Up until one minute ago, Gurlick was merely a specimen of homo sapiens, and a substandard specimen at that. But now this craven, seething, barely literate drunk has ingested a spore that traveled light-years before touching down on our planet, a spore that has in turn ingested Gurlick, turning him into a host for the Medusa, a hive mind so vast that it encompasses the life forms of a billion planets--a hive mind that is determined to ingest Earth as well. In this mind-wrenching classic of science fiction, visionary novelist Theodore Sturgeon places humanity on a collision course with an organism of unimaginable power and malevolence and reminds us how much we depend on each other--or even on a wretch like Gurlick. Crackling with suspense, overflowing with invention, and startling in its compassion, To Marry Medusa is a tour de force from one of the great imaginers of the golden age of speculative fiction.Amazon.com ReviewTheodore Sturgeon is the father of literary SF, his profound influence apparent in the works of such wildly different authors as Samuel R. Delany, Harlan Ellison, and Nancy Kress. His fiction--concerned with alienation, union, repression, self-discovery, and the healing powers of love and tolerance--foreshadowed the humanist, sexual, and transcendental revolutions of the 1960s. He was honored with the Hugo, Nebula, and International Fantasy Awards and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. To Marry Medusa (1958) may be Theodore Sturgeon's best novel. Dan Gurlick was a drunken bully--until he became infected with an alien spore. Now Gurlick is part of the Medusa, a galaxy-spanning hive mind comprising a billion life forms--a near-omnipotent intelligence horrified by humanity, and determined to destroy the unsuspecting human race in order to save it. To Marry Medusa is vintage Sturgeon, a treat for fans and newcomers alike. --Cynthia WardReview''A master storyteller certain to fascinate.'' --Kurt Vonnnegut, Jr. ''The magic of Theodore Sturgeon's writing lies in his understanding of the many ways there are to be human.'' --Larry Niven''[Theodore Sturgeon's] influence upon writers like Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany was seminal.'' --John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction''Theodore Sturgeon is the father of literary SF, his profound influence apparent in the works of such wildly different authors as Samuel R. Delany, Harlan Ellison, and Nancy Kress . . . To Marry Medusa may be Theodore Sturgeon's best novel.'' --Amazon.com, editorial review

From Publishers WeeklyRomance and drama capture police detectives Carella and Kling of the 87th Precinct in McBain's Manhattan clone, Isola City. An actress in a play about an actress who gets stabbed is stabbed. Her superficial wound draws little blood but enough media attention, perhaps, to save the drama from the opening-night closing its director expects. The play is titled Romance, a subject very much the focus of Kling's personal life as he doggedly pursues another cop-black surgeon, Sharyn Cooke. Next, a cast member is fatally stabbed and another member of the company dies in a suspicious fall out of an apartment window, giving the case some urgency and, not incidentally, stirring up ugly interprecinct politics, notably with Carella and King's loathed colleague, Fat Ollie Weeks. McBain has fun in this 48th 87th precinct tale, weaving romantic dialogue into the investigation and taking shots at various dramatis personae of the theater world. When McBain has fun, so do his readers. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistRomance is in the air as McBain, acknowledged master of the hard-boiled police procedural, offers up another surefire best-seller. This time, McBain evokes a certain whimsical lightheartedness--albeit mixed with his usual tough violence. Actress Michelle Cassidy is starring in an insipid mystery called Romance, and in an effort to get some much-needed publicity for the play, she persuades her lover to give her a couple of realistic-looking but superficial stab wounds. The trick works, and the play's assured of success until someone fatally stabs Michelle, then pushes the show's stage manager out a tenth-story window. Which of the characters from the play--the Detective? the Stage Manager? the Understudy?--had the most to gain from the two deaths? Steve Carella and his partner, Bert Kling, try to figure it all out. McBain toys with readers by using a number of devices to spice the story, such as a play within a play, a play on words, and the way events in real life keep imitating art. And he includes a bit of real-life romance, too, as whitebread Detective Berg's hot love affair with ebony-skinned Dr. Sharyn Cooke sizzles amidst the murder and mayhem. As usual, McBain and the 87th Precinct produce another gem. Jasmine Nights

