Tales from the White
Hart
Tales
From The White Hart
Ballantine, 1975
Originally Published, 1957
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You
come upon the "White Hart" quite unexpectedly in one of those
anonymous little lanes leading down from Fleet Street to the
Embankment. It's no use telling you where it is: very few people who
have set out in a determined effort to get there have ever actually
arrived. For the first dozen visits a guide is essential: after that
you'll probably be all right if you close your eyes and rely on
instinct. Also--to be perfectly frank--we don't want any more customers.
Critical Mass (1949)
Silence, Please (1950)
Armaments Race (1954)
Patent Pending (1954)
The Pacifist (1956)
Big Game Hunt (1956)
The Reluctant Orchid ((1956)
Tales From The White Hart
(1957)
The Next Tennants (1957)
The Ultimate Melody (1957)
Time Odyssey
Time's Eye
David Stephenson
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Sunstorm
David Stephenson
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First Born
David Stevenson
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Time's Eye,
with Stephen Baxter (2003)
For
eons, Earth has been under observation by the
Firstborn, beings almost as old as the universe itself. The Firstborn
are unknown to humankind— until they act. In an instant, Earth is
carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the
planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single
timeline. Instead, the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from
prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants.Scattered
across the planet are floating silver orbs impervious to all weapons
and impossible to communicate with. Are these technologically advanced
devices responsible for creating and sustaining the rifts in time? Are
they cameras through which inscrutable alien eyes are watching? Or are
they something stranger and more terrifying still?The answer may lie in
the ancient city of Babylon, where two groups of refugees from
2037—three cosmonauts returning to Earth from the International Space
Station, and three United Nations peacekeepers on a mission in
Afghanistan—have detected radio signals: the only such signals on the
planet, apart from their own. The peacekeepers find allies in
nineteenth-century British troops and in the armies of Alexander the
Great. The astronauts, crash-landed in the steppes of Asia, join forces
with the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan. The two sides set out for
Babylon, each determined to win the race for knowledge . . . and the
power that lies within.Yet the real power is beyond human control,
perhaps even human understanding. As two great armies face off before
the gates of Babylon, it watches, waiting. . . .
Sunstorm,
with Stephen Baxter (2005)
Returned
to the Earth of 2037 by the Firstborn,
mysterious beings of almost limitless technological prowess, Bisesa
Dutt is haunted by the memories of her five years spent on the strange
alternate Earth called Mir, a jigsaw-puzzle world made up of lands and
people cut out of different eras of Earth’s history. Why did the
Firstborn create Mir? Why was Bisesa taken there and then brought back
on the day after her original disappearance?
Bisesa’s
questions receive a chilling answer when scientists discover
an anomaly in the sun’s core–an anomaly that has no natural cause is
evidence of alien intervention over two thousand years before. Now
plans set in motion millennia ago by inscrutable watchers light-years
away are coming to fruition in a sunstorm designed to scour the Earth
of all life in a bombardment of deadly radiation.
Thus
commences a furious race against a ticking solar time bomb. But
even now, as apocalypse looms, cooperation is not easy for the peoples
and nations of the Earth. Religious and political differences threaten
to undermine every effort.
And
all the while, the Firstborn are watching...
Firstborn,
with Stephen Baxter (2007)
Prelude to Space
Here is the compelling story of the
launching of Prometheus -- Earth's first true spaceship -- and of the
men who made it happen. Dirk Alexson: Chronicler of the greatest space
adventure of all time, he was chosen to immortalize the incredible
story of the men and their heroic mission. Sir Robert Derwent:
Direct-General of Interplanetary -- London Headquarters for the
international space-flight project -- he was the man who got the
mission off the ground and into the pages of history. Professor Maxton:
The world's leading atomic engineer, he designed the huge ship's drive
units and he waited with the rest of the world to see if the project
would be a success.
The Sands of
Mars (1951)
When a celebrated science fiction writer
takes to space on his first trip to Mars, he stumbles upon Mars' most
carefully hidden secrets and threatens the future of the entire planet!
Islands in
the Sky
(1952)
The story of 'Island in the Sky' centers
around a young man, who, after brilliantly winning a space-related
competition, requests a vacation on a space station as his prize. It is
written with Arthur C. Clark's obvious knowledge of science, but moves
at a page turning rate througout the entire narrative. The short novel
gives a realistic possiblilty of work and play in future space,
hightened with constant excitment and action.
Against
the Fall of Night (1953)
Alvin, the only child for many centuries
born in what is believed to be the only city left on Earth, leads a
renaissance. Man is reclaiming the Earth, but evil has also returned..
Childhood’s
End (1953)
The Overlords appeared suddenly over
every city--intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to
humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate
poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a
golden age began. But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man
ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the
human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords
have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads,
will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?
Earthlight
(1955)
The time: 200 years after man's first
landing on the Moon. There are permanent populations established on the
Moon, Venus and Mars. Outer space inhabitants have formed a new
political entity, the Federation, and between the Federation and Earth
a growing rivalry has developed. EARTHLIGHT is the story of this
emerging conflict.
The
City and the Stars(1956)
There
had been cities before, but never such a
city as Disapar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the
creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it had held
powers that ruled the stars; but then, the legends said, the invaders
came, driving humanity into this last refuge.
The Deep Range
(1957)
It has taken a long time, but humankind
has won its battle against the sea. Now, professionals harvest plankton
with which to feed the world, but like space, the sea has not yielded
all its secrets, and men such as Franklin, the protagonist of this
tale, will never rest until all its fathomless mysteries have been
challenged.
