Winston Science Fiction Enpaper Art

Winston Science Fiction Enpaper Art

Friday, May 14, 2010

Cover Art for SECRET OF THE MARTIAN MOONS and THE SECRET OF THE NINTH PLANET

Cover Art for SECRET OF SATURN'S RINGS and SON OF THE STARS

Cover Art for SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEPS and SPACEMEN, GO HOME

Cover Art for STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS and THE STAR CONQUERORS

Cover Art for THE STAR SEEKERS and STEP TO THE STARS

Cover Art for TROUBLE ON TITAN and VANDALS OF THE VOID

Cover Art for VAULT OF THE AGES and THE WORLD AT BAY

Cover Art for THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL and THE YEAR AFTER TOMORROW

Cover Art for ROCKETS THROUGH SPACE

Synopsis for THE ANT MEN by Eric North

"There's a feeling about this desert which frankly suggests...impossible things. That's the only way I can put it."

The feeling that Professor Silas Orcutt, an American geologist, refers to early in this story, is one that every reader of this rugged and thrilling science fiction novel will share with him after the very first page. The professor, head of a party of five studying geological formations in the Central Australian desert, thought back on the nightmare of shifting sand and crackling electrical charges that had wrecked the truck in which his party was traveling. He thought, too, of the skeleton of a freshly killed crocodile - found hundreds of miles from the nearest river - and the stench of formic acid that remained around its picked-clean bones.

The professor's intrepid little group was prepared to find fossils in the Australian rock strata - but not the living kind that shocked them into believing the impossible of the burnt-out lands of the continent down under. Trapped in a desert valley under the pitiless sun, the five found themselves face to face with six-foot-tall ants and deadly giant mantises: survivors from before the dawn of history. Locked in a harrowing war for survival, these deadly creatures had little use for the puny men who found themselves in the midst of an insect war!

How Professor Orcutt was captured by ants with curiously manlike characteristics; how the members of his party found him and investigated the huge underground ant city; how they helped defend the ant men's ghostly underground caverns make this a completely gripping novel capped with a taut and electrifying climax sure to please readers of every age.

Synopsis for ATTACK FROM ATLANTIS by Lester Del Rey

Teen-aged Don Miller felt lucky to be one of the few aboard the atomic-powered submarine, the TRITON, on its first official depth test run. Even when the ship began to falter and the diving planes jammed, neither he nor the rest of the crew realized they were fighting a losing battle against an unknown enemy. Quick repairs and a frantic attempt to surface brought renewed hope to the crew until they spotted strange-looking "bubble men" lashing through the water on creatures supposed to have been extinct millions of years before. All efforts to fight off the sea men failed, and the crew of the crippled TRITON had no alternative but to let their captives drag them toward the giant "bubble city" resting on the ocean floor.

Lester del Rey has written here an intriguing tale of an outcast race that had migrated into the sea with a secret power that shut out the sea waters. As prisoners of a superstitious and frightened people, Don and the others frantically plotted their escape from "a city of no return." How Don finally turns the Atlanteans' weakness into a weapon and nearly wrecks the city with fear fills this story with breathless suspense.

Besides providing thrill-packed reading for teen-agers, ATTACK FROM ATLANTIS suggests fascinating answers to legends that cannot die until men conquer the last barrier of this planet and find out for themselves what lies hidden beneath the mysterious sea.

Synopsis for EARTHBOUND by Milton Lesser

"We'll thunder off to Io,
Out in the Jovian Moons.
We'll feast our eyes and seek the skies
And plunder Martian ruins!"

The "Spaceman's Chant" turned from a spirited to a heartbreaking refrain when Cadet Peter Hodges learned that he would never be allowed to "thunder off to Io."

Bitter disappointment, to a youth whose father had been one of the first space captains, motivates this gripping tale of the future. Studded with detail of the spaceports, ships and men that handle interplanetary flight, Earthbound is the very human drama of a disillusioned cadet forced by circumstances to help plunder the very space liners he was trained to protect.

How Pete Hodges became involved with interplanetary racketeers, his dramatic escape, his flight to the asteroids on a mission the authorities knew could not succed, is a finely wrought drama that only an author of Milton Lesser's stature could write. Fired with suspense and action, this story of one young man's determination to face the speckled blackness of outer space is science fiction at its best!

Synopsis for FIND THE FEATHERED SERPENT by Evan Hunter

When the strange hourglass-shaped time machine crashed out of the twentieth century and into the Caribbean Sea of fourteen hundred years ago, Neil Falsen realized how unprepared he was to head the expedition that his father had organized back through time. Of the four men who had flown through centuries to solve the mystery of an ancient Mayan god, two had died in the shattering crash. Only Neil and ship's pilot Dave remained to cope with the language and customs of a people who had disappeared into the darkness of history.

It was confusing enough not to know which century the machine had fallen into. But Neil was sure his eyes were playing tricks when he spotted a Norse ship cutting proudly through southern seas. How ancient Vikings, Mayas and two twentieth-century Americans met - and fought - amid the splendors of a civilization that today dots the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico with its ruins, makes a tale as unique in telling as it is in content.

In scenes that throb with drama and thunder with excitement, Dave and Neil found frightening evidence of the approaching Mayan collapse. With a common modern device, Neil stepped into a tense religious ceremony to prevent human sacrifice. Without realizing it, he discovered the secret of the white god among the Mayan Indian dieties.

One of history's most intriguing suppositions forms the basis for this tale of the secret behind the legend of a lost civilization.

Synopsis for FIVE AGAINST VENUS by Philip Latham

When Bruce Robinson's father decided to take the job offered him on the Moon, his space-loving son saw an end to his drab life as an earthbound high-school student. What neither Bruce nor the other three members of the Robinson family could foresee was that within two weeks they'd be the world's leading experts on life upon the planet Venus.

To more experienced interplanetary travelers than the Robinsons, the actions of the crew of the gleaming Moon-bound space ship, AURORA, would have seemed suspicious. But the crew's interest in the mysterious government cargo, stowed in the ship's hold, did not cause the unsuspecting family any serious concern. Not until the captain and his mate abandoned the crippled AURORA, as she lurched through the Venusian mists to a certain crash landing, did the Robinsons awake to their peril.

