When Commander Herries of the Space Line began to sell the water of Mars as a 'potion' for lengthening life he had no idea that he was going to create the world's greatest thirst and produce havoc among the two social grades of Earth - the Inelligentsia and the Normals. But produce it he did. Among the confusion thus produced one man thinks clearly for his own ends - Vance Unthra, the leading scientist of the world - and he sees in the crisis which has hit Earth a way to be rid of all those who do not measure up to what he thinks as an intellectual standard. By his orders two synthetic worlds are created - Alpha and Omega - and to these are ruthlessly evacuated all the victims of the Martian water, there to rebuild there shattered fortunes and never cross the 'Dark Boundaries' which exist between those worlds and Earth. Despite his careful planning, however, Unthra makes one mistake. In destroying the power of the Martian water over the evacuated thousands he miscalculates the strength of cosmic radiation on Omega with the result that the leader - the Controllix - of this world, Sylvia Grantham, becomes a far greater power in the grand scheme of things than her former lover, Dexter Carfax. Through the machinations of the wily Unthra open hostility breaks out between Dexter Carfax and the girl, and eventually their worlds are destroyed through the influence of a deadly chain reaction 'disease' from the Great Red Spot of Jupoter. Both of them, however, through the various experiences they undergo, hold to one objective - to be avenged on Vance Unthra for his viciousness.
The obscure village of Coxwold had suddenly become the centre of attention of every daily newspaper. People from all over had descended upon it, investigating, questioning and sending reports to London. Something had happened in a nearby wheat field which had reduced two normal, healthy men to insanity and death. The police, suspecting foul play, lacked any evidence. So what could it be that had driven the victims to madness? This was unlike any crime ever before recorded...
Suppose the war took a sudden turn for the worse from the scientific point of view? Suppose some bright scientist on the enemy side found a truly terrible weapon?" This was John Russell Fearn's main premise for Aftermath, written two years before the end of the second World War.
British author John Russell Fearn was one of the most popular -- and prolific -- authors of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, selling work to all of the classic American science fiction magazines. Under his own name (and several pseudonyms), his novels and short stories appeared in Astounding Stories, Astonishing Stories, Startling Stories, Amazing Stories -- and many more! Included in this volume are 25 of his best works, selected by editor Philip J. Harbottle (who also contributes an introduction): RED HERITAGE HE CONQUERED VENUS HE WALKED ON AIR THE MASTER MIND ISLAND IN THE MARSH SECRET OF THE MOON TREASURE SUPERHUMAN SEEDS FROM SPACE THE SILVER COIL PHANTOM FROM SPACE ARCTIC GOD THE GHOST SUN WHITE MOUSE KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT LEARNING WORLDS WITHIN THE VOICE COMMANDS THE JEWELS FROM THE MOON THE RED MAGICIAN FLIGHT OF THE VAMPIRES WEDDING OF THE FORCES MARTIAN AVENGER THE OTHERS LATER THAN YOU THINK FIRST OF THE ROBOTS SECOND GENESIS If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 150+ entries in the Megapack series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more! (And try Wildside's "Golden Age of Science Fiction" Megapack series for even more classic SF!)
When meteorologist Alvin Brook invents a means of controlling the weather, he imagines it will lead to his becoming a world benefactor, with riches for him and his family. Instead, Brook and his wife are murdered, and his invention stolen and misused by industrialist Marcus Denham. Denham creates the mighty empire of Climate Incorporated, controlling the world's weather and holding nations to ransom...but he does not anticipate that outraged Nature - and Brook's son - will take their revenge.
Deep beneath the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists and engineers attempt the most daring and audacious scientific project of all time: the construction of an undersea tunnel between Great Britain and Canada; linking Land's End with Labrador. Canadian and British teams work simultaneously at either end, to converge in the middle. Using scientific methods to fight the crushing pressure and geological and marine perils involved, the brave workers face a far greater hazard - the danger within - from saboteurs!
Following a civil war in 1971, England is a dystopia controlled by a ruthless dictator whose fiendish schemes include turning cadavers into robots with the help of Dr. Azimov of Vienna. But the dictator's plans pale before those of Brenda Norcross, a brilliant and beautiful female industrialist - actually a bioengineered Martian super scientist in disguise - who plans to enslave the entire planet to provide breeding stock for the dying Martian race currently hiding out in the interior of Uranus.
