto proibito: in una società nella quale il peccato supremo consisteva nell’aprire spontaneamente il proprio animo agli altri, il frutto proibito non poteva essere che il mezzo per far diventare della coscienza del singolo la coscienza di tutti. Sarà il Terrestre Schweiz a rivelarlo sconvolgendo un ordine che, per essere stato liberamente scelto, non era per questo meno spietato e inumano. Kinnall Darival, il giovane principe protagonista della vicenda, è l’uomo al quale viene affidato il segreto della droga che conduce alla comunione degli spiriti, spezzando i legami nei quali la sua gente aveva rinchiuso la propria personalità. In un mondo in cui l’affermazione di se stessi era vietata sino al punto da considerare osceno il parlare in prima persona, questa totale apertura personale non poteva essere che la peggiore delle bestemmie. Era però necessario passare attraverso di essa per riscattare Velada Borthan del suo inferno, anche a costo della perdita dell’unico sentimento consentito in una società che aveva fatto dell’insensibilità la massima delle virtù. Nessun vincolo è tuttavia più resistente di quelli imposti dalla morale, per quanto assurda e deviata possa essere: per causa loro si è anche disposti a rinunciare volontariamente al paradiso a portata di mano.

Ottenuto premio Nebula in 1971.

Nominato per premi Hugo e Locus in 1972.

Ancora Robert Silverberg e ancora due storie completamente diverse tra loro ma che hanno in comune (oltre all’ottima fattura) il tema: il lontanissimo futuro della Terra. «Il vento e la pioggia» è una fredda e oculata disamina del nostro incosciente tentativo di distruggere il nostro ambiente ecologico e dei grossi problemi che ne ricaveremo. «Questa è la strada» invece è un romanzo breve vagamente reminiscente del Vance del ciclo della Terra Morente. Colorito, fantastico e affascinante ci mostra l’altra faccia della medaglia: un futuro molto lontano da noi e dai nostri problemi. Ed è giusto che sia così, perché la sf è letteratura e quindi il suo scopo è, oltre a una opportuna «messa in guardia» dai pericoli, anche e soprattutto quello di divertire con una sana lettura.

This is a novel of sophisticated government deception in the near future, an exploration of political corruption. Written in 1957 when Silverberg was 22, the novel is cynical and highly suspenseful.

Stavano scendendo, adesso. Il tassì si abbassò in cerchi sempre più stretti sulla rampa dello Spaceway Hotel. Il maggiore Harris pagò il conducente, entrò nell’albergo e salì direttamente nella sua stanza, dove accese il comunicatore a raggio stretto: “Carver? Qui Harris.” “Harris! Hai potuto fuggire?” “Non esattamente. Mi hanno lasciato andare.” “E perchè? Come?” “E’ una lunga storia...” “Ma perchè ti hanno lasciato andare?” insistette Carver. “Sono diventato un loro agente” disse Harris in tono cordiale “La mia prima missione è quella di assassinarti.”

Menschen und Fremde — sie sind gefangen im Tal der beiden Sonnen.

Am Anfang war Krug

und er sprach: »Es seien Retorten«, und da waren Retorten.

Und Krug betrachtete die Retorten und fand sie gut.

Und Krug sprach: »Es seien Nukleotiden in den Retorten.« Und die Nukleotiden wurden in die Retorten gegossen, und Krug mischte sie, bis sie sich miteinander verbanden.

Und die Nukleotiden bildeten die großen Moleküle, und Krug sprach: »Es werde der Vater und werde die Mutter in den Retorten, und es teilen sich die Zellen, und Leben entsteht in den Retorten.«

Und es ward Leben, denn da war Reproduktion.

Und hierfür sei Krug gepriesen.

Each year twenty men and twenty women brave death and insanity in order to reach the Summit, a place where humans have the opportunity to learn directly from the gods. Poliar Crookleg has waited his whole life to go on the Pilgrimage to Kosa Saag. With his childhood friend Traiben, he is determined to be one of the few who return sane and filled with knowledge. But what the gods have to say may shatter the very fabric of the people’s beliefs.

Majipoor to olbrzymia planeta, zamieszkana przez wiele ras napływowych, wśród których ludzie są rasą dominującą. Na Majipoor żyją też tubylcy, dziwna i wyobcowana rasa zmiennokształtnych, których wszyscy się boją. Z racji braku surowców cywilizacja na planecie jest raczej słabo rozwinięta, ale nie brak i zaawansowanych technologii.

Świat Kosa Saag to świat Ściany, monstrualnego połączenia olbrzymich łańcuchów górskich, gigantycznych wąwozów i przepastnych zapadlin.

Każdego roku z wioski Jespodar, położonej u podnóża Ściany, wyrusza na Pielgrzymkę dwudziestu mężczyzn i dwadzieścia kobiet. Zostali wybrani, aby dotrzeć na sam szczyt najwyższej góry, Summita, gdzie mają spotkać się z bogami i otrzymać od nich wiedzę. Większość nigdy już nie zobaczy swoich rodzin, a nieliczni powracający wydają się być obłąkani.

Dla Poliara i jego przyjaciela Traibena pielgrzymką ta stanowi jednak realizację życiowego marzenia. Przygotowują się od niej do dzieciństwa. Chcą z niej wyjść cało, nie jako szaleńcy, ale nauczyciele mądrości dla swego ludu.

Najnowszy almanach fantastyki Kroki w nieznane prezentuje szesnaście różnorodnych opowiadań autorów z Australii, Argentyny, Rosji, Stanów Zjednoczonych, Ukrainy i Wielkiej Brytanii. Wśród nich nowa krew, niedawne debiutantki (McCarron, Swirsky) oraz autorzy rozwijający skrzydła (Bacigalupi, Kosmatka, Ostapenko). Są też stare wygi, z niemałym dorobkiem, których tekstów nie było nam dane posmakować dotychczas (Brown, Kaługin) lub spotykaliśmy się z ich twórczością okazjonalnie (Kessel, szczególnie Waldrop). Oczywiście są także wielkie nazwiska (Egan, Kress, Silverberg, czy Willis), a oprócz tego pisarze wyjątkowi, za sprawą wyobraźni (Ballantyne), poetyckiego stylu (McDonald), czy prozy o niesamowitym klimacie (Nielsen)…

Najnowszy almanach fantastyki Kroki w nieznane prezentuje szesnaście różnorodnych opowiadań autorów z Australii, Argentyny, Rosji, Stanów Zjednoczonych, Ukrainy i Wielkiej Brytanii. Wśród nich nowa krew, niedawne debiutantki (McCarron, Swirsky) oraz autorzy rozwijający skrzydła (Bacigalupi, Kosmatka, Ostapenko). Są też stare wygi, z niemałym dorobkiem, których tekstów nie było nam dane posmakować dotychczas (Brown, Kaługin) lub spotykaliśmy się z ich twórczością okazjonalnie (Kessel, szczególnie Waldrop). Oczywiście są także wielkie nazwiska (Egan, Kress, Silverberg, czy Willis), a oprócz tego pisarze wyjątkowi, za sprawą wyobraźni (Ballantyne), poetyckiego stylu (McDonald), czy prozy o niesamowitym klimacie (Nielsen)…

Każdy autor antologii fantastyki naukowej staje wobec problemu określenia jej granic. Fakt, że dotychczas nie znaleziono zadowalającej definicji science-fiction świadczy o tym, że jest ona czymś żywym, rozwijającym się. Przyjmując bardzo szerokie rozumienie fantastyki naukowej włączamy czasem utwory z jej pogranicza, które wydały nam się warte zaprezentowania czytelnikom.

Są więc w naszym tomie tacy znani wszystkim miłośnikom fantastyki tytani, jak Ray Bradbury (ze swoją wersją duszy anielskiej więzionej w czerepie rubasznym), autor przeszło stu książek Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford D. Simak i znacznie od nich młodszy Robert Sheckley. Udało nam się zdobyć opowiadanie Stanisława Lema, który — jak niedawno podliczono — jest najbardziej czytanym autorem SF na świecie. Jego twórczość, znana do niedawna głównie w Związku Radzieckim i europejskich krajach socjalistycznych, zaczyna być tłumaczona na Zachodzie, wywołując tam niemałą sensację.

Opowiadanie Roberta Silverberga, płodnego autora amerykańskiego, który był najpoważniejszym kontrkandydatem Asimova do ostatniej nagrody Hugo, pochodzi z cyklu o miastach przyszłości — mrowiskach.

Kurt Vonnegut jest specjalistą od zadawania trafiających w sedno pytań. Doczekał się on niezwykłego wyróżnienia: w roku ubiegłym prasa doniosła, że dyrekcja jednej ze szkół w Stanach Zjednoczonych nakazała spalenie jego książek. Czyżby chcieli zachęcić wszystkich uczniów do czytania Vonneguta?

B. J. Friedman, należący do czołowych autorów amerykańskich, nie był dotychczas wydawany w Polsce. Obok realistycznych powieści pisze opowiadania, w których obserwacja obyczajowa przeplata się z fantazją.

Victor Contoski jest znanym amerykańskim poetą i tłumaczem polskiej poezji. Yep i Dixon reprezentują najmłodsze pokolenie pisarzy.

Również wśród autorów radzieckich obok dobrze znanego czytelnikom Ilji Warszawskiego przedstawiamy dwóch autorów nowych: Wiaczesława Moroczkę i Michaiła Puchowa.

Jeśli chodzi o polskich autorów, Janusz A. Zajdel ma na swoim koncie dwa tomy opowiadań fantastycznych, Andrzej Czechowski wydał przed laty jeden tomik i pisuje niestety bardzo rzadko, Krzysztof W. Malinowski zaś debiutował w ubiegłorocznym wydaniu Kroków w nieznane.

Tak więc niniejszy zbiór opowiadań stanowi jakby przegląd nurtów i tendencji światowej i krajowej science — fiction od A (jak Asimov) do Z (jak Zajdel). Większość opowiadań tłumaczonych ukazuje się drukiem po raz pierwszy.

Czternastoletni Hissume, towarzysz lorda Valentine'a z czasów wyprawy, która miała na celu odzyskanie tronu koronala władającego ogromnym światem Majipooru, urozmaica sobie monotoną pracę w archiwach Labityntu nielegalnymi wyprawami do Rejestru Dusz.

Dzięki specjalnym urządzeniom do odtwarzania myslowych zapisów można tam przeżyć to, czego kiedyś doświadczały miliony rozumnych istot zamieszkujacych planetęprzez kilkanaście tysięcy lat. Wcielająca się na krótko w rozmaite postacie — władców, bohaterów, a także zwykłych mężczyzn i kobiet — Hissume w ciągu czterech lat zdobyła doswiadczenie, które pozwoli mu zrozumieć Majipoor…

Zapowiadała się wspaniała przygoda. Wyprawa do Arizony — odnalezienie siedziby sekty hiszpańskich mnichów, żyjących w całkowitym odosobnieniu, wedle specyficznej reguły klasztornej — dla Eliego, Neda, Olivera i Timothy’ego była obietnicą nowych doznań (choć każdy z nich oczekiwał czegoś innego), odskocznią od wielkomiejskiej nużącej codzienności. Słyszeli o tajemnych rytuałach, misteriach… I zakonnikach, których wieku nie udało się ustalić — byli bezwieczni, przezwyciężyli śmierć.

Jednak to, co miało być żartem, dobrą zabawą, ciekawym eksperymentem i źródłem fantastycznych wrażeń, stało się traumatycznym doświadczeniem. Dwóch młodych ludzi musi umrzeć, by dwóch mogło żyć wiecznie.