Philip Latham has written a vivid and detailed novel charged with mystery and suspense about an average American family stranded on the weird and unexplored planet of Venus. Unsure of the planet's oxygen supply, tortured by ultra-sonic waves emitted by man-size batlike creatures, faced by carnivorous plants, the Robinsons are the focal point of a novel unsurpassed in the science fiction field for its frightening and powerful reality.

In an electrifying climax, solutions to strange and forbidding paradoxes top a tale of courage and unassuming bravery.

Synopsis for ISLANDS IN THE SKY by Arthur C. Clarke

When young Roy Malcolm won the Aviation Quiz Contest, the sponsor, World Airways, never dreamed he could legally claim a trip to the Inner Space Station as his prize. Set in the middle of the twenty-first century, this is an amazing yarn about a teen-ager's adventures and conflicts five hundred miles up on a strange, artificial outpost that circles our planet.

What promised to be merely a sightseeing jaunt into space soon shaped up into the most thrilling weeks in Roy's life. For shortly after his arrival at the outpost a mysterious and untalkative spaceship "anchored" ten miles off the station - and its suspicious behavior fitted in perfectly with the space crew's ideas on interplanetary crime. The surprising outcome of this uninvited visit, a race-for-life mission aboard a long-abandoned ship, a weird mishap that necessitates a trip around the moon spark this story with thrills and suspense.

Bristling with excitement, this is a tale that can't be matched in science fiction, for the author, Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, knows how to translate his vast knowledge of the universe into an ingenious novel. Told by an acclaimed expert in the field, ISLANDS IN THE SKY is unique not only as entertainment but as the most lucid, most accurate picture of man's proposed conquest of space.

Synopsis for THE LOST PLANET by Paul Dallas

With a shout of "Rockets a-a-away!" three young Earthmen send the untested XL-35 rocket ship screaming into space toward the lost planet of Poseida. Space doctor Bill Hudson and two friends have courageously taken off on a forbidden flight in their eagerness to help prevent a catastrophic war between Earth and Poseida.

On an earlier visit to the lost planet to do medical research, Dr. Hudson had learned to respect the intelligent but octopus-like Poseidans and had developed a lasting friendship with Kutt, the Leader's son.

When the bond of good will between the two worlds reaches the breaking point, Bill devises a startling plan to outwit the small group of unscrupulous men from both planets who are behind the monstrous scheme to wreck peaceful relations. In carrying out his counterplot aided by Lt. Eddie Watkins and Courier Griff Hughes of Planet Earth Forces, Bill rights the universe in a truly dramatic manner.

Here is a tale full of intrigue, suspense and deeds of daring spacemen. It explores the realms of medicine and science in outer space and reveals some fascinating probabilities. More than this, however, the story conveys to the reader an underlying theme intended to promote wisdom, fellowship and friendship among worlds and their peoples.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Synopsis for MAROONED ON MARS by Lester Del Rey

Chuck Svenson was a citizen of the Moon - and proud of it! To him, Earth, with its heavy atmosphere, even though it was the "mother" planet, was not the best place in the universe to live. As he rocketed back home from a blast off a point high in the Andes, he anxiously looked forward to the reception he'd receive at Moon City. For he was the only citizen from Earth's satellite to be selected by the United Nations' interplanetary commission as a crew member for the first ship to attempt a flight from Moon to Mars.

How Chuck learned that his orders had been changed, that he was to be replaced by an earthling, started a chain of dramatic and thrilling events that ended in the weird and torturous catacombs of Mars. For the spunky teen-ager would not be cheated of the universe's greatest adventure! When the Mars-bound ship rose on a pillar of flame above the desolate lunar landscape, it carried a stowaway in its hold. What Chuck's extra weight meant to the carefully figured fuel supply, the ship's crash landing on a "lifeless" planet, the disappearance of vitally needed tools from the vicinity of the stricken ship - fill these pages with suspense and mystery.

A story of bizarre adventure, MAROONED ON MARS is also the tense personal drama of a young man who shoulders the responsibility for stranding his shipmates. In a breath-taking climax, near the ruins of a long-lost civilization that suddenly comes alive with rodent-like Martians, Chuck proves the courage and bravery of one young "citizen of the Moon!"

Synopsis for MISSING MEN OF SATURN by Philip Latham

"We Go Anywhere" was the legend scrawled on the battered hull of the ALBATROSS, one of the worst old tubs in space. To Dale Sutton, the biggest man on campus at the Space Academy, it was a slap in the face to be ordered to such a crate. But his biggest shock came when orders set the ALBATROSS and its two companion ships on a course that let straight to the dreaded planet Saturn. No one had ever come back from Saturn, yet everyone knew the story of Captain Dearborn who had led the first and only expedition to the ringed planet a century earlier. His diary was the record of a steadily losing battle against the unknown as one by one, the little party had vanished.

Now, a hundred years later, the superstitious crew of the ALBATROSS found it impossible to rid themselves of the feeling that the same catastrophe that had wiped out the previous expedition would strike again. They had hardly been settled a day in Dearborn's old underground quarters on Titan, Saturn's largest satellite, when their gnawing fears began to materialize. First, the loss of all their guns when the lights suddenly and inexplicably faded, then the disappearance of the first man! But greater and more deadly horrors were yet to come: panicky moments of groping though ghastly underground caves, the appearance of a face bearing the same twisted features of the illustrious Captain Dearborn, a collision that sends Titan up in a blaze of destruction, and the final landing on Saturn, a planet heaving with volcanos and covered with streams of molten lava.

Philip Latham's portrayal of life on a planet about whose conditions few have ventured a guess is a tale guaranteed to make the reader as numb with terror as the men the author writes about.

Synopsis for MISSION TO THE MOON by Lester Del Rey

Jim Stanley, who had helped to build the first space station, was thrilled to return to it as a member of the crew selected to erect the ships which would fulfil Man's age-long dream to reach the Moon. A total effort was being made to surpass the progress achieved in outer space by an enemy Combine. It was believed that if this foreign group scored the initial landing and gained control of the cold planet, the world would be threatened.