John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He employed numerous pseudonyms, such as Vargo Statten, Volstead Gridban, Hugo Blayn, Thorton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, Dennis Clive, John Cotton, Ephriam Winiki, Spike Gordon, and many others. He is noted for such grandly extravagant science fiction as _The Intelligence Gigantic_ and _The Liners of Time, _ Mathematica, and the Golden Amazon series. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of VARGO STATEN'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE in the 1950's. His work is noted for its vigor amd wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world
Using the secret motive power of a lost a lost flying saucer, physicist Micael Arnott, three companions and an escaped convict are flung into the void at eight times the speed of light to eventually land, after the oblivion of acceleration, upon a world that is both extraordinary and terrifying. Their machine disappears and they themselves also vanish one by one, Michael Arnott going first when he is on the verge of explaining the mystery of this far-flung world. That the planet is inhabited seems obvious from queerly designed spaceships glimpsed at intervals, all of them blazoned with a "Z", which is not so much an alphabet letter as a symbol of a master-race of scientists. In their efforts to solve the riddle of the world and system to which they have been hurled, the perplexed travellers gradually realise they are not only involved in an odyssey of space, but in a problem of Time as well. They are forced to the conclusion that, just as the first supersonic airmen paid a penalty of mental blackout for breaking the barrier of sound, so there is also a penalty for exceeding Fitzgerald's Law - namely that 186,000 miles per second is the ultimate possible speed.
The universe a creation of thought, a series of mathematical equations being worked out against a background of figurative abstract ether! Three men set out on an incredible voyage to the beginning of Time in search of the Supreme Mathematician who had created the universe-only to discover that He is now striving to destroy it by the ultimate cancellation of all figures, in order to free Himself from an eternity of mental toil! The most audacious story of is author, novelized from the pages of the famous pre-war pulp, Astounding Stories!
BEFORE EARTH CAME launches a new series collecting the early pioneering pulp magazine novelettes of John Russell Fearn, with the first-ever reprinting of "Before Earth Came" and "Subconscious." Both stories abound with unbridled imagination and a sense of wonder, examples of the pioneering stories being written in SF more than 80 years ago. In "Before Earth Came," Fearn’s storyline of how alien scientists, facing the imminent utter destruction of their planet, seek to preserve their heritage by sending it to Earth, was later copied by the creators of Superman. And "Subconscious" was one of the very first SF stories to utilize the theory of Charles Fort that "We are Property!" ... a theme that has echoed down science fiction ever since!
On the silent wings of thought flashed the monstrous message that panicked an already doomed and crumbling world—“Earthlings! We, your masters, have failed!” John Russell Fearn (1908–1960) was a British author and one of the first British writers to appear in American pulp science fiction magazines. Always a highly prolific author, he published not only under his own name, but also as Vargo Statten and other pseudonyms including Thornton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, John Cotton, Dennis Clive, Ephriam Winiki, Astron Del Martia (and others). He remains best known for his long-running Golden Amazon saga. At times these drew on the pulp traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Fearn also wrote Westerns and crime fiction.
Two pilots crash their plane in the Brazilian jungle, becoming the prisoner of an English explorer who is ruling by fear the superstitious unknown race who inhabit the city. The fabulous city, protected by scientific means, had given rise to the legend of El Dorado. These people had been created centuries earlier by Venusian scientists to tend the city and their many scientific machines whilst they placed themselves in suspended animation, embarking on a mental exploration of the cosmos. The Venusians had been obliged to relocate to Earth when their home planet was devastated by a plague. Then the Sleepers awake and the action switches to Venus, where they attempt to repopulate it.
“I’m mightier than the law!” Valeine Drew, Vampire Queen of the Starways, flung her challenge at the Interplanetary Patrol. Curt Stanley accepted the challenge—and stepped directly into a Jovian space-trap from which there was no escape. John Russell Fearn (1908–1960) was a British author and one of the first British writers to appear in American pulp science fiction magazines. Always a highly prolific author, he published not only under his own name, but also as Vargo Statten and other pseudonyms including Thornton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, John Cotton, Dennis Clive, Ephriam Winiki, Astron Del Martia (and others). He remains best known for his long-running Golden Amazon saga. At times these drew on the pulp traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Fearn also wrote Westerns and crime fiction.
Jeremy Clyde is a young scientist who discovers that Time is a circle, and that deep within the human brain is a memory 'hangover' of future and past events. He carries out an experiment on himself and succeeds in mentally projecting his body 2,000 years into the future. Here he learns that his arrival in 3950 has been anticipated, and incredibly, he is appointed as the nominal ruler of the four inhabited inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. But he discovers he is only a puppet for a ruthless governing system being secretly maintained by malign Jovians. Clyde joins forces with his counterparts on the three other planets and battles to throw off the alien yoke...
On her maiden voyage to Venus, the space liner Cosmic Cloud encounters a mysterious voice speaking through the void. The language is alien-but it is realised that danger threatens. Hardly has a recording been sent to Earth for expert interpretation before a mysterious gong is heard in the space liner, followed by further nerve-shattering notes until, abruptly, the space liner is utterly destroyed. Eventually it is learned that a diabolical mechanism is buried somewhere on Venus, left behind by a long-vanished malign alien race, and at a time appointed it will destroy the whole Solar System. Three men and a girl travel to Venus in a desperate race against time to find and deactivate the doomsday device...