Takie warunki stawia bractwo. Przystają na nie, nie wierząc w ich realność. „Śmierć”, „nieśmiertelność” wydają się tak samo abstrakcyjne. Wszystko nabierze innego wymiaru, gdy zobaczą tuż przed sobą czarną twarz Tanatosa.

Nominowana do nagrody Nebula w 1972, Hugo i Locusa w 1973.

Le talpe elettroniche e i robot ricognitori vengono stritolati, inceneriti, polverizzati, uno dopo l’altro: mandibole d’acciaio, laghi roventi, trabocchetti fotoelettrici, schermi deformanti, pareti di fuoco, fulminei marciapiedi a tagliola inghiottono e dilaniano i volontari. Ma ogni errore, ogni nuova vittima fa guadagnare qualche metro nella millenaria città-labirinto: al centro, inavvicinabile, c’è Richard Muller, l’unico abitatore, l’uomo che da nove anni vive d’odio e di ricordi, e che bisogna ad ogni costo convincere a uscire dal suo esilio e ad accettare una missione da cui dipende la sopravvivenza della specie.

En el año 3159, la humanidad ha conquistado las estrellas, y los otrora despreciados gitanos son hoy mimados y respetados, porque solo ellos pueden llevar a buen puerto las astronaves en sus largos saltos estelares.

Pero los gitanos tienen también otros talentos,. Arrastrados por su tradición errante, siguen vagando, pero hoy no solo a través del espacio, sino también del tiempo: su facultad de espectrar les permite trasladarse a las más remotas épocas, y volver al viejo y ya desaparecido planeta Tierra para contemplar su vida pasada, desde el esplendor de la antigua ciudad de Atlantis hasta el horror de los campos de exterminio nazis.

Y los gitanos mantienen un antiguo sueño: volver a su mundo de origen. Porque ellos nunca fueron nativos de la Tierra. Y así, contemplan desde el cielo de los mil mundos por los que se hallan ahora dispersos la Estrella Romani, de la que tuvieron que huir precipitadamente para salvar sus vidas, y anhelan el día en que podrán regresar a su hogar. Y quien mas lo anhela es Yakoub, el Rey de los Gitanos, un personaje mezcla de Falstaff y Ricardo Corazón de León, que abdicó de su trono para poner las cosas en su sitio y ahora tiene que volver a él para cumplir con el último destino de la raza rom.

Hydros est une planète-océan où vivent en bonne intelligence les Gillies, premiers habitants de ce monde, et quelques humains, sur des îles flottantes construites par les Gillies.

Mais lorsque l’armateur Delagard commet l’irréparable, les Gillies décident de chasser les humains.

Où fuir ? L’espace est inaccessible.

Il ne reste à Lawler, le médecin, et à ses compagnons qu’à se confier à l’océan, sur les vaisseaux de Delagard, en espérant rejoindre le continent mythique nommé la Face des eaux, de l’autre côté du monde.

S’il existe…

Catorce son los seres humanos que a bordo del Reina de Hydros navegan por los peligrosos mares de un planeta acuático perdido en el espacio. Descendientes de los antiguos colonos terrestres, detestados por los aborígenes anfibios a causa de su voracidad y violencia, han sido desterrados por éstos. El suyo es un viaje a ninguna parte. Excepto que se considere una parte a un lugar envuelto en mitos y raros misterios, denominado La Faz de las Aguas. El capitán Delagard, un psicópata; el padre Quillan, en busca de una fe que ha perdido; el doctor Lawler, un hombre cínico y solitario. son algunos de los tripulantes de la nave. Una tripulación tan peligrosa para ella misma como las terribles asechanzas de un mar hostil. La Faz de las Aguas es una odisea de proporciones épicas, la parábola de un viaje de iniciación. En ella, Silverberg ha construido uno de los planetas más inquietantes e imaginativos de la ficción científica y una novela de intenso, insondable esplendor.

La chute des comètes avait apporté le long hiver, comme, cent millions d’années plus tôt, lorsque les dinosaures avaient disparu. L’Hiver durait depuis soixante-dix mille ans.

Le Peuple survivait à l’abri de son cocon souterrain, génération après génération. Et voilà que le Printemps, annoncé par la Tradition, était revenu. Le Peuple devait sortir et aller recueillir son héritage dans la glorieuse cité de Vengiboneeza. Mais était-il encore humain ?

Dan, jeune Anglais, s’embarque en cette année 1963 pour chercher fortune dans les Hespérides, ce double continent que nous appelons l’Amérique. C’est qu’il est né dans un monde où l’histoire à suivi un autre cours : conquise par les Turcs, l’Europe n’a colonisé ni l’Amérique ni l’Afrique. Et Dan va découvrir au fil d’aventures tragiques et comiques l’empire aztèque du XX^e siècle.

Pendant plus de sept cent mille ans, le Peuple avait vécu dans une caverne profonde, un Nid. Au dehors, la Terre avait été bombardée tout ce temps par une pluie de comètes et d’astéroïdes : un phénomène qui se reproduit sur Terre tous les vingt-six millions d’années et qui est responsable de l’extermination en masse d’espèces, comme jadis les dinosaures.

Mais le Peuple avait survécu, grâce à la prévoyance de ceux qui l’avaient précédé : les vrais humains. Et cela avait été un choc pour Hresh, l’enfant curieux devenu homme-mémoire et chef de sa tribu, de découvrir que le Peuple n’était pas humain, tout au plus les descendants améliorés de singes disparus. Mais le Peuple représentait désormais l’humanité sur Terre et il lui fallait redécouvrir l’héritage que les grandes races avaient laissé, et trouver sa propre voie. A peine l’avait-il entrepris qu’il se heurtait à l’expansionnisme d’une autre espèce qui avait, elle aussi, franchi le Long Hiver, les hijks, une espèce intelligente, constituée sur le mode de la fourmilière, et qui proposait à tous les peuples l’adoration de sa reine, la Reine du Printemps.

Télékinésie, précognition, télépathie... Etranges et merveilleuses, leurs facultés déroutantes font peur autant qu’elle fascinent. Eux, ce sont les mutants : des humains « différents » dont les talents très particuliers se sont progressivement développés depuis la fin du XXe siècle. En apparence, rien ne les distingue des autres, les « normaux », si ce n’est la curieuse et inexplicable pigmentation dorée de leurs iris…

Aujourd’hui, en ce début de troisième millénaire, la cohabitation, jusqu’à présent pacifique, demeure précaire. L’existence des mutants, très minoritaires et tout juste tolérés par l’humanité ordinaire, est à la merci de la moindre provocation, du plus petit dérapage. Or voilà qu’un politicien sans scrupules entreprend de transformer l’intolérance en guerre ouverte. La « saison des mutants » va-t-elle s’achever dans un bain de sang ?

Anche pubblicato come “Il matrimonio”.

Siamo nel 2017 ed è inverno, la stagione in cui avviene il raduno annuale dei mutanti. Tutto precipita quando Eleanor Jacobsen, il primo senatore mutante degli Stati Uniti e portavoce dei diritti della sua specie, viene assassinata mentre sta indagando su un esperimento genetico per creare un misterioso "supermutante"…

Simeon Krug, un poderoso industrial que construyó su imperio con la creación y producción en serie de androides, está empleando todos sus recursos en erigir una gigantesca torre de cristal destinada a contestar un mensaje ininteligible proveniente de las estrellas. Los androides, seres humanos concebidos artificialmente, han desarrollado una compleja religión centrada en la figura de su creador, esperando de él la redención que les otorgue los mismos derechos que los seres humanos normales. Pero Simeon Krug no está interesado en las aspiraciones de sus creaciones, y la marea de las fuerzas sociales que se desata resulta incontenible.

Una de las novelas más apasionantes de la época dorada de Robert Silverberg, en “La torre de cristal” se muestran nuevamente las soberbias dotes del autor para la caracterización de sus personajes, entrando sin esfuerzo aparente en lo más recóndito de sus motivaciones.

Le 20 septembre 2218, la tour de Siméon Krug s’élève à cent mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer, à l’ouest de la baie d’Hudson. Lorsque la construction sera achevée, elle aura mille cinq cents mètres. Ce sera alors la plus imposante, la plus extraordinaire, la plus spectaculaire bâtisse jamais érigée sur la terre. Et si ce projet était aussi une machine insensée dirigée subrepticement contre l’homme pour l’apothéose des androïdes ?

La Wotan è una gigantesca arca spaziale. La sua missione è trovare una nuova terra per la razza umana. Ma i telepati presenti a bordo captano un inquietante messaggio dallo spazio: intelletti che popolano il vuoto intergalattico entrano in contatto con l’equipaggio. Nell’Universo, infatti, la vita pullula anche nel nulla che divide le stelle… Forme di vita inconcepibili si preparano a ricevere i nostri simili. Che cosa c’è là fuori?

Es la tarde del día de Navidad cuando Vornan-19 cae del cielo y aterriza, completamente desnudo, en las escaleras de la Plaza de España de Roma.

Es el año 1999. El siglo está a punto de cambiar, y el mundo se halla al borde de la histeria de masas, aferrado por apocalípticas visiones de la inminente condenación del Hombre. En estas explosivas circustanscias, Vornan-19, hipnóticamente carismático, declara públicamente ser un viajero del año 2999.

EL mundo, por supuesto, está esperando una señal, una profecía. Vornan-19 puede serlo. Pero, ¿es realmente el nuevo Mesías? ¿O es más bien un instrumento del mas despiadado y devastador Mal?

Es una Tierra del futuro, una Tierra agobiada por la superpoblación. En ella domina una religión, la de los vosters, que busca la inmortalidad a través de la ciencia. Y, sin embargo, los vosters, a pesar de su poder, no han logrado implantarse en Venus, coto cerrado de la herejía harmonista. Las dos religiones están enfrentadas, pero ¿podría relacionarse la resurrección del mártir Lázaro, fundador de los harmonistas, y la aspiración celestial de Vorst? ¿Podrían ambas religiones unidas abrir a los seres humanos las puertas del cielo?

Esta obra supuso para su autor, Robert Silverberg, la consagración como uno de los maestros de la ficción científica. La agilidad, la exultante fantasía, la solidez narrativa de Silverberg se manifiestan en ella con todo su esplendor.

Sur Majipoor — trois continents immenses, des océans démesurés —, un jeune homme s’éveille. Il ne se souvient que de son nom : Valentin.

Au même instant, des fêtes se préparent : on attend le maître de la planète, le Coronal. Mais est-il bien celui qu’il paraît être ? Tandis que Valentin découvre auprès d’une troupe de jongleurs son aptitude à leur art, il est hanté par d’étranges rêves : il serait le vrai Coronal et l’on aurait transféré son esprit dans un autre corps…

Carabella, une jolie saltimbanque, l’encourage à revendiquer son identité. Mais pour parvenir jusqu’au Coronal, Valentin devra traverser des continents, des océans. La troupe de jongleurs dont il fait désormais partie se rallie à lui… Tous haïssent le Coronal Vont-ils pour autant aider Valentin ?