The desperate effort to forge ahead of the Combine suddenly turns into a race against death when a young, space-happy boy takes off alone for the Moon in an adequate ship. Although hampered by accidents, false rumors, and conflicts on Earth below, the crew works with frantic haste and grim determination to get the ships underway and to the boy in time. Jim Stanley, as mechanic and pilot, contributes a major share in the task of construction and on the tense rescue journey.

Here is a gripping account of pioneers in space by one of science fiction's best known and most skilful writers. Jim Stanley's adventures on the first flight to the Moon make a lusty and exciting tale for all who love to envision Man's ultimate conquest of space.

Synopsis for MISTS OF DAWN by Chad Oliver

"It would be sheer and utter folly to attempt to journey into a time that we knew nothing about." These were Mark's uncle's words a few minutes before the explosion that threw Mark against the controls of a space-time machine - hurling him back to 50,000 B.C. Victim of this twist of events, Mark is trapped in the terrifying days of the dawn of man, destined to play out the deadly game of fight for survival across the plains of the Ice Age.

Stepping out into a world old beyond comprehension, Mark suddenly finds himself stalked by monstrous half-men - the hideous Neanderthals - in a desperate chase that mounts to nightmare proportions. Hopelessly cut off from his only means of escape, Mark stumbles upon one of the most remarkable cultures in all the fantastic history of mankind - the Cro-Magnon. Here among giant warriors, in this faraway corner of history, he finds refuge and friendship - and a glimmer of hope for return to a home that is fifty-two thousand years away!

Brimming with details of thunderous wars between man and mammoth, crammed with vivid descriptions of the Neanderthals who prowled the plains in wicked packs, this tale charges toward a spectacular climax. Unforgettable in its evocation of an incredible world, MISTS OF DAWN is told with the force and reality that only a writer of remarkable skill and an anthropologist of rare wisdom, such as Chad Oliver, could give it.

Synopsis for THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET by Kenneth Wright

When a planet, moving faster than Earth, entered the Solar System out beyond Pluto, the reporters, for want of a better name, termed it "Planet X." "Planet X, that astronomical curiosity," became, in a few short weeks, an object of stark terror to the billions of men scattered on the planets around our Sun, from blazing Mercury to frigid Pluto.

To Bob Griffith's father, Commander of the Ninth Wing of the Solar Federation's Space Navy, fell the task of investigating the strange visitor whose black ships moved through space without rocket exhaust, and whose weapons literally melted spaceships out of the heavens.

As his father's aid, aboard the gleaming LANCE OF DEIMOS that led the reconnaissance fleet, Bob watched in horror the first incident that would start a war which the Solar Federation "could not win."

This gripping tale that rockets from Neptune's tiny moon of Outpost, base of the Federation's Navy, to the orbit of an Earth threatened with destruction, features a young space cadet and his father, who, while preparing for war, desperately search for peace. How Bob Griffith finds himself a captive on the mysterious planet, Thule; details of life on a world that has learned how to overcome the forces of gravity and momentum; the discussions that rage over the acceptance of a "wandering planet" into the Solar alliance come alive in a book that vividly creates a troubled era in a fascinating universe of the future!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Synopsis for MYSTERY OF THE THIRD MINE by Robert W. Lowndes

One of the most fascinating areas in the solar system - the Asteroid Belt - gives this tale of mystery, intrigue and excitement a unique background. In this "orbit of danger," where rugged space frontiersmen risked their necks in a sea of swirling rock, teen-age Peter Clay and his father were faced with the possibility of having their small claim to Asteroid mining rights wiped out.

In the shaky system of justice that had grown up between Mars and Jupiter to protect the individual miner, the Ama (Asteroid Miners' Association) played an important part. It policed the Belt, spotted claim jumpers and was expectied to aid any individual unlucky enough to get lost or disabled. When events led the Clays to suspect the Ama of invalidating claims for criminal purposes, they could only look to themselves and the sketchy Martian-sponsored government for help.

From the moment the Clays heard a miner signaling for help from a tiny asteroid until they, with a group of honest men, band together to protect their claim from the Ama's marauding ships, action and suspense color every page of this unusual story. How Peter Clay unraveled a maze of false clues; his narrow brush with desperate men who had a mining empire within their grasp; the details of life on the Asteroid frontier create, in MYSTERY OF THE THIRD MINE, a vivid world of drama and danger unique in the annals of science fiction.

Synopsis for PLANET OF LIGHT by Raymond F. Jones

Ron Barron never expectied to see Clonar again. Clonar, the boy who alone had survived the crash of an interstllar saucer-ship near Ron's home, had been rescued by his people and returned to Rorla, a planet in the Great Galaxy of Andromeda, almost a million light-years from Earth. When he left, he assured Ron that communication between Rorla and Earth would be impossible. Yet only a year later, Ron listened with growing excitement to Clonar's voice coming over the interstellar communication system, inviting Ron and his family to journey to Rorla to attend a conference of the Galactic Federation.

None of the Barrons could have known that Clonar's invitation was violently opposed by the Rorlans, nor that on Rorla was an unknown enemy who resented their coming - a man who saw Earth's destruction as a necessity. And it was a bitter coincidence that that man should be in charge of the colony of delegates. As representatives of a planet whose civilization was considered dangerous and too inferior for membership in the Federation, the Barrons found themselves at the mercy of suspicious and hostile strangers bent on proving Earth's civilization unsalvageable. Not until Ron's father becomes an innocent party to an assassination plot, do they fully realize to what extent the Rorlans will carry their deception.

Climaxed by a shocking courtroom scene in which Ron stands trial for Earth, this sequel to Raymond Jones's SON OF THE STARS is an intricately plotted tale of what could happen if earth were to come face to face with long-established civilizations of Outer Space.

Synopsis for ROCKET TO LUNA by Richard Marsten

When the first moon-bound rocket blasted off from the Earth's space station in 1983, it was as ready for every eventuality as scientists and engineers could make it. But neither the crew nor the authorities were prepared for the last-minute switch in the ship's complement that upset carefully planned replacement schedules. Instead of a highly trained Air Force Academy graduate as the fifth man in the pioneering crew, the inaugural rocket headed into space with teen-age Ted Baker, an Academy senior.

Around a tragic misunderstanding, Richard Marsten has traced a tale of high excitement from the Earth's gleaming satellite space station to the ragged surface of a hostile Moon. His story of how a teen-ager crash lands a crippled ship on the Moon, far from its base of supplies, is not only an unexcelled description of space flight but a tense personal drama of a young man who proves his worth to a hostile crew.

