Showing results by author "Poul Anderson" in All Categories

Poul Anderson was one of America's premier science-fiction and fantasy writers. This collection shows his incredible versatility, with everthing from a humorous short story to two sci-fi/fantasy novellas. Titles in this collection are: "The Sentitive Man", "Duel on Syrtis", "Witch of the Demon Seas", "The Burning Bridge", "Industrial Revolution", "The Virgin of Valkarion", "Security", "Sentiment, Inc", and "Innocent at Large".

From Nebula Award winner Gregory Benford comes this ambitious hard SF anthology that collects five original novellas. Each one takes the very long view - all are set at least ten thousand years in the future. The authors take a rigorously scientific view of such grand panoramas, confronting the largest issues of cosmology, astronomy, evolution, and biology.

On a far-future Earth, a linked system of artificial intelligences called the cybercosm runs the planet and the universe far more efficiently than any flesh and blood ruler ever could, in essence rendering the human race obsolete. On the Earth's moon, genetically engineered Lunarians carrying the DNA of Dagney Beynac - a descendant of the legendary Anton Guthrie, founder of the powerful and visionary Fireball Enterprises - struggle to preserve their lives, their freedom, and their satellite's resources in the face of threats posed by encroaching humans and controlling machines.

Sir Dominic Flandry is now an admiral, but takes little joy in his new rank. He sees the rot in the Terran Empire on every hand and knows that the Long Night will inevitably fall upon the galaxy. His consolation is that measures he has taken while doing what he can to postpone the empire's final collapse may shorten the coming galactic dark age and hasten the rise of a new interstellar civilization. In the meantime, he'll enjoy the comforts of a decadent civilization - and he'll always be ready for one more battle against the empire's enemies.

Poul Anderson began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. He also authored several works of fantasy, and many short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. The Virgin of Valkarion first appeared in the magazine Planet Stories in 1951.

This collection of classic science-fiction stories from the 1950s and 1960s features three imaginative novellas from some of the pioneers of the genre.

These stories are set in the familiar quasi-medieval worlds to which modern listeners are accustomed, and also stories rooted in the authentic myth-constructs of high antiquity, along with several that depend for their power on the juxtaposition of fantastic situations and terribly contemporary aspects of modern life on Earth. Together these stories make up a collection which provides reassuring proof of fantasy's eternal power in this technological age.

Far into the reaches of space, Anson Guthrie and a band of colonists have forged a new existence on Amaterasu not as physical beings but as downloaded consciousness watched over by the benevolent Life Mother. Yet as idyllic as their lives may be, back home on Earth the situation is growing grim.

An enterprising company has set up a mining endeavor on an asteroid to collect, process, and sell atmospheric gas products. The company, called Sword, is initially successful until an unnamed government tries to stamp out freedom and free enterprise in the Belt so the gases and minerals can be sent back to Earth, essentially trying to establish the business as a colony. Early Poul Anderson with a great finish.

A man, capable of 1 million things, is unhappy without a job, without a goal and purpose in life but he is not necessarily unique…

Imagine the surprise an immigrant tailor receives when a statue he receives in payment for his work is actually a fairy that can grant him three wishes. Perhaps he was right to attempt to turn down the wishes. Of course that's easy to say once the wishes run out. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Sci Fi Shorts is a collection of classic science fiction stories from the golden age of space stories. This group of five unabridged short stories by various authors covers such adventures as space-going disasters, culture-shocked Martians, minds being stolen, alien flying cities and ancient artefacts being discovered in the far future.

Security takes place in a future America, where control and efficiency are emphasized, and unquestioned loyalty is required. Nobody wants a repeat of the disastrous war that happened 75 years previous, and sacrifices must be made to ensure the ultimate peace. At least that's what Dr. Allen Lancaster, a pyhsicist and Project Chief thinks, until a top secret branch of Security decides his planned vacation will be spent on a mission in space.

The Burning Bridge is the story of fleet of ships seeking to colonize a distant planet. The trip is so long that most of the 3,000 passengers are kept in cryogenic sleep. As the fleet approaches the point of no return it receives a short message from Earth which may change everything; but the few that are awake will not have to make a life altering decision for everyone.

Many centuries in the future, no great destiny for humankind exists on Earth. The Lunarians, genetically engineered human adaptations bred to survive on the moon, have spread out toward the stars. But not even their colony on distant Proserpina is free from the suffocating influence of the Teramind, the vast network of intelligent machines that preserves order and logic in the universe.

The way we feel about another person or about objects is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object, at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process.

One man against the limitless wastes of time, he fought the strange, inhuman civilizations of Earth's unguessable future, searching hopelessly among the never-ending tomorrows-for the road to one unforgettable yesterday!

The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about simply from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process.

Colin Fraser is set to marry the girl of his dreams when suddenly she changes her mind and says she is madly in love with another older man whom she had disliked. She is also acting very strangely. Colin suspects some kind of foul play and is determined to find out what is going on. He discovers that his girlfriend has been part of secret strange experiments in mind control that could have world-shaking consequences.

By the end of the 21st century, a deep-state human-systems organization, the Psychotechnic Institute, has begun melding neuroscience and psychoanalytics to create the foundation for generations of more peaceful, more powerful, more "sensitive" human beings. In Poul Anderson's 1954 science-fiction thriller, The Sensitive Man, one such human, Simon Dalgetty, is on the trail of brutal men who kidnapped Michael Tighe, keeper of the keys to the Institute's secrets, and, thus, to the fate of world order.