Most Popular Books by John Christopher

A thought experiment in future-shock survivalism'' Robert MacFarlane ''Gripping ... of all science fiction''s apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting'' Financial Times WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT MACFARLANE A post-apocalyptic vision of the world pushed to the brink by famine, John Christopher''s science fiction masterpiece The Death of Grass includes an introduction by Robert MacFarlane in Penguin Modern Classics. At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain, society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother''s farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits. A chilling psychological thriller and one of the greatest post-apocalyptic novels ever written, The Death of Grass shows people struggling to hold on to their identities as the familiar world disintegrates - and the terrible price they must pay for surviving. John Christopher (1922-2012) was the pen name of Samuel Youd, a prolific writer of science fiction. His novels were popular during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably The Death Of Grass (1956), The World in Winter (1962), and Wrinkle in the Skin (1965), all works depicting ordinary people struggling in the midst of apocalyptic catastrophes. In 1966 he started writing science-fiction for adolescents; The Tripods trilogy, the Prince in Waiting trilogy (also known as the Sword of the Spirits trilogy) and The Lotus Caves are still widely read today. Ifyou enjoyed The Death of Grass, you might like John Wyndham''s The Day of the Triffids, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Monstrous machines rule the Earth, but a few humans are fighting for freedom in this repackaged start to a classic alien trilogy ideal for fans of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave. Will Parker never dreamed he would be the one to rebel against the Tripods. With the approach of his thirteenth birthday, he expected to attend his Capping ceremony as planned and to become connected to the Tripods—huge three-legged machines—that now control all of Earth. But after an encounter with a strange homeless man called Beanpole, Will sets out for the White Mountains, where people are said to be free from the control of the Tripods. But even with the help of Beanpole and his friends, the journey is long and hard. And with the Tripods hunting for anyone who tries to break free, Will must reach the White Mountains fast. But the longer he’s away from his home, the more the Tripods look for him…and no one can hide from the monstrous machines forever.

Will and a small group of free people plan to destroy the three great cities of the Tripods before the arrival of a space ship destined to doom humanity.

Includes an excerpt from another adventure by John Christopher entitled ''In the beginning.''

Clive Anderson is falsely accused of questioning the status quo and must escape from a twenty-third century "retraining school."

After being transported by the mysterious fireball to an alternate world, Simon and Brad face Indians, Vikings, and Aztecs in their attempts to reach California.

"An engaged couple, British, become the owners of a castle in Ireland and turn it into a hotel. They find their love for one another disturbed, nearly shattered, by the guests they have taken in and in whose lives they become entangled. But more disturbing, more shattering, are the haunting suggestions of an intrinsic evil in the castle, of a presence that is hostile and mysterious"--biblio.com

In the divided England of the distant future, a recently-orphaned boy flees the sprawling area known as the Conurb for the serene world of the County where the people seem to live a simpler existence.

Nobody knows how long it has been since the Tripods came. Nobody remembers life on Earth before they enslaved it. Humans live in scattered farms and villages, kept quiet and obedient by the mind-controlling Caps implanted when they reach their teens. Will Parker''s time is fast approaching - but a chance encounter with a madman convinces him that it may still be possible to resist the alien masters. So begins an epic tale of survival and defiance - and Will''s journey to the White Mountains. John Christopher''s classic dystopian series is available for the first time in ebook format.

Three boys set out on a secret mission to penetrate the City of the Tripods and learn more about these strange beings that rule the earth.

This commentary, written from a distinctively Pentecostal perspective is primarily for pastors, lay persons and Bible students. It is based upon the best scholarship, written in popular language, and communicates the meaning of the text with minimal technical distractions. The author offers a running exposition on the text and extended comments on matters of special significance for Pentecostals. He acknowledges and interacts with alternative interpretations of individual passages, and his commentary also provides periodic opportunities for reflection upon and personal response to the biblical text.

Two boys discover a series of caverns underneath their moon colony home in this futuristic story from the author of the Tripods series. Marty and Steve may live on the moon, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to get away every once in a while. So when Steve makes the suggestion to skip school and take a lunar car out to explore the moon’s surface like real astronauts, Marty thinks it’s a great idea. But the fun quickly ends when the lunar car crashes, stranding Marty and Steve beneath the moon’s surface. There, in a bizarre, cave, Marty and Steve find the unexpected: a world filled with various plants, food, and life…including a man who supposedly went missing more than one hundred years before. The boys think that they’ve found the most wonderful place in the galaxy…but they soon learn that the joy comes with a price. The strange creature that is keeping them alive also wants to control them, and when Marty and Steve decide that they want to leave, the creature might have something else in mind.