Cette fois, ce n’est plus du cinéma ! Surgis de nulle part, les extraterrestres ont débarqué sur la Terre pour s’installer dans les principales métropoles du globe : Los Angeles, New York, Londres, Prague, Paris…

Indiciblement beaux ou incroyablement hideux – les avis sont partagés sur les géants d’outre-espace –, refusant toute communication depuis les enclaves impénétrables où ils se sont enfermés, ils dirigent la planète selon des voies mystérieuses par l’intermédiaire de collaborateurs humains télépathiquement asservis. Communications, gouvernements et systèmes bancaires disparaissent, plongeant le monde dans le chaos. Coupures d’électricité à grande échelle, pandémies, déportations et exécutions massives sanctionnent les tentatives de rébellion. Les Entités, comme on les appelle, sont venues, Elles ont vu, Elles ont vaincu. Mais pas sur toute la ligne… En Californie du Sud, le vieux colonel Carmichael prêche la Résistance au milieu de son clan rassemblé dans les collines de Santa Barbara. Ex-hippie ou ex-militaire, escroc repenti ou musulman mystique, professeurs d’université ou informaticiens de haute volée, au fil des générations, la pittoresque tribu Carmichael va unir ses compétences pour bouter l’envahisseur hors de la Terre…

A la fois étrange et familière, une chronique de cinquante ans d’occupation extraterrestre qui atteint à l’ampleur d’Autant en emporte le vent.

Ils sont quatre :

Timothy, 22 ans, riche, jouisseur, dominateur.

Oliver, 21 ans beau, athlétique, bloc lisse à la faille secrète.

Ned, 21 ans, homosexuel, amoral, poète à ses heures.

Eli, 20 ans, juif, introverti, philologue, découvreur du Livre des Crânes.

Tous partis en quête du secret de l’immortalité : celle promise par le Livre de Crânes. Au terme de cette quête, une épreuve initiatique terrible qui amènera chacun d’eux à contempler en face le rictus de son propre visage. Une épreuve au cours de laquelle deux d’entre eux doivent trouver la mort (l’un assassiné par un de ses compagnons, l’autre suicidé) et les deux autres survivre à jamais.

25 dicembre 1998; al centro di Piazza di Spagna, a Roma, compare dal nulla un uomo completamente nudo. è Vornan-19, e dice di provenire da mille anni nel futuro. Quest’improvvisa manifestazione, simile alla nascita di un dio, sconvolge un mondo che si avvicina alla fine del secondo millennio fra i tumulti provocati dai fanatici che predicano l’Apocalisse e la necessità di dare libero sfogo agli istinti. Ma chi è Vornan-19: un ciarlatano o un messaggero dell’Utopia? Un agente del caos o un portatore della legge? Un nuovo messia o un anticristo? Un angelo o un serpente? Qual è l’immagine nascosta sotto le maschere cangianti che s’alternano sul suo volto? Forse, Vornan-19 è entrambe le cose: demonio distruttore e divinità adatta ai tempi della crisi e del rinnovamento. Durante una sua visita negli Stati Uniti, una commissione di studio cerca di scoprire i suoi segreti. La presenza di Vornan-19 sconvolge però la vita dei singoli e delle moltitudini, semina scandalo e rabbia per la sua totale amoralità, per la completa dissennatezza del suo comportamento. I tabù della civiltà occidentale (il denaro, il potere, il sesso) vengono sconvolti: l’Utopia è corrosiva, e a contatto con essa la realtà si disintegra. Chi si illudeva di strumentalizzare l’Uomo Futuro, ne finisce schiavo e annientato. Un romanzo tra i capolavori del «nuovo Silverberg».

C’était le plus riche trésor de la galaxie. Pour l’obtenir, il suffisait de mourir auparavant !

Sur la planète Borthan se perpétue une société étrange. Elle interdit à quiconque de dire « Je ». Toute manifestation d’individualité y est proscrite comme obscène.

Mais pour Kinal Darrival vient le temps des changements, annoncé d’abord par Schweiz, le marchand venu de la Terre, tentateur et familier d’autres usages.

Et ensuite précipité par la drogue de Sumara grâce à laquelle on peut explorer les profondeurs de son inconscient et connaître son véritable désir.

Kinal découvre en lui la passion de braver l’interdit, puis la force de renverser à jamais le tabou majeur de son univers. Au prix de la révolution.

Le vieux Guetteur, Avluela la Volante, et Gordon, un Elfon, revenaient vers Roum, la ville aux sept collines.

Le Guetteur était las d'avoir usé ses yeux et ses sens à détecter l'invasion extraterrestre dont la Terre se croyait menacée. Il avait fini par perdre la foi dans le principe fondamental de sa Guilde.

Tout son univers allait pourtant basculer quelques heures plus tard. Sa jeune protégée Avluela était remarquée par le Prince de Roum qui abusait d'elle. Gordon, l'Elfon sans Guilde, reconnaissait soudain être un émissaire déguisé des envahisseurs qui apparaissaient bientôt au Guetteur au cours de sa veille. La Terre allait être conquise.

Désorienté, ses veilles de guet devenues vaines, le Guetteur gagna d'abord Perris où il ne rencontra qu'intrigues et luxure, puis tenta le pèlerinage de Jorslem. C'est là qu'il retrouva Avluela la Volante et que, de la Terre vaincue, naquit un nouvel espoir.

 L’an 2381.

La Terre porte 70 milliards d’êtres humains, dont la devise est : Croissez et multipliez.

70 milliards d’humains qui croient avoir atteint l’utopie.

Qui vivent dans des tours de mille étages, les monades urbaines.

Qui jouissent d’une totale liberté sexuelle.

Qui ne quittent jamais leurs villes verticales et qui explorent rarement un autre étage que le leur.

Le bonheur règne sur Terre.

Qui en doute est malade. Qui est malade est soigné.

Qui est incurable est exécuté.

Dieu soit loué !

Le Mur est une montagne. Géante, redoutable, empilement de ravins, de falaises, de précipices, elle perce les basses couches de l’atmosphère et pointe sa cime vers l’espace.

Le sommet du Mur est presque inaccessible. Pourtant, chaque année, depuis le village de Jospodar situé au pied de la montagne, quarante jeunes hommes et femmes parmi les meilleurs entrepren­nent de le conquérir. Car là-haut, d’après les légendes et de rares témoignages contradictoires, vivent les dieux détenteurs de la sagesse.

Malheureusement, l’épreuve est telle que presque personne n’est revenu pour transmettre cette sagesse, et ceux qui sont redescen­dus avaient perdu la raison.

Poilar Bancroche, qui a rêvé toute sa courte vie de parler avec les dieux, a été choisi pour commander les quarante. Il lui reste à affron­ter les royaumes du Mur comme autant de remparts protégeant le sommet, et à découvrir, peut-être, le secret terrible et poignant des dieux descendus du vide.

Vous n'avez plus de boulot depuis des lustres ? Vous ne supportez plus la promiscuité de ce XXVe siècle surpeuplé et pollué ? Marre de votre condition de minable citoyen de Quatorzième Classe ? N'hésitez plus : avec Lanoy et sa fabuleuse invention, émigrez vers le passé !

Visiter la Rome des Césars, le Golgotha le jour de la crucifixion du Christ, les rues de Constantinpple lors du siège des Croisés ? Voilà ce que vous propose le Service Temporel ! Et qui sait, avec un peu de chance, peut-être pourrez-vous partager la couche d'une impératrice ? À moins que vous ne préfériez le frisson de l'inceste transtemporel ? Gare toutefois à ne pas devenir votre propre aïeul…

« Muller vivait depuis neuf ans dans le labyrinthe. Maintenant, il le connaissait bien. Il savait ses pièges, ses méandres, ses embranchements trom­peurs, ses trappes mortelles. Depuis le temps, il avait fini par se familiariser avec cet édifice de la dimension d’une ville, sinon avec la situation qui l’avait conduit à y chercher refuge. »

Tous les hommes qui avaient tenté de pénétrer dans le labyrinthe de Lemnos avant Muller étaient morts d’une façon atroce. Tous ceux qui avaient essayé de l’y rejoindre par la suite avaient été massacrés.

Aujourd’hui Ned Rawlins vient d’atterrir près du labyrinthe. Il a reçu l’ordre de ramener Muller sur la Terre, sa planète natale qui a besoin de lui. Sa planète qui, neuf ans auparavant, l’avait impi­toyablement chassé, forcé à se réfugier au cœur de ce labyrinthe aux dédales mortels.

Quelles chances Rawlins a-t-il de survivre et d’accomplir sa mission ?

Prévoir l'avenir. Un vieux rêve de l'humanité.

Irréalisable scientifiquement ? Voire. Car les progrès des méthodes prévisionnelles, statistiques et autres, confondues dans un art baptisé stochastique, permettent à quelques-uns de jouer les prophètes.

Ainsi en est-il pour Lew Nüchols, spécialiste de l'art d'emmagasiner et de trier les informations, de dire même ce qu'il faut faire pour réduire l'intervalle d'incertitude entre la prévision et la réalité future.

Intervalle irréductible.

Sauf pour Carjaval, l'homme qui sait absolument tout de l'avenir. Jusqu'à l'heure et la circonstance de sa mort — Carjaval, prophète de l'homme à venir, l'homme stochastique.

Robert Silverberg a écrit ici un étrange roman où la liberté, la nécessité et les probabilités se livrent dans l'avenir proche à un ballet redoutable avec l'amour, le pouvoir et la mort.

Lightspeed (www.lightspeedmagazine.com) is the critically-acclaimed, online science fiction magazine edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams. Lightspeed publishes all types of science fiction, from near-future, sociological soft sf, to far-future, star-spanning hard sf, and anything and everything in between. Each month, Lightspeed features a mix of originals and reprints, from a variety of authors—from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven't heard of yet. Now, in Lightspeed: Year One, you will find all of the fiction published in Lightspeed's first year, from new stories such as Nebula Award finalists, Vylar Kaftan’s “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” and “Arvies” by Adam-Troy Castro, and Carrie Vaughn’s Hugo Award-nominee “Amaryllis,” to classic reprints by Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and more.

Anche pubblicato come “Spirale eterna”.

Anche pubblicato come “Cetaceo innamorato”.

Also appeared as “Run of Luck.”

Nel 2103 l’umanità ha scongiurato l’olocausto nucleare, ma l’impiego selettivo di una micidiale polvere radioattiva ha comunque segnato il destino della civiltà. Sulla costa occidentale degli Stati Uniti, in un desolato scenario di angoscia e disperazione, si aggira Tom O’Bedlam, un vagabondo mite e visionario. Dotato di strani poteri Tom è immerso in estatiche visioni di gerarchie celesti, imperi galattici, fantastiche creature e meravigliosi paesaggi alieni, al di là di enormi distese di tempo e di spazio. Ma chi è realmente Tom O’Bedlam? Un pazzo invasato, un mutante telepatico, o il profeta di una nuova rivelazione? Le strane visioni acquistano un nuovo significato quando nella mente di altri personaggi affiorano lentamente sogni e allucinazioni ricorrenti che proiettano le stesse immagini di cui parla Tom. Estasi e angoscia, stupore e inquietudine, ognuno reagisce in modo diverso allo strano fenomeno, ma l’effetto è incontrollabile e nessuno sembra sfuggirvi: Elszabet, direttrice di un’isolata clinica psichiatrica; Charley, capo di una banda di razziatori; Jaspin, un antropologo fallito; Senhor Papamacer, fondatore di un culto messianico che attira migliaia di fanatici. Quando una sonda lanciata molto tempo prima raggiunge Proxima Centauri e rimanda le immagini di uno dei mondi evocati da Tom, non sembrano esserci più dubbi… Ma il tempo della trasmigrazione è ormai prossimo, e Tom si prepara a compiere il rito finale, nel quale a tutti sarà concesso di raggiungere quei mondi di sogno e di beatitudine. Ma qual è il significato di quest’ultima esperienza? Il segreto dell’immortalità e della trascendenza o la fuga allucinata da un mondo di follia e disperazione?

Con questo romanzo stimolante e provocatorio, Robert Silverberg ritorna finalmente dopo molti anni ai temi della sua migliore fantascienza.

