Robert A. Heinlein – författare

En av de stora science fiction-klassikerna

Valentine Michael Smith är den enda överlevande från den första bemannade expeditionen till Mars. Han föds ombord på rymdskeppet Envoy och växer upp bland marsianerna, formad av deras språk, kultur och förmågor. När en senare expedition tar honom till jorden ställs allt på sin spets: enligt vissa juridiska tolkningar kan han ärva en enorm förmögenhet och dessutom göra anspråk på hela planeten Mars. För att inte bli en bricka i det politiska spelet tvingas Smith gömma sig och sakta lära sig vad det innebär att vara människa. Så småningom grundar han Alla Världars Kyrka – en rörelse som lovar mänskligheten en ny förståelse av kärlek, frihet och medvetande. Men Smiths växande skara av följare och hans utmaning av jordens normer sätter honom snart på direkt kollisionskurs med både religiösa och politiska makthavare. Främling på egen planet [1961] skapade stora kontroverser när den först gavs ut, inte minst på grund av sina religiösa teman. Boken blev den första science fiction-roman att ta sig in på New York Times bestsellerlista och vann en Hugo Award för bästa roman. Denna utgåva är baserad på originalutgåvan från 1961. I svensk översättning av Gunnar Gällmo, här i en redaktionellt genomgången version.

ROBERT ANSON HEINLEIN [1907–1988], född i Missouri, var en amerikansk science fiction-författare. Tillsammans med Isaac Asimov och Arthur C. Clarke räknas han till de mest betydelsefulla moderna författarna i genren.

One minute, down-and-out actor Lorenzo Smythe was - as usual - in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career go down the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars.Suddenly he found himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped. Peace with the Martians was at stake - failure to pull off the act could result in interplanetary war. And Smythe''s own life was on the line - for if he wasn''t assassinated, there was always the possibility that he might be trapped in his new role forever!

A popular and enduring time travel tale by one of science fiction''s all-time greats

When Dan Davis is crossed in love and stabbed in the back by his business associates, the immediate future doesn''t look too bright for him and Pete, his independent-minded tomcat. Suddenly, the lure of suspended animation, the Long Sleep, becomes irresistible and Dan wakes up 30 years later in the 21st century, a time very much to his liking.

The discovery that the robot household appliances he invented have been mass produced is no surprise, but the realization that, far from having been stolen from him, they have, mysteriously, been patented in his name is. There''s only one thing for it. Dan somehow has to travel back in time to investigate.

He may even find Pete ... and the girl he really loves.

D. D. Harriman is a billionaire with a dream: the dream of Space for All Mankind. The method? Anything that works. Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far. But he will give us the stars...

Nine ships blasted off from Moon Base. Once in space, eight of them formed a globe around the smallest. They held this formation all the way to Earth. The small ship displayed the insignia of an admiral - yet there was no living thing of any sort in her. She was not even a passenger ship, but a drone, a robot ship intended for radioactive cargo. This trip she carried nothing but a lead coffin - and a Geiger counter that was never quiet.

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All.No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them: nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality...

Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was actually allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the Universe, and as long as the sacred Convertor was fed, the lights would continue to glow and the air would flow, and the Creator''s Plan would be fulfilled.Of course, there were the muties, grotesquely deformed parodies of humans, who lurked in the upper reaches of the Ship where gravity was weaker. Were they evil incarnate, or merely a divine check on the population, keeping humanity from expanding past the capacity of the Ship to support?Then Hugh was captured by the muties and met their leader (or leaders), Joe-Jim, with two heads on one body. And he learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission between the stars. But could he make his people believe him before it was to late? Could he make them believe that he must be allowed to fly the ship?