Search Results for: chaos

Kate Wilhelm has a reputation as one of the 20th century’s finest SF writers. Winner of the Hugo Award for Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, she has produced an impressive body of work in the fields of SF and crime, and – along with her late husband, Damon Knight – has had a profound influence beyond her writing, through the Milford and Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshops. This omnibus contains novels The Clewiston Test and Welcome, Chaos and story collection The Infinity Box.

THE CLEWISTON TEST: Anne Clewiston would soon be hailed as a miracle worker. She had almost perfected the formula for a drug which would banish all pain from the world. The Lab tests went on; the caged apes were thriving, all the results positive. The next step – humans. Then, one night, a chimpanzee went berserk…

THE INFINITY BOX: A man’s eerie ability to enter – and control – the mind of a vulnerable young woman turns into a sexual nightmare…A hack writer with fading skills finds his soap operas foretelling the future…His retirement present, a watch, takes a man back into his own past…American soldiers attack the wrong country – their own!

WELCOME, CHAOS: Lyle is asked to spy on Saul Werther, who is thought to be a drug dealer. She finds him charming but realises she has been set up…Saul has developed a major breakthrough in the medical world which he is keeping secret, and Lyle has been sent there to uncover his secrets…

A few stones falling in the right place can set a landslide in motion. That’s what Lescari exiles told themselves in Vanam as they plotted to overthrow the warring dukes. But who can predict the chaos that follows such a cataclysm? Some will survive against all the odds; friends and foes alike. Hope and alliances will be shattered beyond repair. Unforeseen consequences bring undeserved grief as well as unexpected rewards. Necessity forces uneasy compromise as well as perilous defiance. Wreaking havoc is swift and easy. Building a lasting peace may yet prove an insuperable challenge!

The Changeling could become anyone or anything – man, woman, child, animal. It was endowed with an inborn lust for disorder and destruction. Now it had chosen the plague-ridden planet of Alvea for its next mission – to throw an entire world into eternal chaos and madness.

The Earth Consortium could send only an embittered killer and an untrained anthropologist to hunt down the Changeling. Yet, dangerous though it was, the Changeling was not the only peril the Earthmen faced on Alvea, or the worst – for the Alveans feared and hated Earth. Even a hint of the hunter’s identities would leave them dead and dismembered within minutes

GOD IS ANGRY

The severest storms ever recorded are ripping Samaria apart. Desert has become swamp, hurricanes howl over ferocious seas. The peoples of a once simple world have turned against their centuries-old faith, embracing new technology, squabbling over land, hopelessly repeating history all over again.

The leaders of Samaria – the archangels and Oracles – look on helplessly. Where once they could talk to the heavens, they are now greeted with a terrible silence.

It is up to godless Caleb, who dreams of flying like the Angels, to discover the incredible cause of the chaos . . .

Lola Belman was a refugee. She and her younger brother were on one of the last ships to leave Earth as the bombs began to fall; by the time they left lunar orbit, they were orphans. Lola is now practicing as a therapist on Ganymede, and she has a new patient whose past is a mystery.

During those years of chaos, many records were lost and histories forgotten, and it was an ideal time for anyone who wanted to conceal his or her identity. Now there is a small, dangerous group who will stop at nothing to keep Lola from exploring the past and discovering their existence.

A houseful of paintings is stolen and the body of a finely dressed stranger is discovered at the home of art-loving drug dealer Mansel Shale. Meanwhile Detective Chief Inspector Colin Harpur and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, find their domain descending into bloody chaos as villain drug firms fight for dominance.

Luckily Iles has done some illicit phone-tapping and has inside information on which way the battle will go. In this fast-paced thriller, there’s no telling who will catch the next bullet.

‘Shrewd, savage, funny enough to give you an injury’ Literary Review

An epic sword and sorcery fantasy, this novel continues the history of the people and gods of Midguard. Following 300 years after the tumultuous events of CHILD OF THUNDER it tells of a new threat to Midguard’s hard won peace.

The old king of Bearn is dying and his heirs are falling prey to disease and murder, those not killed outright are failing the traditional test of kingship. With their failure comes the threat of chaos-without a tried and tested ruler Bearn will fall and the balnce between good and evil won by the legendary Renshai,Colbey Calistinsson, will be lost. A new Renshai of equal talents to Colbey’s is the only hope for Midguard…

‘You are an artificially constructed human being, a mobile gathering device.’
That is what the computer’s metallic voice tells Tanner when it releases him from his cell. Naked, unarmed, with no memory to guide him, he emerges into a savage world, into the ruins of Manhattan in the 23rd century where wild animals roam and men have become cannibals in a frantic struggle to survive.

Who has unleashed this chaos upon the world? Has Tanner really been dispatched to gather facts to help save the tragic remnants of humanity? Or is he to be the final instrument of its destruction?

