Abraham Merritt

One of the most gripping fantasies ever written, The Moon Pool embodies all the romanticism and poetic nostalgia characteristic of A. Merritt's writings. Set on the island of Ponape, full of ruins from ancient civilizations, the novel chronicles the adventures of a party of explorers who discover a previously unknown underground world full of strange peoples and super-scientific wonders. From the depths of this world, the party unwittingly unleashes the Dweller, a monstrous terror that threatens the islands of the South Pacific. Although Merritt did not invent the lost world novel, following in the footsteps of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Burroughs and others, he greatly elaborated upon that tradition. This new edition includes a biography of the author, and an introduction detailing Merritt's many sources and influences, including the occult, mythological, and scientific discourses of his day.

Taki Homosoto, silver haired Chairman of Japan's huge OSO Industries, survived Hiroshima; his family didn't. Homosoto promises revenge against the United States before he dies. His passionate, almost obsessive hatred of everything American finally comes to a head when he acts upon his desires. With unlimited resources, he comes up with the ultimate way to strike back at the enemy. Miles Foster, a brilliant 33 year old mathematician apparently isn't exactly fond of America either. The National Security Agency wanted his skills, but his background and "family" connections kept him from advancing within the intelligence community. His insatiable - borderline psychotic - sex drive balances the intensity of waging war against his own country to the highest bidder. Scott Mason, made his fortune selling high tech toys to the Pentagon. Now as a New York City Times reporter, Mason understands both the good and the evil of technology and discovers pieces of the terrible plot which is designed to destroy the economy of the United States. Tyrone Duncan, a physically huge 50-ish black senior FBI agent who suffered through the Hoover Age indignities, befriends Scott Mason. Tyrone provides the inside government track and confusion from competing agencies to deal with the threats. His altruistic and somewhat pure innate view of the world finally makes him do the right thing.

Prof. John Munro (1849-1930) was the author of Heroes of the Telegraph (1891), The Story of Electricity (1896) and A Trip to Venus (1897). "In plain English, at 4 a. m., a ray of light had been observed on the disc of the planet Mars in or near the "terminator"; that is to say, the zone of twilight separating day from night. The news was doubly interesting to me, because a singular dream of "Sunrise in the Moon" had quickened my imagination as to the wonders of the universe beyond our little globe, and because of a never-to-be-forgotten experience of mine with an aged astronomer several years ago."

"Nothing could be done. The thing was universal and beyond our human knowledge or control. It was death for young and old, for weak and strong, for rich and poor, without hope or possibility of escape." Must Professor George Challenger and friends, barricaded in a room, see Earth die? As globe passes through a belt of poisonous ether, terror sweeps mankind; cities riot; communications cease. Novella.

The Chessmen of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American wrtier Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth of his Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1922. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in November 1922. In this novel Burroughs focuses on a younger member of the family established by John Carter and Dejah Thoris, protagonists of the first three books in the series. The heroine this time is their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, whose hand is sought by the gallant Gahan, Jed (prince) of Gathol. Both Helium and Gathol are prominent Barsoomian city states. Tara meets Prince Gahan of Gathol, and is initially unimpressed, viewing him as something of a popinjay. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom. After landing and fleeing from a pack of ferocious Banths (Martian lions), she is captured by the horrific Kaldanes, who resemble large heads with small, crab-like legs. The Kaldanes have bred a symbiotic race of headless human-like creatures called Rykors, which they can attach themselves to and ride like a horse. The Kaldanes imprison Tara, intending to fatten her up, then eat her. While imprisoned, Tara manages to win over one of the Kaldanes, Ghek, with her lovely singing voice. Gahan, who has fallen in love with Tara, sets out to find her, only to find himself caught up in the same storm, and he falls overboard while attempting to rescue one of his crew. He stumbles upon Bantoom, realm of the Kaldanes, and manages to rescue Tara, and together with Ghek they flee in Tara's crippled flier. Tara doesn't recognize Gahan as the prince she met earlier, as he is worn from his ordeals and no longer dressed in his fancy clothes.

Bert Smallways is the unlikely protagonist, a kind of Edwardian Mod, not interested in a steady career, always looking for a good time, riding his proto-scooter down to Brighton at the weekends. When Bert is accidentally scooped up by a German fleet, on its way to launch a surprise attack on the United States, he finds himself with a front row seat to the greatest war that has ever been – the war in the air! This new war is to be a different sort of war than all the wars that came before it, unprecedented in its ferocity and destructiveness. The art of war has completely changed with the coming of airplanes, which the author very eloquently brings out. „The War in the Air" is a story of the awful devastation following a conflict between two first-class powers with the resources of the air at their command. It is one of the most brilliant and successful of Mr. Wells's studies in futurity.

This classic tale of high adventure from Edgar Rice Burroughs made him into one of the best pulp fantasy writers of the time. His writing introduced many concepts, techniques and plotting which are still used to this day. This of course is the story of John Carter's return to Mars in search of "the incomparable" Dejah Thoris and hopefully save her again from "a fate worse than death." John Carter who is the "greatest swordsman on two planets" lands in the wrong place. He ends up in Mars Heaven, so to speak, which is far from that he soon learns. And the adventure begins.

Around the World in Eighty Days is an adventure novel from Jules Verne. In the story, Phileas Fogg attempts to go around the world in 80 days or less after a bet with his friends at the Reform club. He travels via train, elephant, ship and more in this classic adventure.

The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Anthony Meredith, a scholar in about the year 2600 AD (or 419 B.O.M. - the Brotherhood of Man), annotates the "Everhard Manuscript", an account that chronicles the years from 1912 to 1932 when the great "Iron Heel" oligarchy rose to power in the United States.

It was absolutely impossible. Twenty-five chess masters from the world at large, foregathered in Boston for the annual championships, unanimously declared it impossible, and unanimity on any given point is an unusual mental condition for chess masters. Not one would concede for an instant that it was within the range of human achievement. Some grew red in the face as they argued it, others smiled loftily and were silent; still others dismissed the matter in a word as wholly absurd.

England a legend, Europe a myth, Asia a tale with which to frighten children. That was the world of the 22nd century, where the United States of America was a fortress of civilization barricaded against any contact with the world beyond its bordering seas. When Jefferson Turck crossed beyond the thirtieth meridian and found himself in the lost continent overseas, what he found bore no resemblance to the legends. For Grabritin was a jungle comparable with Darkest Africa, lions and all, and its queen was a barbaric forest maiden.