Historical adventure set in the Elizabethan age; historical fiction; fictional account of the adventure Andrew Battell, captured by Portuguese pirates and sent to west Africa as slave, and slave-trader who is drawn into the mysteries of that dark continent.

Coronal of Majipoor, Prestimion’s first mistake is to use a sorcerer's device to obliterate the Civil War universally from memory. Majipoor must be seen as the perfect world. The resulting mass psychosis that sweeps around the planet will almost be his undoing.

On Majipoor — an immense world teeming with alien races and fantastic magical machinery, a certain Valentine wakes up one morning with only a vague and troubled idea of who he is. His dreams suggest he is the ruler of Majipoor — but no one believes him… so far.

David Selig. Né en 1935 à New York. Juif.

Calvitie précoce. Ex-étudiant en lettres, ex-courtier en valeurs mobilières.

Célibataire. Sans ressources bien définies.

Signes particuliers : néant.

Bref, raté sur toute la ligne.

Et télépathe.

Bientôt ex-télépathe.

Car, en ces beaux jours de 1976, le pouvoir de David Selig décline. Ou plutôt disparaît, revient, semble jouer à cache-cache.

Mais David est sans illusion. Il sait que meurt en lui, irrévocablement, ce pouvoir étrange de lire dans l'esprit des autres, ce pouvoir qui a fait de lui un étranger sur la terre.

El decenio 1956-1965 marca una época crítica para la ciencia ficción. La reciente respetabilidad del género motivó la atención, muchas veces peligrosa, del cine y la televisión. El inicio de la Era espacial en octubre de 1957 parecía confirmar aquello de que la realidad supera a la ficción.

Pero la crisis condujo a la renovación del género: cuantitativa, por la aparición de una pléyade de nuevos autores; cualitativa, por la revolución de la tématica, que abandona de una vez por todas la fascinación por la cacharrería espacial, sentándose nuevas normas de calidad, como demuestra el presente volumen.

– Recopilación, Prefacio e Introducción de Michael Ashley

Are the Old Martians really a lost race—just withered mummies lying in dark caves? Or are they still alive—somewhere on the red planet? Sally and Jim must find out. They must help their father discover if the Old Martians still exist. His life work as a scientist is at stake! But it's not easy. They are only visitors to the Mars colony in this year 2017. And no one really wants them there.

Stocastico: voce dotta, dal greco stochestikos, congetturale, dovuto al caso, aleatorio. Questo dice il dizionario. Ma Robert Silverberg dice di più. Dice che uno specialista di indagini conoscitive e di statistiche previsionali, un professionista della congettura, un mago del calcolo delle probabilità, può tutto a un tratto scoprire la vera natura del suo talento. E questo talento non ha niente a che fare con la scienza dei numeri, col buon senso, con il fiuto commerciale e politico. È un dono naturale che, coltivato opportunamente, permette all’uomo stocastico di vedere In come in una sfera di cristallo, il futuro. Chi vincerà la terza corsa all’ippodromo? Chi sarà il prossimo presidente degli Stati Uniti? Come e quando arriverà la nostra morte? Mai come in questo romanzo l’antico sogno dell’umanità è stato presentato con tanta acutezza psicologica, con un casi vivo senso di ciò che potrebbe essere, in concreto, la vita di un autentico veggente.

‘There's a room in there where millions of people of Majipoor have left memory-readings. You pick up a capsule, put it in a special slot and suddenly... you find yourself living in Lord Confalume's time, or Lord Siminave's, or out there fighting the Metamorph Wars…’

The archives of the House of Records of the planet Majipoor have been rediscovered by the boy Hissune in the time after the restoration of the Coronal Lord Valentine.

In tales of life, love, conflict and discovery, the complex and colourful world of Majipoor is explored from different perspectives, ranging across its long history and immense terrain.

A Labirintus Majipoor gigászi bolygójának bürokratikus szíve, egy spirálformában mélységbe tekeredő folyosórendszer. Innen felügyeli az álarcos hivatalnokokat minden egykori Napkirály, és itt él Hissune, a volt utcagyerek, aki a trónra segítette Lord Valentine-t. Amikor megindul felfelé a hivatali ranglétrán, első lépésként évtizedekig unalmas feljegyzéseket kéne csak katalogizálnia a végtelen folyosókon. Még szerencse, hogy a közelben található a Lélektároló, ahol Majipoor utóbbi kilencezer évéből raktározzák több milliárd alattvaló önkéntes léleklenyomatát. Hissune pedig unatkozik, ezért hamis papírokkal rendszeresen besurran, kikér néhány lélekkapszulát, és elmerül a történelem egy-egy jelentős vagy jelentéktelen szereplőjének életében. Szeme előtt lassan roppant mozaik ölt formát e gigantikus bolygó évezredeiről, melynek alakjai mégis egytől egyig érző, hús-vér személyek.

Global overcrowding, a new immortality serum and an unfriendly alien ambassador are only a few of the problems confronting Roy Walton, government's new Master of Life and Death in Robert Silverberg's early and accomplished novel. Praised by a distinguished critic, Anthony Boucher, for "its complete clarity and narrative drive" the novel retains its power today.

Menschen werden vor dem Ende unseres Jahrhunderts auf dem Mars landen, oder ich müßte mich sehr irren. Sie werden entdecken, daß dieser Planet sie nicht gerade mit angenehmen Lebensbedingungen empfängt. Die Luft ist dünn, das Wetter ist kalt, und man wird kein Wasser finden. Aber die Menschen werden versuchen, dort Fuß zu fassen, wie sie es in den gefrorenen Wüsten der Antarktis und den schaurigen Einöden der Sahara taten. Wie aber werden sie den Mars kolonisieren? Indem sie sich Unterkünfte bauen, die ihnen das Leben unter gewohnten Verhältnissen ermöglichen? Oder indem sie versuchen werden, die menschliche Struktur so zu verändern, daß sie sich den Gegebenheiten des Mars anpaßt…?

Anno 2381: nell’esistenza umana l’utopia è diventata realtà. Guerre, fame, contrasti sociali, criminalità e controllo delle nascite sono ormai un semplice ricordo del passato. L’esistenza si svolge tranquilla e ordinata all’interno di giganteschi grattacieli alti centinaia di piani. In una specie di ciclo chiuso, gli esseri umani nascono, studiano, lavorano, mettono al mondo figli, muoiono, senza mai uscirne. I figli sono considerati la massima benedizione di dio e il solo pensiero di porre un limite al loro numero è un’eresia. La libertà sessuale è totale: agli uomini — e alle donne — è permesso cambiare letto ogni notte e giacere con il partner che essi desiderano volta per volta. Soltanto chi è in preda alla pazzia può concepire il desiderio dl una vita privata, dell’intimità coniugale, e nutrire sentimenti di gelosia, tutti sintomi di una pericolosa eresia. Poiché è stato del tutto eliminato il bisogno di uscire fuori del proprio ambiente, di viaggiare, se n’è estinto anche il desiderio. Risuscitare tale desiderio sarebbe una grave eresia, e per chi si rende colpevole di eresia ci sono diversi trattamenti, il più drastico dei quali è l’eliminazione fisica del colpevole, la morte. Ma il numero di coloro che vengono colti da impulsi malsani, che desiderano sfuggire alla facile esistenza programmata delle monadi urbane, alla ricerca di qualcosa che neanche loro sanno con esattezza cosa sia, ma che è radicata nell’anima degli esseri umani, aumenta. Ormai, infatti, la vita stessa è diventata un’utopia. Robert Silverberg, un autore che si è imposto nel campo della fantascienza, oltre che della narrativa, vincitore di un premio Hugo ed ex-presidente dell’associazione degli scrittori americani di science fiction, ripropone in questo libro uno dei più pressanti problemi dell’umanità, prospettandone una terrorizzante conclusione.

Nominato per premio Hugo in 1972.

Morire dentro: è questa la sorte che attende David Selig, il telepate, profilandosi come un incubo all’orizzonte della sua esistenza. Una minaccia a un tempo psichica e biologica corrode i suoi poteri: e per Selig, abituato a «spiare» gli angoli più morbosi e reconditi dei suoi simili, a nutrirsi delle emozioni altrui, il lento affievolirsi delle proprie capacità è un graduale stillicidio. Robert Silverberg ci trasporta con questo romanzo (uno dei suoi ultimi) nella mente del telepate, sicché il lettore può provare, in «soggettiva», l’incredibile esperienza dl guardare in un altro universo, condividendo le emozioni dl una terza vista. Selig raggiunge cosi l’età in cui il suo dono potrebbe maggiormente giovargli: e invece si trova nuovamente respinto da una società che non è pronta per quelli come lui, e in cui anche il rapporto con un essere che possiede i suoi stessi poteri ESP diventa ambiguo e pericoloso. Moderno «Slan», David Selig si trova di fronte a un enigma troppo vasto per la sua fragile personalità: perchè sta perdendo il suo potere mentale? Si tratta solo di un male biologico, o di una minaccia più insidiosa? E che cosa sarà di lui al termine di questa incredibile «odissea nel pensiero»? Come ha scritto la rivista Analog: «Questo romanzo è intensamente umano… intensamente vero. I lettori ricorderanno Morire dentro per una generazione, e forse ancor più».

Robert Silverberg non ha bisogno di presentazioni; Fantasy & Science Fiction ha scritto di lui: «E il nostro autore migliore. Di volta in volta ha costantemente ampliato i parametri della fantascienza».

Muero por dentro es un clásico de referencia y una de las más inspiradas historias de su autor: en ella aborda un tema tan clásico como es la telepatía de manera sutil, ahondando en el lado oscuro del ser humano, rebosa soledad, devastación interior y sensibilidad.

Nombrado para el premio Nebula a la mejor novela en 1972.

Nombrado para el premio Hugo a la mejor novela en 1973.

Nombrado para el premio Locus en 1973.

Belzagor: un mondo misterioso, un pianeta preistorico immerso in un clima tropicale di vapori fumanti e di giungle intricate e abitato dai Nildoror, una razza indigena di esseri intelligenti simili ad elefanti, asserviti e schiavizzati dai terrestri durante i giorni dell’imperialismo interstellare, ma ora finalmente di nuovo liberi. Mentre i Nildoror attendono pazientemente la partenza delle ultime colonie umane, Edmund Gundersen, un tempo agente della Compagnia che aveva sottomesso gli abitanti del pianeta, e detentore del potere di vita e di morte, ritorna su questo strano mondo spinto da un intimo senso di colpa e dal desiderio di rivedere la bella Seena, da lui abbandonata dieci anni prima. Ma durante l’avventuroso pellegrinaggio nelle nebbie calde di Belzagor, molti incontri belli e orrendi attendono Gundersen, prima che egli possa osservare il mistico rituale della rinascita dei Nildoror, una cerimonia arcana che pochi terrestri hanno potuto vedere e a cui nessuno è sopravvissuto per riferirne.

Dem jungen Archäologen Tom Rice erfüllt sich sein größter Wunsch, als er in das Team einer wissenschaftlichen Expedition aufgenommen wird, die rätselhafte Fundstätten von Artefakten einer Alienkultur untersuchen soll. Vor rund einer Milliarde Jahren haben die Fremden ein Sternenimperium geschaffen, aber eines Tages verschwanden sie von der Bildfläche. Ihre Kultur, ihr Werden und Vergehen, ist den Menschen ein Rätsel. Bis Tom Rice eines Tages ein Artefakt findet, das über die Kluft von Jahrmilliarden hinweg visuelle Aufzeichnungen aus dem Alltag der Fremden gespeichert hat. Die Wissenschaftler erfahren, daß irgendwo zwischen den Sternen ein von einem Roboter bewachter Außenposten existiert. Und von dort führt die Spur in das letzte Refugium der Fremden…

In the galactic war with the Rigelians, every allied system counts, so Earth sends the Peccable to contact the gnorph of planet Fafnir for a treaty. But there’s a Rigelian ship landing at the same time, so the two enemies must compete for the natives’ favor, rather like the Federation and the Klingons did in the classic Star Trek episode Friday’s Child.