There were two: Rosslyn, the pilot, and Comain, the dreamer. Rosslyn died in space, frozen, preserved for two centuries until found and resurrected by a miracle of future surgery. Comain . . . ?

Comain remained on Earth and crystallised his dreams, and when Rosslyn returned he found a civilisation beyond his wildest imaginings. Women ruled the planet, guided solely by the automatic and relentless predictions of a tremendous and frightening machine. A machine that foretold the future and determined the actions of an entire world with devastating accuracy. Into this assured and new civilisation Rosslyn came – and the impact of his presence brought near chaos.

He had to be assimilated – or eliminated.

It is 700 years after the age of destruction and London is just a forest. Britain is no longer an independent state but a primitive outpost of the Euro-African Federation. All is not well at the settlement near Avebury. The native Britons do not like the new Britons who have ‘come home’ from Euro-Africa, dancing a bizarre, twenty-two-man cricket dance and singing an obscure song called ‘Landa Fope’.

After one of these immigrants takes a shot at the High Commissioner, Ali Pretorius, chaos breaks out, and it is left to a beautiful young woman, Thea, to restore peace and order . . .

In an age before time began when the old Gods were abroad in the Earth, Corum of the Scarlet Robe defeated the agents of chaos and cruelty and made history possible. Now a new age requires a hero. There are new lords who would be gods – Odin and Thor and Freya and Loki. And there are the descendants of Corum’s Vadagh people, now called Elf-folk.

There is a portent – a great black bull sometimes seen on the horizon. The bull must be ridden by the one who possesses the Spear of Llaw Ereint. And the one who will come to possess the spear will be one who has a silver hand – it is the hand of Corum…

The Earth does not belong to man alone

The Himalayas bury their secrets well. Two skulls unearthed in the cradle of the human race – the remote heights of Kashmir – throw evolutionary theory into chaos. But a far more disturbing secret lies hidden deep in the bleak mountains and snow-swept valleys unseen by human eyes.

A few miles from the explosive triangle of tension where Afghanistan and Pakistan border on India the story of the century breaks. And the echoes of the most shattering revelation yet made to man threaten to plunge the world into total war which will turn the cradle of the human race into its final grave.

Secretive, enigmatic beings, they came to Earth to live among humanity in quiet, aristocratic isolation. But now, after years of silence, the “gods” have decided to share their art.

Across the vast galactic void come great ships bearing the fruits of an incomprehensible alien culture – paintings and sculpture of such raw, visceral power that their unveiling plunges the Earth into violent chaos, and sends the visitors fleeing from their adopted planet. But some remain behind – to face death at the hands of rampaging mobs, to witness the outcome of the grand cosmic game, and to assist in the creation of one last, potentially universe-shattering masterpiece that will illuminate the awesome, final destinies of god and man.

Here is the most exciting and dangerous adventure of them all, in which Tarzan of the Apes is faced with some of his most baffling challenges ever! A beautiful white girl on safari is captured by a lost civilisation of semi-pagan tribesmen in inaccessible jungle, and worshipped as a prisoner goddess…

Two ruthless crooks from across the ocean, on a feverish hunt for a lost horde of gold in Tarzan’s territory, plunder the innocent folk and creatures of the forest in their relentless search…

And a young man – strong, and bronzed and dressed in a loin-cloth – calls himself ‘Tarzan’, and causes chaos and confusion among all but the most faithful of the real jungle hero followers.

Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time … Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones…

And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt…

And everything is about to change…

For this is the time of the Encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand. The King knows it, his closest advisers know it, yet still they prosecute the war against the clan Engineers with increasing savagery.

The crypt knows it too; so an emissary has been sent, an emissary who holds the key to all their futures.

“Go to thy master and say that Mardanax hath come. I have lived to see the barbarian Thongor in his tomb.”

As the stranger throws back his cloak the hellish gleam of his emerald eyes confirms his statement – Mardanax, the Black Magician of Zaar – has survived Thongor’s destruction of the dread City of Magicians.

Mardanax strikes swiftly. His evil sorcery explodes with inconceivable power, and Thongor lies dead. Thongor’s beautiful queen is drugged into mindless obedience to the Black Magician. Her son, the prince, is kidnapped. Thongor’s empire seems to have fallen to the forces of Chaos.

Then, wandering in the land of the dead, Thongor finds a powerful sword of light…

THE COMING OF THE BLIGHT
It seemed as though the world was eroding right under everyone’s feet. Stories disappeared from magazines; the baron’s silver coat of arms, polished in the morning, was pitted with corrosion by afternoon; toadstools were springing up from every corner. And these were but the first signs of the coming plague, a cancerous orgy of patternless vitality seeking to engulf the world…

TO STEM THE TIDE
Carefree Johnny Curlon, indelicately plucked from his fishing boat one evening, is bluntly informed by high powers that he is a man destined for a role in great affairs: only his unique powers can prevent the coming probability crisis that threatens to turn the world into bubbling chaos…

Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, isn’t getting any younger. And neither, as Jon-Tom is fond of pointing out, is his otter friend, Mudge. But their not so long in the tooth that they’re completely content to laze by a riverbank. Not, that is, while there’s still adventurning to be done.