A Fall of
Moondust (1961)
Time is running out for the passengers
and crew of the tourist-cruiser 'Selene', incarcerated in a sea of
choking lunar dust. On the surface, her rescuers find their resources
stretched to the limit by the pitiless and unpredictable conditions of
a totally alien environment.
Dolphin Island
(1963)
Late one night (in the world of the
future), a giant cargo hovership makes an emergency landing somewhere
in the middle of the United States, and an enterprising citizen named
Johnny Clinton stows away on it. In the space of only a few hours the
craft crashes into the Pacific Ocean. The sole survivor is Johnny,
whose life is saved by the 'People of the Sea'--dolphins. A school of
these fantastic creatures guides him to an island on Australia's Great
Barrier Reef. There Johnny becomes involved with the work of a strange
and fascinating research laboratory, learns skindiving and survives a
typhoon--only to risk his life again, immediately afterwards, in a
cliff-hanger of a climax!
Imperial Earth
(1975)
The year is 2276. On the world of Titan,
an outer planet of Saturn, Duncan Mackenzie and many other colonists
are about to leave their homeland for bicentennial celebrations on
Earth. But for Duncan, the journey is also a delicate mission for
himself, his family and the future of Titan.
The
Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Vannemar
Morgan's dream is to link Earth to the
stars with the greatest engineering feat of all time-a 24,000-mile-high
space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political,
and economic problems...while allaying the wrath of God. For the only
possible site on the planet for Morgan's Orbital Tower is the monastery
atop the Sacred Mountain of Sri Kanda. And for 2,000 years, the monks
have protected Sri Kanda from all mortal quests for glory. Kings and
princes who have sought to conquer the Sacred Mountain have all died.
Now Vannemar Morgan may be next....
The Songs
of Distant Earth (1986)
Five
hundred years later after the Earth is
consumed in flames, the Magellan must make planetfall to repair its
quantum drive. Its million sleepers awake to find themselves visitors
to Thalassa, where a civilization has, in fact, survived. There is a
clash of cultures unlike any before.
Cradle (1988)
with
Gentry Lee
This far-reaching, spine-tingling
adventure stretches from the dawn of time to the distant future, from
the edges of the universe to the vast depths of the sea. At the bottom
of the ocean, an alien creature is dormant. But the time has come for
it to awaken. And as it stirs, its power will be unleashed on the
planet--and trigger the dawn of human extinction.
The Ghost
from
the Grand Banks (1990)
The
story deals with two groups, both of whom are attempting to raise one
of the halves of the wreck of the Titanic from the floor of the
Atlantic Ocean in time for the sinking's centennial in 2012.
Beyond
the Fall of Night (1990) with Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford expands Arthur C.
Clarke's novella, Against the Fall of Night, into a novel-length
adventure set billions of years in the future about human destiny among
the stars.
The Hammer of God
(1993)
In the year 2110 technology has cured
most of our worries. But even as humankind enters a new golden age, an
amateur astronomer points his telescope at just the right corner of the
night sky and sees disaster hurtling toward Earth: a chunk of rock that
could annihilate civilization. While a few fanatics welcome the
apocalyptic destruction as a sign from God, the greatest scientific
minds of Earth desperately search for a way to avoid the inevitable. On
board the starship Goliath Captain Robert Singh and his crew must race
against time to redirect the meteor form its deadly collision course.
Suddenly they find themselves on the most important mission in human
history--a mission whose success may require the ultimate sacrifice.
Richter 10
(1996) with Mike McQuay
Thirty years after the 1994 Los Angeles
earthquake killed his family, Lewis Crane has become the world's top
seismologist, determined to protect people from his parent's fate. But
in a world controlled by Chinese corporations and split by racist and
religious strife, many don't want him to succeed.
The Trigger (1999)
with Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Jeffrey
Horton of Terabyte Laboratories is the
brilliant, driven and idealistic scientist responsible for the
discovery of the Trigger. It was an accidental discovery. When Horton
fired up his prototype analogue of a laser it triggered all nearby
explosive material. In that moment, an end to the power of the gun
became feasible. In future, a firearm - or a bomb - could be made
powerless to harm the innocent. The Trigger might even mean an end to
war.
Patriotism
dictates that Terabyte hands over the science to the
Pentagon. Idealism demands the invention be given to the whole world,
regardless of politics.
But
in a world where violence has reached epidemic proportions, too
many people have a stake in the business of violence to give peace a
chance.
The Light
of Other Days (2000) with Stephen Baxter
The Light of Other Days tells the tale of what happens
when a
brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses the cutting edge of quantum
physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one
another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into
everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments. It amounts
to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy - forever. Then,
as society reels, the same technology proves able to look backwards in
time as well. Nothing can prepare us for what this means. It is a
fundamental change in the terms of the human condition.
The City and the Stars/the Sands
of
Mars (2001)
The Last Theorem (2008) with
Frederik Pohl
Based on the recent sensational proof of Fermat's
Theorem 350 years later by a young British mathematician, Andrew Wiles,
THE LAST THEOREM charts the story of Ranjit Subramanian, a man
fascinated by Fermat's Last Theorem - so simple that anyone can
understand it, yet not proved for more than three centuries. Ranjit
learns about the Indian mathematical genius Ramanujan (1887-1920) and
discovers a three-page proof of the Last Theorem: this might even be
Fermat's own proof. The discovery of the Theorem wins Ranjit the Fields
Medal - and the attention of the NSA cryptography branch. However,
Ranjit soon finds himself drawn by physics rather than cryptography, as
there have been some spectacular advances in fusion technology. And
these in turn lead to a plasma drive that can open up the Solar System
...