Penguin reissues a classic work of science fiction from the author of The Death of Grass - now with a new introduction by Hari Kunzru One year the UK suffers a terrible, harsh winter: rivers freeze solid, food and fuel run low, the whole of Europe lies under snow. As months pass and the arctic weather remains, it becomes clear that the world''s climate has changed permanently. Now, humanity must adapt to survive in the brutal new conditions. As the northern hemisphere nations fall into chaos and barbarism, with packs of men roaming like wolves through the frozen wastelands, citizens flee south to Africa and South America. Journalist Andrew Leedon is one of the lucky ones who escaped in time - swapping London for the white refugee slums of habitable Nigeria. Horrified by conditions and determined to act, Leedon makes a desperate plan to return and reclaim the dangerous wilderness of his abandoned country... The World in Winter is part of the Penguin Worlds classic science fiction series

Fourteen-year-old Laurie and his family attempt to flee England when the Tripods descend from outer space and begin brainwashing everyone with their hypnotic Caps.

Nobody knows how long it has been since the Tripods came. Nobody remembers life on Earth before they enslaved it. Humans live in scattered farms and villages, kept quiet and obedient by the mind-controlling Caps implanted when they reach their teens. Will Parker''s time is fast approaching - but a chance encounter with a madman convinces him that it may still be possible to resist the alien masters. So begins an epic tale of survival and defiance - and Will''s journey to the White Mountains. John Christopher''s classic dystopian series is available for the first time in ebook format.

"A massive series of powerful earthquakes on a worldwide scale reduce towns and cities to rubble and plunge the survivors into barbarism. Most of western Europe is dramatically uplifted, transforming the English Channel into a muddy desert, while elsewhere lands are plunged below sealevel and flooded. The protagonist is Matthew Cotter, a Guernsey horticulturalist who finds himself one of only a handful of survivors on the former island. Cotter decides to trek across the empty seabed to England, in the faint hope that his daughter has somehow survived. He finds the situation on the former mainland has descended to barbarism, with competing bands of scavengers preying on survivors. He and his companion, a young boy, finally make their way to the borders of Sussex, where his daughter was staying, only to discover that the land has slipped beneath the sea. Cotter, along with some survivors from the mainland, eventually returns to Guernsey."--Wikipedia.

In a future world where civilization has collapsed, fourteen-year-old Ben sets out on a journey to discover his birthright, and meets members of a technologically advanced remnant, who use machines to foster belief in Demons among the people of Ben''s homeland.

A fascinating portrayal of a medical miracle traces the influence of insulin on the world, from its discovery in 1921 through its widespread dissemination as a treatment for diabetes. (Health & Fitness)

In this monograph, Pentecostal New Testament scholar John Christopher Thomas offers a constructive, critical reading of the Book of Mormon that focuses on a variety of issues often under-represented in the literature currently available. Utilizing narrative analysis Thomas begins with an investigation of the book''s overall structure detected by means of literary markers in the text. He next presents an extended reading of the narrative contents of the book focusing on its literary and theological dimensions. This close reading enables the construction of a ''Theology of the Book of Mormon'' that explores the major theological emphases that emerge from a narrative analysis of the book. The study next traces the book''s reception amongst followers and opponents alike, as well as its impact in the areas of music, art, and disastrous interpretations of the book. The Book of Mormon and Pentecostalism are then placed into dialogue through historical analyses of early Pentecostal thought on the book and the movements it spawned, before a comparison of the theological heart of Pentecostalism and the book is given. Finally, issues of origins are discussed by an examination of the earliest story of the book''s origins, the major complications of this story, and the proposal of a taxonomy of various reading strategies offered in the light of these complications. Seeking to maintain an irenic and constructive tone throughout, this work should serve both to acquaint interested readers with the Book of Mormon and to encourage candid, thoughtful, and respectful conversations about the book between those who hold it to be Scripture and those who do not.

A thirteen-year-old’s expectations of royalty give way to adventure in the first book in the post-apocalyptic Sword of the Spirits trilogy from the author of The Tripods series. In Winchester, roles are clearly defined. Warriors fight battles every spring. Dwarfs make the swords and the shields. Grotesque mutants are the servant class. Seers interpret the wishes and predictions of the spirits. And the Prince is the ruler of the city. Thirteen-year-old Luke has no reason to suspect that any of this will change. It’s been this way for centuries...at least since the year 2000. But things are not what they seem, and soon Luke is thrown into a story of ambition and adventure in the primitive world of the future, expertly crafted by critically acclaimed Tripods author John Christopher.