These two renowned writers have invented a world not unlike our own—a world on the edge of chaos, torn between the madness of religious fanaticism and the stubborn denial of scientists. Only a handful of people on the planet Lagash are prepared to face the truth—that their six suns are setting all at once for the first time in 2,000 years, signaling the end of civilization!

A fabulous tale of pilgrimage and hope, betrayal and transformation by one of science fiction’s greatest writers. Only at night on the winds of darkness can she soar. And it was Avluela the Flier’s ebony and scarlet wings that lead the Watcher to the seven hills of the ancient city from which, in a moment of weakness, the Watcher failed his vigil, leaving the skies and deep space unguarded. The invaders came and conquered. With Avluela lost in the turmoil of conquest, the Watcher set out alone for the Holy City home of the Rememberers, keepers of the past. This is where the secret of Earth’s salvation lay hidden in antiquity. On his journey the Watcher hoped to recapture his youth and find the soaring, beautiful woman he loved. But Avluela held more for the Watcher—and Earth—than love. Her wonder stretched beyond flight, for she knew the riddle that would free all men…

Three parts of this books were earlier published as separate novellas:

Nightwings (1968)

Perris Way (1968)

To Jorslem (1969)

Com somente Beta no horizonte, o jornalista Theremon 762 provoca Aton 77 a fim de conseguir uma declaração sobre o desaparecimento dos seis sóis do planeta Lagash, a acontecer naquele dia, a despeito de ter desmoralizado a campanha movida pelos cientistas Beenay 25, Faro 24, Yimot 70, Sheerin 501 e o próprio Aton para organizar o mundo co

Planeta Hydros jest w całości pokryta wodą. Można na niej zamieszkać, ale nie da się jej już potem opuścić, bowiem nie ma lądu, na którym mógłby lądować statek kosmiczny. Na sztucznej wyspie schronienie znalazła niewielka kolonia Ziemian, oraz osiedle rodzimych mieszkańców Hydros. Niesprzyjąjący zbieg okoliczności zmusza ludzi do wyprawy na fllotylli statków w poszukiwaniu półlegendarnnego lądu...

A causa de la Contracción de Fitzgerald, el viajero del espacio no podía volver a vivir normalmente en la Tierra. Sus viajes duraban años terrestre pero, para los tripulantes de las naves sólo significaban semanas. Cuando regresaban a la Tierra, todo era diferente. Tuvieron que fundar una comunidad de hombres del espacio y convertir sus naves en su único hogar.

Sin embargo, no todos los astronautas estaban satisfechos de su existencia. A Allan Donell le gustaba el espacio y era feliz en su nave, pero su hermano gemelo, Steve, había desertado. El hecho había ocurrido pocas semanas antes, pero ahora Steve, ya tendría veintiséis años y Allan sólo diecisiete.

Eso preocupó a Allan. Quería recuperar a su hermano y encontrar el secreto de la Hiperpropulsi6n de Cavour que, sin duda, estaba escondido en alguna parte de la Tierra y que permitiría al hombre llegar a las estrellas en poquísimo tiempo y eliminaría las diferencias entre el hombre del espacio y el de la Tierra.

Por eso también abandonó la nave. Su hermano y la Hiperpropulsión de Cavour se convirtieron en una obsesión y su búsqueda se convirtió en una terrible aventura en lo que para él, era hostil escenario: la Tierra.

One million years from now. It’s a span of time so huge that it's hard for the mind to grasp. Even within science fiction, to conjure up a convincing portrait of what humanity might be like in such a remote future calls for writers with rare breadth of vision. Fortunately, Dozois and Dann have found them.

Includes longer stories set in “One Million A.D.” by:

Robert Reed

Robert Silverberg

Nancy Kress

Alastair Reynolds

Greg Egan

Soprapopolazione globale, nuovo siero d’immortalità ed un ambasciatore extraterrestre ostile sono soltanto alcuni problemi di Roy Walton, recentemente nominato dal governo alla carica del Padrone della vita e della morte.

Won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1969.

Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1970.

Earthman Roy Crawford is framed for murder on the planet Velliran. He has two choices. He must escape from the planet within three days or go to prison for life.

But the only spaceship leaving the planet within three days belongs to the Exploration Corps. This is a group of scientists which investigates new planets. They are about to leave for World Seven on the Star System Z-16.

With help from his friends, the dazed Crawford finds himself in the ship. The scientists, of course, think he is one of them.

But World Seven is no escape for Roy. It is a planet of death. The team of scientists find themselves in a world where even the trees are killers. And one more killer is on the spaceship—the real murderer who framed Crawford!

If “you can’t live with ’em, and you can’t live without ’em”… you’re bound to learn something in the process. The difficulty is to get someone who wants agreement to realize the value of innate, unalterable, and fixed disagreement.

Una novela de atmósfera ciber-punk sobre los viajes por el tiempo, un tema apasionante que en este libro queda reflejado de una manera bastante decente, en especial todo lo relacionado con las paradojas espacio-temporales. Además, el libro nos aporta una minilección de historia sobre Constantinopla que ameniza la acción. En definitiva un libro agradable, entretenido y rápido de leer cuya única falta estribaría en algunas caracterizaciones de algunos personajes. Aparte de esto, solo mencionar lo deplorable de la edición española, plagada de errores tanto lingüísticos como de traducción. Aún así, es muy recomendable para todos aquellos amantes de los viajes temporales.

Consider the poor mailman of the future. To “sleet and snow and dead of night”—things that must not keep him from his appointed rounds—will be added, sub-zero void, meteors, and planets that won’t stay put. Maybe he’ll decide that for six cents an ounce it just ain’t worth it.

Gdyby ktoś chciał wybrać się na wycieczkę w przeszłość, w roku 2058 byłoby to możliwe, ale nie łudźmy się, ani tanie, ani bezpieczne. Należy przede wszystkim przestrzegać przepisów ustalonych przez służbę czasową. Co ma zrobić pilot wycieczki, jeśli niesforny turysta umknie z grupy i zagubi się w czasie? Przydarzyło się to Judsonowi Danielowi Elliotowi III… i zakończyło niewesoło.

Ai suoi colleghi che non hanno fatto carriera il poliziotto Quellen sembra un uomo molto fortunato. Non tanto per il prestigio del grado, o per lo stipendio più alto, quanto perchè dopo l’ultimo avanzamento Quellen ha diritto a una stanza tutta sua. Ma a lui questo lusso non basta ancora. Quellen trova che al mondo c’è troppa gente. E nel mondo dove vive Quellen sono in molti a pensarla come lui.

It was the supreme irony. Humanity, apparently, feared being Recalled To Life more than it deared death itself. When Harker joined the little group of scientists, he didn’t realize the problems he would face. Their discovery made it possible to revive corpses to full, healthy life. They thought the world would welcome it as the greatest boon of all time. Instead, the world fought them, bitterly and savagely. Bewildered, they could find no way to fight back. The problem was Harker’s to solve, and there seemed to be only one answer: Harker himself had to die!

Cuando los humanos abandonan el planeta Belzagor, siguiendo la política de descolonización consistente en dar independencia a todos los alienígenas con cultura propia, el administrador imperial Gundersen retorna para emprender un viaje etnológico-sentimental-místico-iniciático… donde hallará o no hallará lo que esperaba, pero en todo caso no retornará el mismo que se puso en camino… como tampoco el lector volverá a ser el mismo después del viaje maravilloso que esta novela propone.

Robert Silverberg jest jednym z najczęściej nagradzanych współczesnych pisarzy science fiction. Umiejętnie łączy w swojej twórczości motywy fantastyczne z filozoficznymi. W prezentowanej powieści wykorzystuje wątki religijne z „Apokalipsy św. Jana”. Książka składa się z trzech części. W pierwszej przedstawia historię głęboko zakochanego męża, który poszukuje kontaktu ze swoją zmarłą, a zarazem ożywioną żoną. Część druga to historia Tomasza Proroka, głoszącego nadejście końca świata. Wątek trzeci stanowią losy Martina Ballingera, genialnego artysty, który ponownie odkrywa swe zdolności poprzez konfrontację ze śmiercią.

La fecha tradicional que los historiadores asignan a la fundación de la ciudad de Roma es 753 a. C. Los historiadores romanos calculaban el tiempo a partir de ese hecho, designando tal o cual año ab urbe condita, o a. u. c. («desde la fundación de la ciudad»). Así pues, el año 1 d. C. sería 754 a. u. c, 1000 d. C. sería 1753 a. u. c, 1492 d. C. sería 2245 a. u. c. y así sucesivamente. Todas las fechas empleadas en este libro son a. u. c. y no deben confundirse con las fechas del sistema seguido en el mundo cristiano.

No hay ningún poder, sobre la faz de la Tierra capaz de resistir la acometida del Imperio Romano. Así es, así ha sido y así será.

Mediante la fuerza bruta, el terror y el impulso de una voluntad indomable, los ejércitos romanos han sometido a todo un mundo. Durante miles de años, desde el reinado de Maximiliano El Grande en el año 1203 a.u.c. hasta una nueva era de desarrollo científico y fascinantes avances tecnológicos, incontables enemigos y oportunistas han tratado de enfrentarse al Imperio. Pero lo único que han conseguido ha sido morder el polvo bajo las botas implacables y despiadadas de Roma.

Hay, sin embargo, un grupo de gente que sufre y que resiste en la sombra a lo largo de muchos siglos de opresión, gente que sueña con el glorioso día, cada vez mas cercano, en la que los cielos abrirán a ellos para que, sobre los barcos que construyeron en secreto, puedan protagonizar el gran Éxodo hacia las estrellas.

Siglo XXI. Un mundo en ruinas gobernado por un viejo y astuto tirano, Genghis II Mao IV Khan. La vida del Khan se mantiene gracias a la habilidad de Sadrac Mordecai, un brillante cirujano negro cuya misión es reemplazar los órganos deteriorados del presidente.

Los más modernos aparatos se utilizan para tres proyectos de gran envergadura, uno de ellos, el proyecto Avatar, tiene por objeto lograr la inmortalidad del viejo líder transfiriendo la mente y la personalidad del Khan a un cuerpo más joven.

Sadrac descubre que ha sido elegido para ese macabro proyecto, pero logra idear con increíble serenidad un peligroso plan para cambiar la faz de la Tierra.

Nombrado para el premio Nebula a la mejor novela en 1976.

Nombrado para el premio Hugo a la mejor novela en 1977.

Robert Silverberg è uno dei nostri autori preferiti e di questo non ne facciamo certo mistero. La sua versatilità e la sua bravura sono visibili anche in questo lungo racconto che egli compose in tempi abbastanza lontani (più di trenta anni fa) su un futuro oppressivo da cui la gente fugge per tornare a un passato più agreste e vivibile.

Der 3. Weltkrieg wurde mit biologischen Waffen ausgetragen. Die "Fäulnis", die Menschen bei lebendigem Leib verrotten lässt, grassiert auch noch Jahrzehnte nach Kriegsende. Es gibt ein Serum, doch das ist teuer und nur den Privilegierten vorbehalten.