A thousand-mile trek on foot across the face of the Moon, the discovery of organic matter on the planet's airless surface, the slow depletion of irreplaceable supplies, the effect of the Sun on a planet that lacks atmosphere, stud this story of a strained relationship between stranded crew members with fascinating detail. Climaxed with a rocket blastoff that vindicates the judgment of one young earthling, ROCKET TO LUNA is as gripping a flight into space and the future as any contemporary author has written.

Synopsis for THE SECRET OF THE MARTIAN MOONS by Donald A. Wollheim

Back to Mars! At long last - after four years of interplanetary study on Earth - Nelson Parr stepped aboard the Mars-bound space liner that was to carry him to his home planet. By the year 2120, Earth had established a colony on Mars and had explored the land - originally inhabited by Martians, a weird yet intelligent people...a vanished race. But when Nelse discovered the trhee-fingered handprint in his cabin, he couldn't help but wonder whether the intruder might have been Martian. Could it be that the Martians still lived?

The teen-ager reached Mars to hear disheartening news - the inhabitants of the red planet were ordered to return to Earth. But Nelse, his father and four other scientists disobeyed. They rocketed to Phobos, a satellite of Mars, where they set up their equipment to observe phenomena of the red planet...unaware that they, too, were being observed! When, through the telescope, they sighted strange events, it was decided that Nelse and a companion should take up a post on the other satellite, Deimos.

"Crash-landing" into a realm of space-tense adventure, Nelse - his companion murdered by outer-world beings - came to grips with the mysterious forces of space, alone. Capture, escape and capture follow one another in a dizzying spiral of desperate events to this book's hair-raising climax.

Synopsis for SECRET OF THE NINTH PLANET by Donald A. Wollheim

On the day that the theft of the solar system's light begins, Burl Denning is with an archaeological expedition in the Andes, only a few miles from the source of the "disturbance." Within hours the United States Air Force has ordered the expedition to investigate the strange phenomenon that is causing a dimness and a drop in temperature throughout the world.

This is the start of a fantastic adventure that eventually takes Burl, a high-school senior, on the first circumnavigation of the solar system. On planet after planet, he and the crew of the Magellan, a gleaming, powerful, and virtually untested spaceship, discover the weird trappings of a brilliantly-designed Sun-tap station. Each planetfall brings unexpected hazards, as the ship draws closer and closer to solving the mystery of the theft.

The author has based his story on science fact. Researchers are actually at work on the possibilities of just such a circumnavigation, and on another surprising theory brought out in this book.

Donald Wollheim, an established science fiction writer, is the author of THE SECRET OF SATURN'S RINGS and THE SECRET OF THE MARTIAN MOONS.

Synopsis for SON OF THE STARS by Raymond F. Jones

Taken from the cover flap of the novel SON OF THE STARS by Raymond F. Jones:

"This person is not even human. It's impossible for me to diagnose the injury or illness of such a structure as his!" With these words and a worried frown, Doc Smithers sums up the case of the strange creature that lay on Ron Barron's bed. For the boy, Clonar, is like nothing earth's medical books have ever cataloged. And the day Ron Barron found him, staggering away from the wrecked metal disk that lay hidden near Longview, is one that put earth's existence in jeopardy!

In SON OF THE STARS, Raymond Jones has written of a forthright friendship between a young castaway from space and his earthly counterpart. How a cold and suspicious military, recognizing Clonar only as an alien from an astonishingly advanced civilization, turns friendship into treachery that threatens earth's existence, makes this an electrifying story with a thought-provoking theme. In scenes uncomfortably vivid, you'll meet soldiers and citizens of a typical American city; people like calculating General Gillispie and frightened Mrs. Barron, whose reactions to an "interplanetary" situation bring the world to the brink of destruction.

Clonar's words, "They're coming to destroy your world!" refer to a planet whose wars and strife might shortly spread to other worlds. Climaxed with a scene of power and drama unmatched in science fiction, SON OF THE STARS is a breath-taking book you won't put down until the very last page - and won't be able to forget until men reach the stars and learn for themselves!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Synopsis for SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEPS by Bryce Walton

Taken from the cover flap of the novel SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEPS by Bryce Walton:

It might not have been so hard to sell Jon West on the Deeps - if he hadn't had his heart set on the stars. Bitter disappointment over washing out of space school prompted his rash decision to join the Deepsmen who struggled to conquer Earth's last frontier and the threats it held for the North American continent.

Based on the theory that man may someday inhabit the vast ocean floors, this tale is a speculative journey into that fantastic realm. Scenes in fabulous undersea cities, tense battles between men and colossal sea monsters, a running feud between Jon and a belligerent civilian youth - all combine to make this an exciting drama in the best science fiction tradition.

Not until rumors begin about the Mindanao Trench and the mysterious Project called "X" - a project to save a continent - does Jon snap out of his reluctant attidude toward the Deeps and realize the full magnitude of a mission more dangerous than any on Earth or in space. Tidal waves, the descent to perpetual blackness seven miles under the sea, disasters that struck with lightning speed breed action that drives Jon and his fellow Deepsmen toward a powerful climax.

Bryce Walton has written in SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEPS a chilling tale of the terrors and mysteries of the seas that will make readers long to live to see the day when man may invade Earth's most beautiful and most dangerous realm - the indomitable sea.

Synopsis for SPACEMEN, GO HOME by Milton Lesser

Taken from the cover flap of the novel SPACEMEN, GO HOME by Milton Lesser:

When the moonship "Tycho III" comes into the landing pit at the New Mexico Spaceport, Andy Marlow has his first look in more than a year at the planet Earth. Instead of proud launching gantries and gleaming ships, he sees empty firing pits and the broken hulks of a few old spacetubs. Earth's brief two hundred years in space is now past history; man has been exiled for a violation of inter-galactic law.

A short time after landing, Andy and his best friend despondently accept a mysterious job offer that takes them to a secret spaceport deep in the jungles of Central America. Here a ruthless ex-space captain, Reed Ballinger, plans to blast his way back into the galaxy.

