New Releases by L. Sprague

BEYOND 2001! By the twenty-first century, the great power struggle on Earth had been resolved in the only possible way. The United States, Russia, and China all have fallen by the wayside, and Brazil has assumed her rightful place as world leader. Thus it is naturally Brazil that conducts the first interstellar explorations, and creates the great space transport system, the Viagens Interplanetaries, to extend her galactic conquests and hold her vast and growing empire together.

The Weirdest Drinking Establishment in the Universe Gavagan''s Bar - presided over by Mr. Aloysius P. Cohan, bartender. Where you will meet such not-so-regular customers as: Councilman Maguire, who brought his own leprechaun with him from Ireland. Mrs. Vacarescu and her husband Putzi, the were-dachshund. Mr. Murdoch, who borrowed a very small dragon to rid his apartment of mice and lost it. And assorted witches, magicians, devils, dryads, and the occasional demigod.

Arthur Cleveland Finch was an eminently practical man. Naturally he didn''t believe that the carnelian cube was a "dream-stone" with supernatural powers. But, of course, if he were going to wish himself into another world, he would choose one where everything was perfectly rational. Finch got his wish - with a bang! And he soon discovered that one man''s rationality can easily be another man''s nightmare. He awoke a poet in a strange place where status meant everything and a man could be tried for umpteen kinds of crimes for reciting a poem in public. So, being optimistic as well as practical, Finch tried again - and again. And the worlds kept getting wilder, more improbable, and funnier - but more dangerous, too. The question was, could Finch find Utopia¿ before losing his skin?

On a future Earth, where invading aliens have forced humanity to revert to a feudal society and conducting scientific research is punishable by death, it''s good to be the heir to a duchy. Unless your brother has been burnt as punishment for heresy. And unless you intended to do something about it . . .

Outside the walls of the starport Novorecife, Earthmen on the warrior planet Kishna are on their own. So when he is chosen to lead the first ersuma (Earth-tourists) through the sorcerer-kingdoms of this "protected" medieval world, Fergus Reith must first learn to speak Durou; must take the chemical oath against imparting technical information; and must above all else learn to handle a broadsword! All these skills are needed when Reith finds himself and his ersuma trapped as pawns in a deadly war between a sorceress and a sterile kingdom under three moons . . . The Hostage of Zir is the third of L. Sprague de Camp''s Krishna book - interplanetary romance in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs'' Martian Tales.

On the 15th day of Franklin, Year of Descent 1008, in the Kralate of Vizantia Planet Kforri. A young teacher, Marko Prokopiu, is convicted and jailed. His heinous crime: preaching the false and unholy belief that Kforri was originally settled by men arriving from Earth in flying machines - a dangerous heresy against the official doctrine of divine evolution. Goaded into jail-break by his wife''s desertion and mightily armed with his father''s great ax, Markorushes to avenge his marital honour. With an eminent philosopher, Dr. Halran, inventor of the incredible hot-air balloon, Marko journeys perilously to exotic lands - to decadent Anglonia, hostile Afka, civilised Eropia and, at last, the all-female Isle of Mnaenn. There, by clever ruse and uncommon physical daring, he must recover the Great Fetish and solve the riddle of planet Kforri''s ancient history, or meet a fate more complicated than death!

When Fergus Reith agrees to act as tour guide for the famed palaeontologist Dr Aristide Marot, little does he realise that the search for the elusive Ozymandias will uncover spectacular riches, ruthless adversaries - and his former wife, the seductive Dr. Alicia Dyckman! Caught in a bloody civil was, the three adventurers must fight or face death by boiling in the Cauldron of Repentance! The secrets of the planet Krishna continue to unfold in L. Sprague de Camp''s latest tale of mystery, treachery and romance. The Bones of Zora is the sixth of L. Sprague de Camp''s Krishna book - interplanetary romance in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs'' Martian Tales.

The gods of Poseidonis - or Atlantis - were powerful and real. Now they were determined to destroy the kingdom ruled by the father of Prince Vakar, the one man whose mind they could not read. The only way to save the kingdom was to discover that thing which the gods feared most. To find it, Prince Vakar set out across the largely unknown world where dangers multiplied with every league. There he found savage countries and strange people - the wild Amazons; a voluptuous, ensorcelled queen; a too-charming girl who was half-horse, half-woman; dangerous magicians who ruled hordes of headless slaves; and the Gorgons, who could paralyze their victims at a glance. Behind was his ambitious brother, determined that Vakar must fail. Even closer were unknown enemies set on his trail by the suspicious gods. And to add to his troubles, Vakar had no idea of what he sought!