Die heutigen Machtblöcke der Erde sind zerstoben. Ein greiser Mongole regiert den Weltstaat, ein Tyrann, der sich für die Inkarnation Dschingis Khans und Maos zugleich hält. Sein erdumspannender Geheimdienstapparat ist allgegenwärtig; die Überwachung der Untertanen lückenlos. Er bestimmt, wer der Gnade teilhaftig wird, das Serum zu erhalten. Ein Entzug kommt dem Todesurteil gleich.

Schadrach Mordecai, ein junger Neger aus den ehemaligen USA, ist der Leibarzt des Tyrannen. Er ist persönlich für den Gesundheitszustand des Herrschers verantwortlich, dessen Körper zum größten Teil bereits aus Ersatzorganen besteht. Und Schadrach Mordecai weiß, daß bei den perfekten Sicherheitsmaßnahmen er der einzige Mensch auf der Welt ist, der Hand an das greise Monstrum legen könnte. Doch er ist auf besondere Weise mit dem Tyrannen verbunden: Die Schmerzen des Herrschers sind auch die seinen.

Ein halbes Jahrtausend lang hat Corwin, die rund 50 Lichtjahre von Terra entfernte Kolonie im Sternbild des Großen Bären, keine Verbindung mehr mit der Mutterwelt gehabt. Jetzt, von extragalaktischen Invasoren in seiner Existenzbedroht, schickt Corwin einen Botschafter aus, der die Terraner um militärische Hilfe bitten soll. Doch die Erde ist nicht mehr das, was sie früher war. Die einstmals Mächtigen können keine Hilfe leisten, sondern bedürfen selbst der Unterstützung. Dabei besitzen sie eine unschlagbare Waffe — nur, sie wissen es nicht.

Also appeared as “Re-Conditioned Human.”

In the twenty-first century, a battered world is ruled by a crafty old tyrant, Genghis II Mao IV Khan. The Khan is ninety-three years old, his life systems sustained by the skill of Mordecai Shadrach, a brilliant young surgeon whose chief function is to replace the Khan’s worn-out organs. Within the vast tower-complex, the most advanced equipment is dedicated to three top-priority projects, each designed to keep the Khan immortal. Most sinister of these is Project Avatar, by which the Khan’s mind and persona are to be transferred to a younger body.

Nominated for Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1976.

Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1977.

Siamo nel 2012 e la popolazione del mondo è stata decimata dalle guerre batteriologiche. Il nostro pianeta è dominato da un vecchio e astuto tiranno che si fa chiamare Genghis II Mao IV Khan e che abita in un palazzo a forma di torre, nella Mongolia.

Il Khan è ormai giunto al novantatreesimo anno d’età e lo mantengono in vita i trapianti che gli pratica il suo medico personale, Shadrach Mordecai, talmente devoto al proprio paziente da portare, impiantati nel corpo, una serie di “sensori” telemetrici con i quali controlla d’istante in istante le condizioni di Genghis Mao.

Un’altra importante funzione di Mordecai è quella di dirigere tre distinte ricerche mediche, tutt’e tre miranti ad assicurare al vecchio tiranno l’immortalità fisica. La più avanzata delle tre è il Progetto Avatar, consistente nel trapiantare il cervello, e dunque la personalità, del Khan nel corpo di un uomo più giovane.

Mordecai sa che il corpo in cui dovrà trapiantare il cervello del Khan è quello dell’erede designato, un giovanotto ignaro del suo destino (e, in generale, non troppo sveglio) chiamato Mangu; ma dopo qualche tempo scopre di dover sostituire Mangu. Inizia così per Mordecai un pericoloso gioco d’azzardo: se il piano difensivo da lui elaborato avrà successo, egli potrà diventare il padrone del mondo. Se non avrà successo, dovrà fare dono del suo corpo al rapace Genghis Mao.

Nominato per Premio Nebula in 1976.

Nominato per Premio Hugo in 1977.

Also published as “The Affair”.

Today, in order to honor the magnificent career of Jack Vance, one unparalleled in achievement and impact, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN and GARDNER DOZOIS, with the full cooperation of Jack Vance, his family, and his agents, suggest a Jack Vance tribute anthology called Songs of the Dying Earth, to encourage the best of today's fantasy writers to return to the unique and evocative milieu of The Dying Earth, from which they and so many others have drawn so much inspiration, to create their own brand-new adventures in the world of Jack Vance s greatest novel.

Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time ever, Jack has agreed to open this bizarre and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. To say that other fantasy writers are excited by this prospect is a gross understatement; one has told us that he'd crawl through broken glass for the chance to write for the anthology, another that he'd gladly give up his right arm for the privilege that's the kind of regard in which Jack Vance and The Dying Earth are held by generations of his peers.

The aged Pontifex Prankipin is near death and the Coronal Lord Confalume will now succeed as Pontifex. It is no secret that the next Coronal should be Prince Prestimion of Muldemar. But Korsibar has a new quarry—the Starburst Crown.

Fighting an alien champ was always risky business for an Earthman. So Filmore decided he might pick up a pointer or two before the big—

Stany Zjednoczone wpadają w sidła demokracji. Pod populistycznymi hasłami władzę przejmują syndykaliści. Ameryka w szponach dyktatury oznacza tajną policję, aresztowania i zsyłki opozycjonistów. Rząd deklaruje jednak, że nie wykonuje wyroków śmierci. Gdzie więc znikają działacze opozycji? W przeszłości! Oto w przeszłości o miliard lat odległej od nas syndykaliści tworzą stację zsyłki niewygodnych politycznie więźniów. To czas, kiedy na Ziemi nie ukształtowały się jeszcze obecne kontynenty, a pierwsze zwierzęta nie wyszły na ląd. A podróż w czasie może się odbywać tylko w jedną stronę…

In Starborne, Silverberg takes the Utopia theme and turns it on its head. The scene is Earth many centuries in the future, where all of life's problems have been solved. But while humanity may be well fed, amply clothed, in perfect health, and rich beyond imagination, people are bored nearly to death. To bring a little spark back into the lives of humankind, the people of Earth band together to build a starship and begin the search for habitable planets in the rest of the universe.

THEY FORBID THE STARS TO SHINE!

After seven years of beachcombing on the pleasure planet of Mulciber, ex-engineer Johnny Mantell thought he had hit rock bottom. But when he was unjustly accused of murder, he knew there was worse to come.

Johnny had to get out. And the only place for an outcast like himself was the impregnable outlaw world of Starhaven, a refuge that defied all galactic laws.

Once there, Johnny’s only wish was to forget the past and be left alone. But the super-science dictator of Starhaven had other plans for him. And soon Johnny found himself in the midst of one of the most explosive struggles any world had ever known. If he failed, not only his own life would be lost, but the future of galactic civilization would be totally altered.

The complicated problem of time lags and speedups in space travel brings about a conflict between twin brothers.

It had been five hundred years since the distant Terran Colony of Corwin had communicated with Earth. But now Corwin was threatened by the indomitable warriors of Klodni and the peaceful planet desperately needed help. Baird Ewing was the ambassador chosen by his people to find that help and save Corwin from destruction. But Earth had changed… Ewing found a decadent world of worthless pleasure-seekers devoid of hope and incapable of help. The only remaining vestige of the old world on Earth was to be found in the College of Abstract Science. It was Ewing’s last hope. If he failed it was the end of the line for him, Corwin—and the galaxy. First published in 1958.

Kiedy przeszłość krzyżuje się z przyszłością…

Nowy York. Ostatnie miesiące XX wieku. Lew Nicholas — ekspert w dziedzinie prognozowania przyszłości — osiągnął pozycję szarej eminencji, „twórcy królów”, człowieka, który mógłby doprowadzić Paula Quinna do Białego Domu w roku 2004.

A truly breathtaking new anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, Swords & Dark Magic offers stunning new tales of sword and sorcery action, romance, and dark adventure written by some of the most respected, bestselling fantasy writers working today—from Joe Abercrombie to Gene Wolfe. An all-new Elric novella from the legendary Michael Moorcock and a new visit to Majipoor courtesy of the inimitable Robert Silverberg are just two of the treasures offered in Swords & Dark Magic—a fantasy lover’s dream.

Seventeen original tales of sword and sorcery penned by masters old and new

Elric…the Black Company…Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don’t miss the adventure of the decade!

Swords & Dark Magic is the most important new fantasy anthology to be published this decade. Featuring new stories from the bestselling and brightest writers working in the genre, including: New York Times bestselling authors Scott Lynch and Garth Nix; genre greats Michael Moorcock (with an all-new Elric novella), Michael Shea (with a fully authorized new Cugel the Clever adventure), Robert Silverberg (with an all-new Majipoor tale), Glen Cook (with an all-new Black Company story), Gene Wolfe, and C. J. Cherryh; and hot new writers who’ve been re-inventing swords and sorcery like Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Tim Lebbon, and many more.

Cover illustration © by Benjamin Carré

STEVEN ERIKSON is the pseudonym of Canadian novelist Steve Rune Lundin, best known for his ongoing fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen, beginning in 1999 with Gardens of the Moon. Trained as an archaeologist and anthropologist, Erikson is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and is a World Fantasy Award-nominated author. SF Site has called the series “the most significant work of epic fantasy since Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.” Known for his portrayal of multidimensional characters, he said in an interview conducted by suite101.com, “It’s often commented that my stuff is all shades of gray rather than black and white, but that’s not the same as saying every character is similarly gray—the effect is an overall one rather than a specific one. Most of the characters I come up with have pretty fixed notions of right and wrong, they have a moral center, in other words, whether consciously recognized or not. But in coming at something from more than one side, the reader is left free to choose which one they’ll favor.” Erikson now lives in Cornwall, England.

GLEN COOK grew up in northern California and served in the U.S. Navy with the Third Marine Recon Battalion, an experience that fundamentally affected his later work. Cook then attended the University of Missouri and the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. His first novel, The Heirs of Babylon, appeared in 1972 and was followed by a broad range of fantasy and science fiction novels, including the humorous fantasy Garrett PI series and others. His most important work, though, is the gritty Black Company fantasy series, which follows a mercenary unit over several decades and which brought a whole new perspective to fantasy. Cook is currently retired and lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where he writes full-time.

GENE WOLFE worked as an engineer, before becoming editor of trade journal Plant Engineering. He came to prominence as a writer in the late 1960s with a sequence of short stories in Damon Knight’s Orbit anthologies. His early major novels were The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Peace, but he established his reputation with a sequence of three long, multivolume novels—The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun. His short fiction has been collected in The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, Endangered Species, Strange Travelers, and, most recently, The Best of Gene Wolfe. He is the recipient of the Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial, British Fantasy, British SF, and World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Awards. Wolfe’s most recent book is the novel An Evil Guest. Upcoming is his new novel The Sorcerer’s House.

JAMES ENGE has been developing his stories of Morlock Ambrosius for years, but had to wait for the pendulum to swing back in favor of sword and sorcery before he made a splash. Appearing only recently in the pages of Black Gate, Flashing Swords, and everyday fiction.com, his tales of a wandering wizard and swordsman built up a loyal following in a very short time, before leaping into novel form with the books Blood of Ambrose, This Crooked Way, and The Wolf Age. Strange Horizon writes of him: “There’s a kind of literately sensuous pleasure in Enge’s writing…the pleasure of an intelligent, skillful writer amusing himself and us.” Little surprise then that Enge is an instructor of classical languages at a Midwestern university. Speaking to Fantasy Book Critic, he said, “The modern realistic novel, increasingly in the twentieth century, concerned itself with character above all else: what the character felt and perceived. I’m not knocking this: realistic fiction has some triumphant achievements in this line…But I think it’s an approach that is susceptible to diminishing returns. Genre fiction, like medieval and classical traditions of storytelling, tends to concentrate much more on what people do and the context in which they do it. I love this concentration on conduct, on action (but not necessarily in the car-chases-and-gunfights sense) and on the world…I find it in the older narrative traditions; I find it in genre fiction; and I think it’s the reason that twenty-first-century literary fiction is looking to refresh itself at the wells of genre.”