If one fine day, you saw the Sun fall out of the sky and all was dark but for the stars—stars you’d never seen before—would YOU know what might have happened?
This first book publication of three exciting novelettes from science fiction’s Golden Age includes: LAST CONFLICT, in which an artificial storm of incredible violence--a storm that destroys London and all its environs--reveals the rise of a ruthless new scientist who uses his newly acquired control of the weather to gain ultimate power; NEMESIS, in which a rogue asteroid heading straight for Earth is driven out of control by a ruthless dictator who wants to conquer the stars--and instead may only destroy himself and the planet; and THREE’S A CROWD, in which explorer Bruce Langden's beautiful new wife, a descendant of a lost race of Incas he's recently discovered in the Amazon jungle, either suffers either from some strange disease--or is having an affair with his best friend and fellow traveler; the truth is stranger than fiction!
Mankind was being assailed by a disease that made the Bubonic Plague seem insignificant. People were dying by the thousands, especially in America and in England. They would choke, strangle to death, and then, horribly, burst apart as if blown up by gas! And the horror had been unwittingly caused by one man, Doctor Blair, who had, ironically, tried to invent something that would benefit mankind by eliminating all disease! Instead, the results of his experiment led to the world facing total disaster from...the "Dynasty of the Small"! In addition to the title novella, this collection includes the stories "Ice Maiden," "The Vicious Circle," "Chaos," and "Sweet Mystery of Life." Great reading from the classic era of the science-fiction magazines.
Another Wildside paperback original, continuing this new series collecting the early pioneering pulp magazine novelettes of John Russell Fearn, presenting the first-ever reprinting of ""Earth's Mausoleum,"" ""Metamorphosis,"" and ""Dark Eternity."" Three stories of soaring imagination, lost gems plucked from the pages of the pre-war issues of Astounding Stories during its ""thought-variant"" revitalization. ""Earth's Mausoleum"" tells of interstellar visitors to Earth who seek to advance human civilization by conferring the benefits of their great science, but instead bring Earth to the brink of disaster. ""Metamorphosis"" explores the terrifying aftermath of an ill-judged scientific experiment that destroys its creators and all life on Earth, and ""Dark Eternity"" is a fitting capstone to Fearn's ""thought-variant"" period, in which he destroys the entire universe!
A posthumous collaboration between John Russell Fearn and his biographer Philip Harbottle, and based on Fearn's last written notes, Chameleon Planet picks up the saga directly following the ending of Fearn's Earth Divided (Golden Amazon saga #20) when the Cosmic Crusaders prepare to pursue their enemy Karg into space.
Science fiction author Stanley G. Weinbaum died from cancer at 33 in December 1935. Short though his career was, his scientific imagination, smooth characterizations, and pervasive humor completely revolutionized the field, and profoundly influenced his contemporaries. Among his many imitators was English writer John Russell Fearn. Although his own distinctive work was very popular in the SF magazines of the time, the ambitious Fearn wanted to increase his number of acceptances by writing under pseudonyms in the style of Weinbaum! In the late 1930s, the American SF magazine market boomed, and all of Fearn's Weinbaum pastiches found billets. These intriguing stories are here identified and collected for the first time, with fascinating background notes. This is the second volume of two must-have collections, the first of which was published as World Without Chance. Great science fiction adventure reading from the golden era of the pulps!
Mars' Earth-born Emperor battles for survival! Mars is at peace for the first time in generations but its old warlord is still alive and a hidden race of Martians makes itself known, adding to the complexity of the situation threatening that peace. In the grand tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Red Men of Mars is the third installment in the Clayton Drew quartet.
Claire Escott had ignored her father's warning against involvement with her fiancé Mark Rowland. However, she little realised the extent of the scientist's corroding ambition when he invents a method of matter transmission. And it was not long after their marriage that Rowland's ruthless pursuit of a scientific empire encompassed a horrifying murder. But that was only the start of things. Mark's scientific genius and obsessive ambition to go one step further eventually led to the conquest of space, culminating in the mass destruction of an interstellar war!
Jeffrey Collins’s fate was sealed when he stopped his car to help a man who appeared to be an injured motorcyclist. When the injured man vanished before his eyes, Collins turned to a scientist, Dr. Whittaker, to make sense of the mystery. But when Whittaker was found dead, a victim of poisoning, Collins was accused of his murder. The evidence against him was damning. Where had he been during the period when Dr. Whittaker had died? Had he not quarrelled with him, and had they not both stood to make a fortune from some kind of formula? Unable to explain, Collins was found guilty, and so began an astounding odyssey of space, time, and destiny.
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