1916. Poole worked as a journalist campaigning for social reforms including an end to child labor. On the outbreak of the First World War he worked as a war correspondent for The Saturday Evening Post. His Family won the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1918. His Family, a portrait of a New York family, begins: He was thinking of the town he had known. Not of old New York-he had heard of that from old, old men when he himself had still been young and had smiled at their garrulity. He was thinking of a young New York, the mighty throbbing city to which he had come long ago as a lad from the New Hampshire mountains. A place of turbulent thoroughfares, of shouting drivers, hurrying crowds, the crack of whips and the clatter of wheels; an uproarious, thrilling town of enterprise, adventure, youth; a city of pulsing energies, the center of a boundless land; a port of commerce with all the world, of stately ships with snowy sails; a fascinating pleasure town, with throngs of eager travelers hurrying from the ferryboats and rolling off in hansom cabs to the huge hotels on Madison Square. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Shrouded in eternal gloom by its own thick atmosphere, Tenebra was a hostile planet: a place of crushing gravity, 370-degree temperatures, a constantly shifting crust and giant drifting raindrops. Uncompromising—yet there was life, intelligent life on Tenebra. For more than twenty years, Earth scientists had studied the natives from an orbiting laboratory and had even found a way to train and educate a few of them.

Amazon.com ReviewCat's Cradle, one of Vonnegut's most entertaining novels, is filled with scientists and G-men and even ordinary folks caught up in the game. These assorted characters chase each other around in search of the world's most important and dangerous substance, a new form of ice that freezes at room temperature. At one time, this novel could probably be found on the bookshelf of every college kid in America; it's still a fabulous read and a great place to start if you're young enough to have missed the first Vonnegut craze. From Publishers WeeklyVonnegut's 1963 satirical science fiction novel still manages to pack a powerfully subversive punch. The new audio release offers listeners an excellent opportunity to connect—or reconnect—with a classic text whose thematic elements—nuclear terror, the complications of science, American imperialism, global capitalism and the role of religion in public life—are remarkably relevant to our 21st-century landscape. The story line centers on a young writer's quest to research the history of the atomic bomb, which leads to a bizarre political soap opera and apocalyptic showdown on the shores of a seedy banana republic in the Caribbean. Tony Roberts brings tremendous energy to his reading, projecting a sardonic tone perfectly suited to Vonnegut. His portrayals of the principal male figures sometimes take the form of interchangeable over-the-top carnival barkers, but given the essence of the material, such a unnuanced approach can be understood and appreciated. The audiobook includes a 2005 interview in which Vonnegut—who died April 11, 2007—discusses how his life shaped his literary craft. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

When their elderly neighor Mrs. Marden reports that some of her valuables have gone missing, the twins investigate.

Stalked by a nighttime killer, a woman does whatever it takes to surviveHe calls himself Tarot. His first victim was a mother, killed while her daughter slept in the next room. His second was a truck-stop waitress, murdered—like the first woman—while she slept. After each one, he sent letters to the newspapers, boasting of his crimes and promising more to come. The third victim will die soon, he tells them. But first, she must be warned.Joanna is drinking her morning coffee when she finds the switchblade on the floor, dropped through her newspaper slot in the middle of the night. Was it left there by a neighborhood prankster with a dark sense of humor? Or is this the warning of Tarot? Her husband has left her, making Joanna the sole caretaker for their son. Until Tarot is caught, neither of them can count on a good night’s sleep.

Because Bron Hoddan was a serious electronics engineer, he didn’t want any part of his particular planetary heritage. For he was from Zan - and Zan’s only occupation was space-ship piracy!. So Bron went to Walden, the most civilized planet of them all. His first step to making himself a good reputation was to invent a machine that would save the government millions. But when instead he was seized and jailed as the most unspeakable criminal in Walden’s history, he realized that there was only one way open to remedy this “civilized” disaster. And that was by putting into use some of Zan’s old-fashioned buccaneering techniques! First serialized as The Pirates of Ersatz in Astounding Science Fiction in  February– April 1959. Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960.

They were four extroardinary women who read minds, healed bodies, diverted disasters, foretold the future--and became pariahs in their own land. A talented, elite cadre, they stepped out of the everyday human race...to enter their own!From the Paperback edition.

Sci-fi novel of a physics professor grappling to resolve a problem from 10,000 years in the future, triggering a series of violent events. Serialized originally in 3 parts: Dec. 1963, Jan. 1964, April 1964 editions of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.