C. J. CHERRYH began writing stories at the age of ten, when she became frustrated with the cancellation of her favorite TV show, Flash Gordon. She has a Master of Arts degree in classics from Johns Hopkins University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson fellow, and taught Latin, Ancient Greek, the classics, and ancient history in Oklahoma. Cherryh wrote novels in her spare time when not teaching, and in 1975 sold her first novels Gate of Ivrel and Brothers of Earth to Donald A. Wollheim at DAW Books. The books won her immediate recognition and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977. In 1979, her short story “Cassandra” won the Best Short Story Hugo, and she quit teaching to write full-time. She has since won the Hugo Award for Best Novel twice, first for Down-below Station in 1982 and then again for Cyteen in 1989. In addition to developing her own fictional universes, Cherryh has contributed to several shared world anthologies, including Thieves’ World, Heroes in Hell, and the Merovingen Nights series, which she edited. Her most recent novels are major new Alliance novel, Regenesis, and new Foreigner novel, Conspirator. She lives near Spokane, Washington, and enjoys skating and traveling. She regularly makes appearances at science fiction conventions.

Raised in rural Vermont, K. J. PARKER is part of the new generation of fantasy writers who, over the past ten years, has been publishing work that has been redefining sword and sorcery. Parker’s first novel, Colors in the Steel, appeared in 1998 and was followed by two further volumes in the Fencer trilogy, the Scavenger trilogy, and the critically acclaimed Engineer trilogy. Parker’s most recent books are novels The Company and The Folding Knife, and novella “Purple and Black.” Having worked in law, journalism, and numismatics, Parker is married to a solicitor, lives in southern England, and, when not writing, likes to make things out of wood and metal.

GARTH NIX grew up in Canberra, Australia. When he turned nineteen, he left to drive around the United Kingdom in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter. Despite a wheel literally falling off the car, he survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. He has since worked in a bookshop, as a book publicist, a publisher’s sales representative, an editor, a literary agent, and as a public relations and marketing consultant. His first story was published in 1984 and was followed by novels The Ragwitch, Sabriel, Shade’s Children, Lirael, Abhorsen, the six-book YA fantasy series the Seventh Tower, and, most recently, the seven-book the Keys to the Kingdom series. He lives in Sydney with his wife and their two children.

MICHAEL MOORCOCK was born in London, England. At the age of sixteen, he became editor of Tarzan Adventures, and later, Sexton Black Library. But it was his editorship of New Worlds magazine, from May 1964 to March 1971, during which he fostered the “New Wave,” perhaps the most important movement in the history of science fiction. Moorcock is best known, however, for his creation of the Multiverse and his influence on sword and sorcery (a subgenre he helped name, together with Fritz Leiber). His character, Elric of Melniboné, is one of the most influential fantasy antiheroes the genre has ever produced. Not only have the novels been in continuous print since the 1970s, but Elric has crossed over into comics, role-playing games, and rock and roll. Moorcock’s influence on sword and sorcery fiction is colossal and no anthology of same could hope to be complete without him. He and his wife, Linda, currently divide their time between Texas, France, and California.

TIM LEBBON was born in London and lived in Devon until the age of eight. His first short story was published in 1994 in the indie magazine Psychotrope, and his first novel, Mesmer, appeared three years later, in 1997. Since then he has published over thirty books, including 2009’s The Island and The Map of Moments (with Christopher Golden). His dark fantasy novel, Dusk, which came out in 2007, won the August Derleth Award from the British Fantasy Society, and his novelization of the film 30 Days of Night was a New York Times bestseller. His new novel, Echo City Falls, is due out in 2010. A full-time writer since 2006, he now lives in Goytre, Monmouthshire, with his wife and two children.

ROBERT SILVERBERG, born in New York City, is a science fiction Grand Master, and a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author. He published his first novel, the children’s book Revolt on Alpha C, in 1955. Silverberg won his first Hugo Award for Best New Writer the following year, 1956, the same year he completed an AB in English Literature from Columbia University. A prolific author, he contributed to the genre such classics as Dying Inside, Nightwings, and Downward to the Earth. In 1980 he published Lord Valentine’s Castle, the first book in his landmark sci-fantasy Majipoor series. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author and editor Karen Haber.

GREG KEYES, who also writes under the names Gregory Keyes and J. Gregory Keyes, was born in Meridian, Mississippi, to a large, diverse, storytelling family. He received degrees in anthropology from Mississippi State and the University of Georgia before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of The Waterborn, The Black-god, the Age of Unreason tetralogy, and the Star Wars: New Jedi Order novels Edge of Victory I: Conquest, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, and The Final Prophecy. In 2003, he began his fantasy quartet called the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, which began with The Briar King and continued with The Charnel Prince, The Blood Knight, and The Born Queen. He lives with his family in Savannah, Georgia, where he is also the head coach of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s fencing club.

MICHAEL SHEA was born to Irish parents in Los Angeles, California, where he frequented Venice Beach and the Baldwin Hills for their wildlife. After attending UCLA on the advance-placement program while still in the tenth grade, he made his way to UC Berkeley for the wildlife there during the Time of Troubles. He hitchhiked across America and Canada twice, and at a hotel in Juneau, Alaska, chanced on a battered book from the lobby shelves: The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance. It led to his first Vancean novel, A Quest for Simbilis, which was published in 1974. Shea followed that with several novellas, some horrific, some comic, in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, including the Nebula Finalist, “The Autopsy.” He published Nifft the Lean in 1982. A classic of the genre, it won the World Fantasy Award and was followed by The Mines of Behemoth and The A’rak. Other work includes novels The Color Out of Time; In Yana, the Touch of Undying; and collections Polyphemus and The Autopsy and Other Stories.

SCOTT LYNCH was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He worked a variety of jobs, including as a dishwasher, waiter, Web designer, freelance writer, and office manager, before publishing his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2006. Part of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence, concerned with the life of thief and con man Locke Lamora, and set in the world of the shattered Therin Throne Empire, the series is projected to run to seven books. In addition to being a 2007 John W. Campbell Award, William L. Crawford Award, and Locus Award finalist, Scott is a volunteer firefighter, certified in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. He lives with his wife, Jenny, in the city of New Richmond, Wisconsin.

TANITH LEE became a freelance writer in 1975, and has been one ever since. Her first published books were children’s fantasies The Dragon Hoard and Animal Castle. Her first adult fantasy novel, The Birthgrave, was the start of a long association with DAW, which published more than twenty of her works of fantasy, SF, and horror in the 1970s and 1980s. She received the British Fantasy Society’s August Derleth Award in 1980 for Death’s Master, World Fantasy Awards for Best Short Story in 1983 (for “The Gorgon”) and 1984 (for “Elle est Trois (La Mort)”). Enormously prolific, Lee has recently published a trilogy of pirate novels for young adults (Piratica and sequels), a science fiction novel for adults (Mortal Suns), an adult fantasy trilogy (Lionwolf), a young adult fantasy trilogy (Claidi and sequels), and the first of two retrospective short story collections (Tempting the Gods). Upcoming are new books in the Flat Earth series. In 2009 she was made a Grand Master of Horror. Tanith Lee lives with her husband, the writer and artist John Kaiine, on the southeast coast of England.

CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN was born in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland, but grew up in Leeds, Alabama. As a teenager, she worked as a volunteer in Birmingham, Alabama’s, Red Mountain Museum, and later studied geology and vertebrate paleontology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has coauthored several scientific publications, beginning in 1988, the latest published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in 2002. Her first novel, Silk, was published in 1998, and she has written eight novels to date, the most recent being The Red Tree. A multiple International Horror Guild Award-winning author, she has also been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Award. Kiernan has also written for DC Comics. She lives with her partner in Providence, Rhode Island.

BILL WILLINGHAM was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He got his start as staff artist for TSR, Inc., providing illustrations for a number of its role-playing games, among them Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World. In the 1980s, he gained attention for his comic book series Elementals (published by Comico), and contributed as an illustrator to such titles as DC’s Green Lantern. Willingham created the popular DC Vertigo comic book Fables in 2002, about characters from folklore residing in contemporary Manhattan. To date, Fables is the recipient of fourteen coveted Eisner Awards. His Jack of Fables, created with Matthew Sturges, was chosen by Time magazine as number five in their Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2007. His first Fables prose novel, Peter and Max, was released in 2009, the same year that his comic book Fables: War and Pieces was nominated for the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. One of the most popular comics writers of our time, he currently lives in the woods in Minnesota.

JOE ABERCROMBIE attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology. He moved into television production before taking up a career as a freelance film editor. His first novel, The Blade Itself, was published in 2004, and was followed by two further books in the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings. His most recent book is a stand-alone novel set in the same world, Best Served Cold, and he is currently at work on another, The Heroes. Joe now lives in Bath with his wife, Lou, and his daughters, Grace and Eve. He still occasionally edits concerts and music festivals for TV, but spends most of his time writing edgy yet humorous fantasy novels.

A truly breathtaking new anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, Swords & Dark Magic offers stunning new tales of sword and sorcery action, romance, and dark adventure written by some of the most respected, bestselling fantasy writers working today—from Joe Abercrombie to Gene Wolfe. An all-new Elric novella from the legendary Michael Moorcock and a new visit to Majipoor courtesy of the inimitable Robert Silverberg are just two of the treasures offered in Swords & Dark Magic—a fantasy lover’s dream.

Seventeen original tales of sword and sorcery penned by masters old and new

Elric…the Black Company…Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don’t miss the adventure of the decade!

Swords & Dark Magic is the most important new fantasy anthology to be published this decade. Featuring new stories from the bestselling and brightest writers working in the genre, including: New York Times bestselling authors Scott Lynch and Garth Nix; genre greats Michael Moorcock (with an all-new Elric novella), Michael Shea (with a fully authorized new Cugel the Clever adventure), Robert Silverberg (with an all-new Majipoor tale), Glen Cook (with an all-new Black Company story), Gene Wolfe, and C. J. Cherryh; and hot new writers who’ve been re-inventing swords and sorcery like Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Tim Lebbon, and many more.

Cover illustration © by Benjamin Carré

STEVEN ERIKSON is the pseudonym of Canadian novelist Steve Rune Lundin, best known for his ongoing fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen, beginning in 1999 with Gardens of the Moon. Trained as an archaeologist and anthropologist, Erikson is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and is a World Fantasy Award-nominated author. SF Site has called the series “the most significant work of epic fantasy since Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.” Known for his portrayal of multidimensional characters, he said in an interview conducted by suite101.com, “It’s often commented that my stuff is all shades of gray rather than black and white, but that’s not the same as saying every character is similarly gray—the effect is an overall one rather than a specific one. Most of the characters I come up with have pretty fixed notions of right and wrong, they have a moral center, in other words, whether consciously recognized or not. But in coming at something from more than one side, the reader is left free to choose which one they’ll favor.” Erikson now lives in Cornwall, England.

GLEN COOK grew up in northern California and served in the U.S. Navy with the Third Marine Recon Battalion, an experience that fundamentally affected his later work. Cook then attended the University of Missouri and the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. His first novel, The Heirs of Babylon, appeared in 1972 and was followed by a broad range of fantasy and science fiction novels, including the humorous fantasy Garrett PI series and others. His most important work, though, is the gritty Black Company fantasy series, which follows a mercenary unit over several decades and which brought a whole new perspective to fantasy. Cook is currently retired and lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where he writes full-time.