Andy, torn between loyalty to his friend and a growing awareness that Ballinger's way means war, finally flees the spaceport. He joins Project Nobel, a brilliant and dangerous scheme to thwart Ballinger and to convince the Star Brain, the machine that rules the galaxy, that Earth deserves to regain its place in space.

Milton Lesser skillfully evokes the world of tomorrow in a dramatic story certain to appeal to all science fiction enthusiasts.

Synopsis for STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS by Milton Lesser

Taken from the cover flap of the novel STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS by Milton Lesser:

En route to the Center of the Galaxy for the Interstellar Olympic Games, the HELLAS, carrying Earth's team, intercepts a mysterious space ship, apparently derelict. Steve Frazer, champion spacesuit racer, volunteers to investigate.

Once aboard, he discovers astonishing evidence of an intelligent nonhuman race that can speak by telepathy and disappear at will - a race superior in some ways to human beings. Stunned, Steve returns to the HELLAS to find that no one believes his startling story.

His attempts to prove that he is telling the truth plunge Steve quickly into the midst of interstellar conflict and intrigue. Disqualified from the Games on a trumped-up charge, Steve soon realizes that someone very powerful thinks he knows too much.

Tightly written and intensely dramatic, the story sweeps to the outermost reaches of the galaxy. Its picture of the Games with their brilliant color and keen competition is entirely new to the pages of science fiction.

A skillful combination of fact and fantasy, STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS is a top-notch novel.

Synopsis for THE STAR SEEKERS by Milton Lesser

Taken from the cover flap of the novel THE STAR SEEKERS by Milton Lesser:

When man tackles the first really long journey - across twenty-six trillion miles of uncharted space - to the nearest star, it will take him two hundred years to complete the flight. Not until the sixth generation nears maturity will the starship reach its destination. Around this fascinating theme, Milton Lesser has woven a tale of the first starship's final days of flight. He pictures the ship as a hollowed-out meteorite composed of four concentric circles - a world in which civilization has deteriorated and superstition risen to a high pitch, making those within unaware of the fact that they are traveling through space or that their journey is destined to end.

All Mikal knew when he embarked on the "Journey of the Four Circles" was that every eighteen-year-old from Astrosphere, the outermost circle, must visit each of the other circles if he hoped to become an Enginer. But before he completed his trip, he unearthed startling truths that threw the four circles into a state of chaos. Gradually Mikal discovered that unless the people of the four circles took immediate action the ship was doomed to crash. Mikal's desperate efforts to unite the four circles in order to save their world is a story of rising tension and clashing interests.

Not only is this a tale of man's triumph over the barriers of space, but a fabulously exciting epic of civilization's victory over superstition and complacency. With subtle satire the author has written one of the most realistic and unforgettable stories ever to appear in the science fiction field.

Synopsis for TROUBLE ON TITAN by Alan E. Nourse

Taken from the cover flap of the novel TROUBLE ON TITAN by Alan E. Nourse:

When Tuck Benedict and David Torm faced each other on the bleak and frigid face of Titan, Saturn's sixth moon, they represented, literally, the opposite ends of the universe. For in the twenty-second century, Tuck represented the rich and easy civilization of an Earth that had grown luxurious by utilizing solar energy through a catalytic mineral produced in Titan's grim mines.

David Torm, whose ancestors had been exiled to Titan centuries before, stood for the hardened Titan colonists who huddled beneath their airtight dome to mine the metal responsible for Earth's prosperity. Meeting on the eve on an open revolt by the Titan miners against Earth's authority, these two teen-agers found grounds for friendship that their bickering fathers could never see.

This story of why the miners hated Earthlings, how they planned to ruin Earth and escape from the solar system gives this book its thrilling plot. The search for their means of escape from Titan's airless surface made by Tuck and David is a thrill-a-minute adventure interspersed with desperate attempts to prevent armed revolt and makes TROUBLE ON TITAN an unusual and thought-provoking tale of tomorrow.

Synopsis for VANDALS OF THE VOID by Jack Vance

Taken from the cover flap of the novel VANDALS OF THE VOID by Jack Vance:

The only thing teen-age Dick Murdock knew about space piracy was what he read in the papers - until he flew from Venus to join his father at the Moon's observatory. During that flight he saw a sample of what pirates could do - even in 1985. For along the trans-space orbits that connected Mother Earth with its colonies on Mars and Venus hung the lifeless hulk of a spaceship blasted and looted by interplanetary bandits.

Around this theme Jack Vance weaves a thrillingly realistic novel that features a quick-witted and courageous teen-ager. Dick Murdock was fascinated by the observatory that his father headed, but he was more interested in the mysterious actions of the men who worked there. His prospecting trips on the Moon aboard a homemade raft with Crazy Sam, the aged, space-happy caretaker of the abandoned Security Station; Dick's slow realization that accidents at the observatory are not always accidents, and his stealthy investigation of what goes on under the surface of the Moon builds to a taut and breath-taking climax that explodes when U N interplanetary authorities appear on the scene.

A tale of mystery and excitement; a convincing narrative of personal daring and courage against limitless odds, VANDALS OF THE VOID will grip any reader's attention till the last battle fires die above the frightenend earth colony on the planet Venus!

Synopsis for VAULT OF THE AGES by Poul Anderson

Taken from the cover flap of the novel VAULT OF THE AGES by Poul Anderson:

Five hundred years after the "Doom" that destroyed present-day civilization and sent nations to their graves with its "glowing death," the world is pictured as a barbaric society composed of primitive tribes that shunned all things connected with the twentieth century.

This is the story of sixteen-year-old Carl who set out to break down the ignorant taboos that were destroying a priceless heritage and crushing all hope for the future of humanity.

When the fierce Lann army thundered down from the north to conquer the peace-loving Dalesmen, Carl entered the forbidden City to seek out the wisdom and knowledge that would save his people and rebuild the ancient glories of man. Accused of consorting with witches, threatenened with penalty of death for ignoring the taboo on old-world works and magic, Carl defied his own tribal seer to raise the ban on the time vault which held salvation for a dying civilization. How he fought the invading enemy for life itself in a series of violent clashes, the slow discovery of what twentieth-century civilazation had accomplished makes this book an intriquing one.

With action and suspense and the fascination of science fiction speculation, this tale of rebellion and battle fury is one that will keep readers breathless to the very last page.

