Lane Fleming was a prominent collector of antique firearms. One night when he was working in his gunroom on a new acquisition, a shot rang out and he was found dead on the floor. The coroner somewhat hastily ruled that the death was an accident; more sober heads assumed it was suicide, but that the truth was hushed up for fear of scuppering a major takeover deal involving Fleming's company.
With no more room left on Earth, and with Mars hanging up there empty of life, somebody hit on the plan of starting a colony on the Red Planet. It meant changing the habits and physical structure of the immigrants, but that worked out fine. In fact, every possible factor was covered--except one of the flaws of human nature....
Eighteen men and two women in the closed world of a space ship for five months can only spell tension and trouble--but in this case, the atmosphere was "literally" poisoned.
Out on the ice-buried planet, Commander Red Stone led his Free Companions to almost certain death. They died for a dangerous dream that had only one chance in a thousand trillion to come true. Is there a better reason for dying?
This is a parody of corporate management in a world where unions own the means of production and the managers are treated like factory workers.Faced with a corporate system that is breaking down - workers want immediate dividends rather than investments in developing new products - management goes on strike to readjust the power between management and unions.
When Myles Cabot, inventor of radio transmission of matter, found himself alone on an unknown continent of the planet Venus, he realized that getting back to his old headquarters and his loved ones presented some impossible problems. He'd have to settle a war between primitive natives and an unholy alliance of monsters, dinosaurs and giant insects. He'd have to build an electronic device from raw rocks and untapped resources. And if he succeeded in all that, he'd still have to find his way home
There have been a number of interesting theories advanced about life on Mars, but the intriguing picture of the world of Longtree and Channeljumper in its infinite variations, tonal and thematic. The Mars of these two is an old culture, old and finite.