And when a lost chord comes up, clearly wanting Jon-Tom and Mudge to follow it, a little gentle adventuring, with the usual gaggle of spoiled princesses in peril, seems to be on the cards. But the chord leads the intrepid pair into deadly danger and, unless Jon-Tom’s magic can overcome the machinations of an evil wizard, there’s the real possibility of the world being plunged into discord and chaos…

Science and technology seem to advance in wild leaps. Something tremendous is discovered, then there is a breathing space. War accelerates the process of discovery. Primitive man discovered the wheel, the lever, fire and language. After the Dark Ages there was a great upsurge of scientific discovery. Amazing new knowledge was added almost daily. Today progress is faster than ever. The Twentieth Century is the Age of the Machine. Men use machines. Tomorrow, machines may use men. Imagine a world where everything is dependent on automatic machinery. Imagine a world where men have forgotten how to service the machines that serve them. Imagine the chaos, the horror and the conflicts when the machines begin to fail. Are flesh and blood superior to metal and plastic?

In a galactic culture that extends from quasi-Utopian worlds like new Rome to vermin-infested slums like Old Earth, the Star-Pilots are the great heroes of the day, and Grainger has become a legend in his own time, flying the revolutionary ship, Hooded Swan. The rain forest of Chao Phrya seems a more hospitable place than the Halcyon Drift or the underground world of Rhapsody, scenes of Grainger’s previous adventures. But the colonists of the jungle planet are crazed and the indigenous population enigmatic; and Grainger must must undertake a mission that requires a lengthy journey on foot through the dense forest. His quest seems awkward, hazardous, and doomed to failure – and that’s before the giant spiders make their appearance!

Seeking the answer to the mystery of life, Captain Oswald Bastable visits the Temple of the Future Buddha and is thrown through time to a new twentieth century. Plague, anarchy and superstition rule the world where he finds himself. Bands of diseased mutants pillage the continents while pirate U-boats prowl the oceans.

But from this chaos emerges Black Attila, commander of the African Hordes and master of the most terrible weapon ever devised by Man – the Land Leviathan, a terrifying ziggurat on wheels, a moving mountain of deadly artillery.

At last, after centuries of cruel oppression, the Land Leviathan helps the Black Attila establish Black Power on an unimaginable, global scale. Unimaginable, that is, to anyone except Michael Moorcock who has re-written the history of the twentieth century in his own totally original, biting style.

The moon is inhabited by the amorphous moonbeasts and their servants, the horned-ones of ill-regarded Leng… also by the monstrous lizard-God Mnomquah who came down with mighty Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones out of the stars when the world was young and Chaos ruled. But now the Mad Moon of Dreams is falling – on Earth’s Dreamlands!

In a pit in ruined Sarkomand, Mnomquah’s aeon-destined mate, Oorn The Awful, awaits her lord and master’s coming. Then, to celebrate their mating, the mad moon will disintegrate and rain death on all the lands of Earth’s dreams!

Dreamland needs an army of heroes – and has only a handful. But such a handful! Join David, Hero and Eldin the Wanderer, the Eidolon Lathi, Zura of Zura, Curator, Gytherik the Gauntmaster – and all the rest – in their epic quest to the…
MAD MOON OF DREAMS

Sometimes, the enlightened thing to do is… FIGHT LIKE A DEMON
A younger son, Gerin the Fox has been raised not to lead but to read and study magic. But Fate stepped in, leaving him ruler at a young age. Quaintly, he intends to rule for the welfare and betterment of his people. But many forces combine to make his rule a lively, as well as enlightened, one:
His son is kidnapped…
Wildmen raid his lands and threaten his boarders…
A neighbouring baron with almost as much land as Gerin wants more…

And, most menacing of all: Gerin is having prophetic dreams of monsters rampaging over the northlands, with Gerin and his men in desperate, losing struggle to drive them back…

As Gerin and his liegemen fight to keep some semblance of civilization in the Northlands, the forces of Chaos conspire to tumble Gerin’s world into a very dark age indeed.

Most of the problems were solved in the 29th century. War was a memory. Disease was almost conquered. Old age and Death were held at bay. It was a glad world. A brave new world. Humanity had grown up. And then It came… At first the dare-devil pioneers from the far-flung corners of the universe brought back strange tales of a mountain that walked. The reign of terror spread from planet to planet, until the authorities sat up and took notice. By the time someone with enough initiative to re-open the long disused weapon shops, came on the scene, it was almost too late. Time was against them. Atomic bomb wouldn’t smash that creature, neither would heat rays nor energy bolts. It left a train of utter chaos and devastation behind it as it strode imperiously through the galaxy.