Synopsis for THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL by Raymond F. Jones

Taken from the cover flap of the novel THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL by Raymond F. Jones:

Mayfield was the typical college town. Nothing too unusual ever happened there until a mysterious comet was suddenly observed by the scientists on College Hill.

And then one day the modified engine on Ken Maddox's car began overheating mysteriously. By morning it didn't run at all.

Art's Garage, local headquarters for hot-rodders, was soon so full of cars that wouldn't run, that Ken's science club began working in the garage after school. It didn't take long for the club to discover that all the moving parts on these stalled cars had fused together. Soon all machinery had stopped in Mayfield. There was no longer any light or power anywhere. This mysterious creeping paralysis was spreading.

The copper-yellow glow of the comet seemed to have brought the whole world to a grinding halt. Airplanes, trains, generators and heavy machinery were immobilized. Finally man was left with only a few primitive tools and communication became possible only by means of amateur radio. In the resulting chaos parts of Mayfield were burned and looted by hunger-crazed mobs that stole and killed as they advanced.

Here is science fiction at its thrilling best. A startling and thought-provoking book that shows how human nature might react to catastrophe.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Synopsis for the anthology, THE YEAR AFTER TOMORROW edited by Lester Del Rey, Cecile Matschat, and Carl Carmer

Taken from the cover flap of the anthology THE YEAR AFTER TOMORROW edited by Lester Del Rey, Cecile Matschat and Carl Carmer:

This book is a special treat for anyone who likes the unique, the odd, the unusual in literature. For the science fiction fan, the stories here represent some of the finest yarns published by ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION and the AMERICAN BOY - two magazines known for their early recognition of this popular genre. For the casual reader, these are stories fresh and new in content and appeal.

THE LUCK OF IGNATZ, by that famous science fiction master, Lester Del Rey, will introduce you to a Venusian "zloaht" - a small but strange little beast who keeps his master and himself in hot water. In THE MASTER MINDS OF MARS, Carl Claudy introduces you to the mighty but inhuman intellect that controls the mysterious red planet. You'll enjoy and be intrigued by the wry twist of humor in Peter van Dresser's BY VIRTUE OF CIRCUMFERENCE. And in Robert Moore Williams' THE RED DEATH OF MARS you'll find a horrifying mystery that springs from deadly red jewels and nearly wipes out the crew of the spaceship Kepler.

THE LAND OF NO SHADOW, PLUM DUFF, KINDNESS, TONGUE OF BEAST and ROCKET TO THE SUN complete the roster of thrillers that make up this "science fiction special." Whether you like to travel into the third dimension; rocket into the unexplored vastness of space or help solve killings that "just couldn't happen" you'll enjoy every page of THE YEAR AFTER TOMORROW.

Synopsis for STEP TO THE STARS by Lester Del Rey

Taken from the cover flap of the novel STEP TO THE STARS by Lester Del Rey:

"Only a decade away!" Yes, according to the well-known author of STEP TO THE STARS, this remarkable age that has produced rocket ships, guided missiles and hydrogen bombs will have a space station circling the Earth within the next ten years. World domination will be in the hands of the country that constructs it, and man will know, once and for all, whether he is free or slave.

Such thoughts were far from Jim Stanley's mind when he was investigated by the FBI and later subjected to strange and rigorous tests. It wasn't until he satisfied the stiff requirements that he learned the United States was in the space station race for keeps and that he could count himself among the handful of men destined to breach the barriers of space in operation "Big Shush."

Fascinating details of the construction and operation of the station are part and parcel of this tense and dramatic story. Treacherous sabotage by a dangerous foreign spy; Jim's almost fatal fall into the "empty, hungry depths of space"; and a savage fire which threatened the existence of the station add to the rising tide of excitement. Tying these explosive events together is a narrative that skillfully portrays the reaction of men to new and staggering experiences.

Unequaled in its impact, STEP TO THE STARS is an adventure too probable to ignore. Whether you read it as a tale of the future or a forceful case for world co-operation, you can't help but feel that here indeed is the "prelude to space."

Synopsis for MOON OF MUTINY by Lester Del Rey

Taken from the cover flap of the novel MOON OF MUTINY by Lester Del Rey:

Set in the early days of the moon's colonization, this is the exciting story of Fred Halpern's efforts to prove himself worthy of the title Spaceman. Fred, a first-rate but impetuous pilot, was washed out of the Goddard Space Academy for disobeying orders. But he is lucky enough to get one more chance at a career in space when he is asked to join the third expedition to the moon. With the group of explorers, Fred makes his way across the dangerous and desolate lunar terrain, territory which has never been charted before. The men, determined to find some form of life on the moon, are hampered at every turn by breakdowns and bad luck.

Oddly enough, the accidents only seem to happen when Fred is around, and finally the resentful members of the expedition sign a petition requesting he be dismissed. The story reaches a harrowing climax when a spaceship mysteriously crashes, and Fred is driven to mutiny in an effort to save the crew.

In his new novel, Lester Del Rey combines a lively story with the detailed scientific background that makes for superior science fiction.

Synopsis for ROCKETS TO NOWHERE by Philip St. John

Taken from the cover flap of the novel ROCKETS TO NOWHERE by Philip St. John:

Young Danny Cross couldn't understand the telegram from the Security Commission ordering him home from college. He wondered whether it had to do with the reported "death" of one of America's leading atomic scientists in a rocket explosion over White Sands. He was surprised to find that it was only another thorough security check and a change of security card - the vital "open sesame" to anyone living in the Alamogordo, New Mexico, of 1981.

But Danny noticed a change in the atmosphere at the proving grounds and in the communities where its scientists and technicians lived. As more and more atomic specialists disappeared in "rocket explosions" miles above Earth - explosions that failed to scatter debris under the sites of the accidents - the former camaraderie was replaced by an air of suspicion and foreboding.

The disappearance of Danny's cousin, "Jet", an ace rocket pilot, put the worried teen-ager onto a line of reasoning concerning the continuing "explosions" too close to the truth to be ignored: that a highly skilled scientific group had planned, constructed and was operating a space station that circled the Earth IN SECRET! He suspected that even his mother and father planned to desert Earth's laboratories for an extra-terrestrial life. The questions of "where did they go?" and "how did they get there?" as answered here make this a story of mounting suspense and tangled intrigue that few science fiction yarns can match.