This is a story about the lust for gold and treasure," Fine writes. In the 1600s and 1700s, Spain dominated the oceans with its fleet of galleons. Coming to the New World, these ships filled their holds with gold and silver and treasures beyond imagining. The seaway between Spain and the New World was dubbed The Golden Highway. On their journeys back across the seas, many were wrecked on reefs or destroyed by hurricanes. The watery depths now hold their treasures. Today, treasure divers seek their fortunes by attempting--sometimes successfully, sometimes fatally--to retrieve these hordes of riches. In Treasures of the Spanish Main, readers relive each voyage of long ago as well as witness the modern wreck diver''s efforts to extract their secrets. Included are: The 1622 fleet * The Concepcion * The Maravillas * The Shipwreck off Jupiter Beach * The San Jose * the 1715 Fleet * and the 1733 Fleet The voyages of centuries ago come alive with Fine''s excellent historical detail. Readers will experience the wild storms and the results of unfortunate choices made by long-ago sailors. The eccentric treasure hunters of today, along with those of the past, create a mosaic of suspense and drama on the high seas. A must for everyone interested in pirates, treasure, sailing, history, or just plain fun.

The fate of Luke—and the civilized world—is at stake in the tumultuous and explosive conclusion to the post-apocalyptic Sword of the Spirits trilogy from the author of The Tripods series. Following the death of his brother, Luke has now ascended to the throne of Winchester. And with the success of his first campaigns he is crowned “Prince of Three Cities,” finally fulfilling the prophecy made by the Spirits years before. Luke knows that the power of the Spirits is nothing more than a hoax to advance the Seers’ plans for a scientific revival. Their deception is the reason Luke has his crown. But as old rivalries and new alliances emerge and chaos sweeps through Winchester, can Luke stop death and disaster from plunging the civilized world into darkness?

During World War 2, Hitler''s engineers had pioneered an incredible array of futuristic secret weapons, from the Me 262, the first operational jet fighter, to the deadly V2 inter continental ballistic missile. With the Third Reich shattered and lying in ruins, in the summer of 1945, the Allies launched a frantic race to grab what they saw as the justifiable spoils of war. The Americans and Russians in particular were anxious to secure not only the aircraft and the research and production facilities, but also the key German scientists and engineers. This Nazi technology would define the balance of power in the phoney peace of the Cold War era, launching an arms race that shaped our modern world for decades to come. But what of Britain''s role in this supermarket sweep? The Race for Hitler''s X-Planes tells the untold story of the British mission to Germany.

When Simon and Brad investigate the mysterious fireball, they suddenly find themselves in an alternate world--a world where the unrealized possibilities of the actual world have been realized.

Eade has checked the dates of more than 250 inscriptions from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. He reproduces old calendrists'' calculations for each year from AD 638 to 2000. The introduction provides an outline of the calendrical system and an explanation of its technical aspects.

John Christopher takes a fresh look at 100 years of Britain''s most iconic car company, Aston Martin. From the origins of the Aston Martin marque, through the gadget-laden stars of numerous James Bond films, to the prestigious super-cars that continue to be market leaders throughout the world.

This is the biography of J. Raymond Jones, premiere political strategist and first Black leader of Tammany Hall, who served New York City and the Democratic Party from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil rights era. His rise thorough the ranks of the Party is traced in dramatic detail as his power expands to influence national politics and the political destinies of people like John Lindsay, Adam Clayton Powell, and Lyndon Johnson. It is based on extensive interviews with Jones and Jones''s proteges, including politically prominent figures, Robert Wagner, former mayor of New York City, Percy Sutton, and Congressman Charles Rangel. These memoirs are also a history of New York City politics during some of its most interesting and transitional eras. It is a lively account of the gradual emergence of blacks as a key element in the National Democratic Party coalition and will make an excellent case study for political activists by providing a practical, behind-the-scenes view of the political process in our nation''s largest city.

Two and a half years have elapsed since Brad and Simon went through the fireball. Since then they have travelled more than 8000 km from their starting point. Now, captured by Chinese slavers, the two boys are taken from California to China where they find a nation torn apart by civil war. They learn about the power of the Mind, with its creation of illusions, and finally discover the secret of the fireball itself. Faced with a decision which will affect their whole lives, what will they do? Will they return to their own world, or will they venture on into the unknown?

This Handbook makes a comprehensive examination of calendrical systems used in mainland Southeast Asia. It is designed (with numerous examples from the literature) to provide a grammar of the subject that will enable scholars to investigate it for themselves.

The Sherman tank was never the equal of the German heavies, but tough, reliable and manoeuvrable it was built in such prodigious quantities that it played a vital role in the Allies'' victory in WW2. Published to commemorate 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Science fiction-roman.