GENE WOLFE worked as an engineer, before becoming editor of trade journal Plant Engineering. He came to prominence as a writer in the late 1960s with a sequence of short stories in Damon Knight’s Orbit anthologies. His early major novels were The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Peace, but he established his reputation with a sequence of three long, multivolume novels—The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun. His short fiction has been collected in The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, Endangered Species, Strange Travelers, and, most recently, The Best of Gene Wolfe. He is the recipient of the Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial, British Fantasy, British SF, and World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Awards. Wolfe’s most recent book is the novel An Evil Guest. Upcoming is his new novel The Sorcerer’s House.

JAMES ENGE has been developing his stories of Morlock Ambrosius for years, but had to wait for the pendulum to swing back in favor of sword and sorcery before he made a splash. Appearing only recently in the pages of Black Gate, Flashing Swords, and everyday fiction.com, his tales of a wandering wizard and swordsman built up a loyal following in a very short time, before leaping into novel form with the books Blood of Ambrose, This Crooked Way, and The Wolf Age. Strange Horizon writes of him: “There’s a kind of literately sensuous pleasure in Enge’s writing…the pleasure of an intelligent, skillful writer amusing himself and us.” Little surprise then that Enge is an instructor of classical languages at a Midwestern university. Speaking to Fantasy Book Critic, he said, “The modern realistic novel, increasingly in the twentieth century, concerned itself with character above all else: what the character felt and perceived. I’m not knocking this: realistic fiction has some triumphant achievements in this line…But I think it’s an approach that is susceptible to diminishing returns. Genre fiction, like medieval and classical traditions of storytelling, tends to concentrate much more on what people do and the context in which they do it. I love this concentration on conduct, on action (but not necessarily in the car-chases-and-gunfights sense) and on the world…I find it in the older narrative traditions; I find it in genre fiction; and I think it’s the reason that twenty-first-century literary fiction is looking to refresh itself at the wells of genre.”

C. J. CHERRYH began writing stories at the age of ten, when she became frustrated with the cancellation of her favorite TV show, Flash Gordon. She has a Master of Arts degree in classics from Johns Hopkins University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson fellow, and taught Latin, Ancient Greek, the classics, and ancient history in Oklahoma. Cherryh wrote novels in her spare time when not teaching, and in 1975 sold her first novels Gate of Ivrel and Brothers of Earth to Donald A. Wollheim at DAW Books. The books won her immediate recognition and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977. In 1979, her short story “Cassandra” won the Best Short Story Hugo, and she quit teaching to write full-time. She has since won the Hugo Award for Best Novel twice, first for Down-below Station in 1982 and then again for Cyteen in 1989. In addition to developing her own fictional universes, Cherryh has contributed to several shared world anthologies, including Thieves’ World, Heroes in Hell, and the Merovingen Nights series, which she edited. Her most recent novels are major new Alliance novel, Regenesis, and new Foreigner novel, Conspirator. She lives near Spokane, Washington, and enjoys skating and traveling. She regularly makes appearances at science fiction conventions.

Raised in rural Vermont, K. J. PARKER is part of the new generation of fantasy writers who, over the past ten years, has been publishing work that has been redefining sword and sorcery. Parker’s first novel, Colors in the Steel, appeared in 1998 and was followed by two further volumes in the Fencer trilogy, the Scavenger trilogy, and the critically acclaimed Engineer trilogy. Parker’s most recent books are novels The Company and The Folding Knife, and novella “Purple and Black.” Having worked in law, journalism, and numismatics, Parker is married to a solicitor, lives in southern England, and, when not writing, likes to make things out of wood and metal.

GARTH NIX grew up in Canberra, Australia. When he turned nineteen, he left to drive around the United Kingdom in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter. Despite a wheel literally falling off the car, he survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. He has since worked in a bookshop, as a book publicist, a publisher’s sales representative, an editor, a literary agent, and as a public relations and marketing consultant. His first story was published in 1984 and was followed by novels The Ragwitch, Sabriel, Shade’s Children, Lirael, Abhorsen, the six-book YA fantasy series the Seventh Tower, and, most recently, the seven-book the Keys to the Kingdom series. He lives in Sydney with his wife and their two children.

MICHAEL MOORCOCK was born in London, England. At the age of sixteen, he became editor of Tarzan Adventures, and later, Sexton Black Library. But it was his editorship of New Worlds magazine, from May 1964 to March 1971, during which he fostered the “New Wave,” perhaps the most important movement in the history of science fiction. Moorcock is best known, however, for his creation of the Multiverse and his influence on sword and sorcery (a subgenre he helped name, together with Fritz Leiber). His character, Elric of Melniboné, is one of the most influential fantasy antiheroes the genre has ever produced. Not only have the novels been in continuous print since the 1970s, but Elric has crossed over into comics, role-playing games, and rock and roll. Moorcock’s influence on sword and sorcery fiction is colossal and no anthology of same could hope to be complete without him. He and his wife, Linda, currently divide their time between Texas, France, and California.

TIM LEBBON was born in London and lived in Devon until the age of eight. His first short story was published in 1994 in the indie magazine Psychotrope, and his first novel, Mesmer, appeared three years later, in 1997. Since then he has published over thirty books, including 2009’s The Island and The Map of Moments (with Christopher Golden). His dark fantasy novel, Dusk, which came out in 2007, won the August Derleth Award from the British Fantasy Society, and his novelization of the film 30 Days of Night was a New York Times bestseller. His new novel, Echo City Falls, is due out in 2010. A full-time writer since 2006, he now lives in Goytre, Monmouthshire, with his wife and two children.

ROBERT SILVERBERG, born in New York City, is a science fiction Grand Master, and a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author. He published his first novel, the children’s book Revolt on Alpha C, in 1955. Silverberg won his first Hugo Award for Best New Writer the following year, 1956, the same year he completed an AB in English Literature from Columbia University. A prolific author, he contributed to the genre such classics as Dying Inside, Nightwings, and Downward to the Earth. In 1980 he published Lord Valentine’s Castle, the first book in his landmark sci-fantasy Majipoor series. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author and editor Karen Haber.

GREG KEYES, who also writes under the names Gregory Keyes and J. Gregory Keyes, was born in Meridian, Mississippi, to a large, diverse, storytelling family. He received degrees in anthropology from Mississippi State and the University of Georgia before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of The Waterborn, The Black-god, the Age of Unreason tetralogy, and the Star Wars: New Jedi Order novels Edge of Victory I: Conquest, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, and The Final Prophecy. In 2003, he began his fantasy quartet called the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, which began with The Briar King and continued with The Charnel Prince, The Blood Knight, and The Born Queen. He lives with his family in Savannah, Georgia, where he is also the head coach of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s fencing club.

MICHAEL SHEA was born to Irish parents in Los Angeles, California, where he frequented Venice Beach and the Baldwin Hills for their wildlife. After attending UCLA on the advance-placement program while still in the tenth grade, he made his way to UC Berkeley for the wildlife there during the Time of Troubles. He hitchhiked across America and Canada twice, and at a hotel in Juneau, Alaska, chanced on a battered book from the lobby shelves: The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance. It led to his first Vancean novel, A Quest for Simbilis, which was published in 1974. Shea followed that with several novellas, some horrific, some comic, in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, including the Nebula Finalist, “The Autopsy.” He published Nifft the Lean in 1982. A classic of the genre, it won the World Fantasy Award and was followed by The Mines of Behemoth and The A’rak. Other work includes novels The Color Out of Time; In Yana, the Touch of Undying; and collections Polyphemus and The Autopsy and Other Stories.

SCOTT LYNCH was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He worked a variety of jobs, including as a dishwasher, waiter, Web designer, freelance writer, and office manager, before publishing his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2006. Part of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence, concerned with the life of thief and con man Locke Lamora, and set in the world of the shattered Therin Throne Empire, the series is projected to run to seven books. In addition to being a 2007 John W. Campbell Award, William L. Crawford Award, and Locus Award finalist, Scott is a volunteer firefighter, certified in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. He lives with his wife, Jenny, in the city of New Richmond, Wisconsin.

TANITH LEE became a freelance writer in 1975, and has been one ever since. Her first published books were children’s fantasies The Dragon Hoard and Animal Castle. Her first adult fantasy novel, The Birthgrave, was the start of a long association with DAW, which published more than twenty of her works of fantasy, SF, and horror in the 1970s and 1980s. She received the British Fantasy Society’s August Derleth Award in 1980 for Death’s Master, World Fantasy Awards for Best Short Story in 1983 (for “The Gorgon”) and 1984 (for “Elle est Trois (La Mort)”). Enormously prolific, Lee has recently published a trilogy of pirate novels for young adults (Piratica and sequels), a science fiction novel for adults (Mortal Suns), an adult fantasy trilogy (Lionwolf), a young adult fantasy trilogy (Claidi and sequels), and the first of two retrospective short story collections (Tempting the Gods). Upcoming are new books in the Flat Earth series. In 2009 she was made a Grand Master of Horror. Tanith Lee lives with her husband, the writer and artist John Kaiine, on the southeast coast of England.

CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN was born in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland, but grew up in Leeds, Alabama. As a teenager, she worked as a volunteer in Birmingham, Alabama’s, Red Mountain Museum, and later studied geology and vertebrate paleontology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has coauthored several scientific publications, beginning in 1988, the latest published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in 2002. Her first novel, Silk, was published in 1998, and she has written eight novels to date, the most recent being The Red Tree. A multiple International Horror Guild Award-winning author, she has also been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Award. Kiernan has also written for DC Comics. She lives with her partner in Providence, Rhode Island.

BILL WILLINGHAM was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He got his start as staff artist for TSR, Inc., providing illustrations for a number of its role-playing games, among them Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World. In the 1980s, he gained attention for his comic book series Elementals (published by Comico), and contributed as an illustrator to such titles as DC’s Green Lantern. Willingham created the popular DC Vertigo comic book Fables in 2002, about characters from folklore residing in contemporary Manhattan. To date, Fables is the recipient of fourteen coveted Eisner Awards. His Jack of Fables, created with Matthew Sturges, was chosen by Time magazine as number five in their Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2007. His first Fables prose novel, Peter and Max, was released in 2009, the same year that his comic book Fables: War and Pieces was nominated for the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. One of the most popular comics writers of our time, he currently lives in the woods in Minnesota.

JOE ABERCROMBIE attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology. He moved into television production before taking up a career as a freelance film editor. His first novel, The Blade Itself, was published in 2004, and was followed by two further books in the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings. His most recent book is a stand-alone novel set in the same world, Best Served Cold, and he is currently at work on another, The Heroes. Joe now lives in Bath with his wife, Lou, and his daughters, Grace and Eve. He still occasionally edits concerts and music festivals for TV, but spends most of his time writing edgy yet humorous fantasy novels.

From one of the masters of SF comes this new collection of stories, all set on his most famous creation—the world of Majipoor.A massive world of adventure, romance and danger. A place where dreams can soothe the restless or flay the minds of the guilty. Where humans, aliens and natives live in a shifting, uneasy alliance and where two great men rule over all. No matter who bears the title, there is always a Coronal and a Pontifex, forever miles apart, forever striving to maintain the balance of their far-flung civilization. Here, collected for the first time, are the final tales of Majipoor. From the earliest legends of the Shapeshifters to an untold mystery late in the reign of Valentine Pontifex, the seven stories in this collection expand upon and flesh out the remarkable world that Robert Silverberg has created. Spanning a decade of writing from one of the masters of science-fiction, this collection is both a fantastic introduction for those new to Majipoor and a welcome return for those who have visited before.