Synopsis for THE WORLD AT BAY by Paul Capon

Taken from the cover flap of the novel THE WORLD AT BAY by Paul Capon:

No one believed Professor Elrick of the London Radar Research Laboratory when he announced in 1977 that Earth was in imminent danger of attack. Ever since his discovery of the dark star, Nero, the Professor and his young assistant, Jim Shannon, had studied the planet and its satellites through the radaroscope with a growing sense of impending doom. There seemed to be positive proof that the third planet, Poppea, had a civilization which was technologically far more advanced than Earth's!

The grim truth of the Professor's warning came upon an unprepared world with a frightful concussion that seemed to rock the planet in its orbit. The space fleet from Poppea had hit Earth's atmosphere! When the English government realized the dire circumstances, the Home Guard was called out, the ack-ack guns manned and plans drawn up for London's evacuation. But the measures that saved the heroic island during World War II proved ineffective against the grotesque Poppeans. Gray-skinned, horny-limbed, they landed in impregnable space ships, releasing bacteria-laden white powder.

His advance knowledge saved Jim Shannon and his associates from the sleep-inducing drug that blanketed Britain, and they lived to see the climax of man's battle with a superior civilization. How they met the Poppean leader, flew with him to the Arctic and watched with relief the slow withdrawal of the deadly Poppean grip make reading THE WORLD AT BAY a supremely exciting experience.

Synopsis for ROCKET JOCKEY by Philip St. John

Taken from the cover flap of the novel ROCKET JOCKEY by Philip St. John:

From the moment Jerry Blaine blasted off from Earth to compete in the Armstrong Classics, famed throughout the Solar System, his space ship, the LAST HOPE, was obviously jinxed. Was it just bad luck? Or were the villainous Martians working against him, laying a trap for him at every turn? It was 2170 and the year of the eighteenth Armstrong Classic, the interplanetary rocket race that covered immense orbits and touched on every planet inhabited by man. On its outcome hung the prestige of each rival world. Mars had won the three previous Classics by what Earth considered unfair trickery, and the saying went that "only a fool would enter such a race, and only a genius or a Martian could win." But Jerry was neither a fool, a genuis, nor a Martian; he was only a boy of seventeen who never thought of becoming a rocket-race jockey until he accidentally found he was one!

Jerry's courage and daring as he fights his way through space, testing the very fuel that had killed his father; his clashes with wily Martians who would stop at nothing to gain first place for the glory of Mars; his near crash-landings' his terrifying experiences on odd, airless worlds combine to create a yarn that will keep readers spellbound from start to finish. Thrilling in its predictions of a world to come, vivid in its descriptions of uncharted space, ROCKET JOCKEY has a flavor of authenticity that only time can dispute.

Synopsis for BATTLE ON MERCURY by Erik Van Lhin

Taken from the cover flap of the novel BATTLE ON MERCURY by Erik Van Lhin:

When sun storms periodically swept Mercury with waves of solar fire, radiation and electricity, it was usual for the authorities to order evacuation of the small mining communities on the side of the planet that faced the Sun. But as time for the most violent solar eruption known to earthlings approached, no rescue rocket ship appeared outside the Sigma dome that housed Dick Rogers and his family.

Around one of the universe's most awesome events - sun spots - Erik Van Lhin has written a tale of rugged courage and heroism in the face of impending doom. Young Dick Rogers wasn't too well liked by the townspeople. He insisted on keeping an erratic "wispy" - the strange form of Mercury life that took the shape of an electrically charged ball of flame - as a friend. And though Dick's favorite "wispy", Johnny Quicksilver, could usually be trusted, the mining engineers were never sure whether it was he who periodically blew out fuses and upset delicate electrical circuits.

Against this background, the story of Dick Rogers' odyssey through Mercury's bleak and blazing landscape takes on desperate urgency. How he, an ancient robot and the Mercury veteran "Hotside Charlie" withstand Mercury's 800 degree temperatures, escape rivers of molten lead, and fight the planet's horrifying silicon beasts, is in the best science fiction tradition.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Synopsis for THE SECRET OF SATURN'S RINGS by Donald Wollheim

Taken from the cover flap of the novel THE SECRET OF SATURN'S RINGS by Donald Wollheim:

Only one scientist realized the danger that threatened Earth when the Terraluna Corporation started deep-core mining operations on the moon. Dr. Emanuel Rhodes and his teen-age son, Bruce, saw that continued blasting at the moon's core would weaken the satellite's brittle structure to the extent that the small planet's breakup would be assured. The subsequent bombardment of Earth by meteorites would put an end to man!

But Terraluna's profit-hungry officials would not understand the scientist's conclusions. It was for the sake of humanity that Dr. Rhodes and his son started for Saturn's rings to prove to mankind that what had once been a hospitable and prosperous planet was now nothing more than a dangerous phenomenon.

Breath-takingly realistic in detail, this story of the Rhodes' flight into outer space explodes with action, intrigue and suspense. Terraluna spies conspired to wreck their ship. Outposts of the huge corporation fired on the courageous little crew. And in the whirling maelstrom of rock that make up Saturn's rings, danger and disaster lay in anxious wait. How Bruce outwitted the hostile elements to save his father, stranded helplessly on a bit of airless rock, leads to a surprise climax when the two discover ancient evidence of intelligent creatures. The relationship of their discovery to the Earth and its satellite presents a fascinating theory and space yarn that you won't put down until the very last page.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Synopsis for DANGER: DINOSAURS! by Richard Marsten aka Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain

Taken from the cover flap of the novel DANGER: DINOSAURS! by Richard Marsten aka Evan Hunter, Ed McBain:

Owen Spencer would never have agreed to lead the time-slip expedition back to the Jurassic period - the Age of Reptiles - had he foreseen the terrifying experiences in store for the small group making the expedition. Chartering the expedition was Dirk Masterson, a treacherous big-game hunter, whose alleged purpose was to take pictures of the enormous reptiles that roamed Jurassic times. Even when Masterson smashed the jeep into the force field, destroying the only protection that stood between the group and the lumbering beasts, Owen could not be sure it was an accident.

Richard Marsten has written a fast-moving tale of people stranded on earth in its infancy and forced to pit their ingenuity and strength against mammoth reptiles. It might not have been so bad if Masterson, with his mania for big-game hunting, had not continued to shoot at every reptile he spotted. But his madman tactics repeatedly aroused the fury of the hideous dinosaurs, whose attacks drove them farther and farther away from the relay area that would slip them back to the present when the week was up.

The weird circumstances that made Owen's brother, Chuck, take over the leadership of the expedition and the even stranger adjustment of the time stream that left the party with the inexplicable feeling that somebody was missing makes Danger: Dinosaurs! an unusual and fascinating treatment of the ever-provacative time theme. The desperate search for the relay area, interrupted by fierce fights with the flesh-eating monsters, and an earthquake that creates a chaos of stampeding animals give this story action that is as alien as any distant planet.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Synopsis for THE STAR CONQUERORS by Ben Bova

Taken from the cover flap of the novel THE STAR CONQUERORS by Ben Bova:

Geoffrey Knowland, brilliant young Star Watch officer, is in command of the Terran Confederation's all-out battle against the mysterious Masters, rulers of the Milky Way galaxy.

For untold millions of years the star clusters in galactic space have been under the Masters' control. Now, in an attempt to save Earth and the Terran Confederation, a desperate counterattack is underway to break the domination of the enemy.

Jeff knows that the Terrans fought and lost another interstellar war aginst an ancient enemy known only as the Others. The Terrans were crushed, their civilization wiped out, and Jeff fears the Masters are the Others, returned to conquer man again.

This unusual story takes you deep into the galaxy, far beyond our solar system, to worlds seldom explored by science fiction writers. Jeff and his friend Alan Bakerman, an escapee from life under the Masters, travel the vast distances of space and touch upon the homeworlds of many races, both human and nonhuman.

Based on careful astronomical research, THE STAR CONQUERORS is a story played out against an accurate backround of our immense spiral galaxy, a rotating disk of more than a hundred billion stars.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Purpose of this blog

Let's talk about the Winston Science Fiction series of juvenile hardcover scifi books from the 50's and 60's. What is your favorite book? What is your favorite cover? Who is your favorite author?
How many books do you own right now? What was your greatest "find"? Do you have all 36 books? Are you missing some of the covers?
Here's a complete listing of titles and authors
for the WINSTON SCIENCE FICTION SERIES:

THE ANT MEN by Eric North (1955)
cover by Paul Blaisdell

ATTACK FROM ATLANTIS by Lester Del Rey (1953)
cover by Kenneth Fagg

BATTLE ON MERCURY by Erik Van Lhin (1953)
(Lester Del Rey)
cover by Kenneth Fagg

DANGER: DINOSAURS! by Richard Marsten (1953)
(Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain)
cover by Alex Schomburg

EARTHBOUND by Milton Lesser (1952)
cover by Peter Poulton

FIND THE FEATHERED SERPENT by Evan Hunter (1952)
cover by Henry Sharp

FIVE AGAINST VENUS by Philip Latham (1952)
cover by Virgil Finlay

ISLANDS IN THE SKY by Arthur C. Clarke (1952)
cover by Alex Schomburg

THE LOST PLANET by Paul Dallas (1956)
cover by Alex Schomburg

MAROONED ON MARS by Lester Del Rey (1952)
cover by Paul Orban

MISSING MEN OF SATURN by Philip Latham (1953)
cover by Alex Schomburg

MISSION TO THE MOON by Lester Del Rey (1956)
number 2 in the Jim Stanley series
cover by Alex Schomburg

MISTS OF DAWN by Chad Oliver (1952)
cover by Alex Schomburg

MOON OF MUTINY by Lester Del Rey (1961)
number 3 in the Jim Stanley series
cover by Ed Emshwiller

THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET by Kenneth Wright (1953)
(Lester Del Rey)
cover by Alex Schomburg

MYSTERY OF THE THIRD MINE by Robert W. Lowndes (1953)
cover by Kenneth Fagg

PLANET OF LIGHT by Raymond F. Jones (1953)
number 2 in the Clonar series
cover by Alex Schomburg

ROCKET JOCKEY by Philip St. John (1952)
(Lester Del Rey)
cover by Alex Schomburg

ROCKET TO LUNA by Richard Marsten (1953)
(Evan Hunter)
cover by Alex Schomburg

ROCKETS TO NOWHERE by Philip St. John (1954)
(Lester Del Rey)
cover by Alex Schomburg

ROCKETS THROUGH SPACE by Lester Del Rey (1957)
**Special Companion Book**
cover and illustrated by James Heugh

THE SECRET OF THE NINTH PLANET by Donald A. Wollheim (1959)
cover by James Heugh

THE SECRET OF SATURN'S RINGS by Donald A. Wollheim (1954)
cover by Alex Schomburg

SECRET OF THE MARTIAN MOONS by Donald A. Wollheim (1955)
cover by Alex Schomburg

SON OF THE STARS by Raymond F. Jones (1952)
number 1 in the Clonar series
cover by Alex Schomburg

SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEPS by Bryce Walton (1952)
cover by Paul Orban

SPACEMEN, GO HOME by Milton Lesser (1961)
cover by Ed Emshwiller

STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS by Milton Lesser (1960)
cover by Mel Hunter

THE STAR CONQUERORS by Ben Bova (1959)
cover by Mel Hunter

THE STAR SEEKERS by Milton Lesser (1953)
cover by Paul Calle'

STEP TO THE STARS by Lester Del Rey (1954)
number 1 in the Jim Stanley series
cover by Alex Schomburg

TROUBLE ON TITAN by Alan E. Nourse (1954)
cover by Alex Schomburg

VANDALS OF THE VOID by Jack Vance (1953)
cover by Alex Schomburg

VAULT OF THE AGES by Poul Anderson (1952)
cover by Paul Orban

THE WORLD AT BAY by Paul Capon (1954)
cover by Alex Schomburg

THE YEAR AFTER TOMORROW edited by
Lester Del Rey, Carl Carmer & Cecile Matschat (1954)
cover and illustrated by Mel Hunter

THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL by Raymond F. Jones (1958)
cover by James Heugh