Acting sergeant Thorolf Zigramson of the Fourth Commonwealth Foot, an aspiring scholar but a soldier by default, somewhat reluctantly rescues Yvette, the beautiful countess of Grintz, from the soldiers set after her by an evil duke who covets her body and her land. After elderly magician Doctor Bardi mistakenly transforms Yvette into an octopus, Thorolf turns to sinister Doctor Orlandus to restore her true form and discovers that the Doctor Orlandus has invaded the minds of his followers, including Yvette, and is slowly assuming control of the government of Rhaetia. When Thorolf is accused of Doctor Bardi''s murder, he flees to the trolls, one of whom he must wed to gain sanctuary and keep from being eaten. From their uncertain stronghold he mounts an expedition to rescue his beloved countess and his country.

Erróneamente acusado del rapto de una reina turania, Conan decide no exponerse al hacha del verdugo. Huye al oeste por el Camino de los Reyes, y persigue a los raptores de la reina Jamilah hasta los ensangrentados muros del siniestro templo de Zath. Para poder sobrevivir a las calles de la perversa Yezud, se verá obligado a matar a todo un ejército de asesinos y caza recompensas. Sin embargo, sólo con la ayuda de una bella y valerosa doncella del templo podrá acceder a las profundidades donde habita el mal y hacer frente al venenoso dios araña...

Imagine a world of gods and demons, where the fate of kingdoms balances on the bloody blade of a fabulous hero: Conan of the iron thews, the blue-eyed barbarian giant who towers above the savage Hyborian world. Here in one volume for the first time, are three of the Conan works that L.Sprague de Camp created to re-launch Conan: Conan the Swordsman Conan the Liberator Conan the Spider God

Strom: Mercury How did Mercury get such an enormous iron core? Why is its tectonic framework so different from any other planet or satellite? What is its crystal composition? Why is the crust so depleted in iron when the interior is so rich in that element? What are the polar deposits? Where do the elements in the exosphere come from? Mercury is a planet shrouded in mystery. Only 45 percent of its surface has been seen in any detail, and that was from the Mariner 10 flyby in 1974. Yet what is known only makes the planet more fascinating. New Earth-based observations have shed light on surface and exosphere compositions, and re-evaluations of the Mariner 10 data, using modern image processing techniques, show evidence for volcanic flow fronts, pyroclastics and other volcanic phenomena not seen before. This ground-breaking book not only chronicles what has been discovered, but looks ahead to what has yet to emerge. An accompanying CD contains all the best Mariner 10 images, including the data for each image, photomosaics and maps.

Conan is back, and at the top of his form! SFWA Grand Master L. Sprague de Camp was revered in the genre of fantasy for both his fiction and nonfiction. Booklist praised his novel The Honorable Barbarian, saying: "The action is brisk, and the worlds and characters are described with de Camp''s deft, light touch . . . thoroughly agreeable entertainment," while Kirkus Reviews said of The Pixilated Peeress "the unassuming style and verve of the telling keep the pages turning. Pure prose junk-food." But more important, L. Sprague de Camp wrote Dark Valley Destiny, the definitive biography of Conan''s creator, Robert E. Howard, leaving little wonder as to why Conan and the Spider God is considered one of the finest novels in the canon of Conan. Son of a blacksmith, a former slave and thief, Conan the Cimmerian has risen to the rank of Captain of the Royal Guard. But as usual, trouble is his bedfellow. Forced to kill while defending himself, Conan must flee the vengeance of the High Priest of Erlik. Foraging through field and forest, meeting friend and foe, Conan cuts a bloody swath through assassins and bounty hunters all the way to the sinister temple of Zath, where he encounters the huge and hideous Spider God. Facing certain death, Conan becomes both the hunter . . . and the hunted. Conan and the Spider God is a thrilling adventure of the mighty barbarian, from one of the genre''s most revered authors. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Aquilonia, once the proudest land in all of Hyboria, has fallen under the tyrannical reign of a mad king. As his brutal insanity sweeps the land, only one man dares stand against him: Conan the barbarian. Conan becomes the leader of an army of rebels, brave warriors who thought their battles would be fought with spear and sword, axe and dagger. In this they were mistaken, for their greatest foe is not the army of Aquilonia, but the vile sorcerer Thulandra Thuu. Dark clouds loom ahead for the people of Aquilonia, and only Conan can save them.

This dark fantasy novel was serialized in 1939 but never before published in book form. It tells the Faust legend with a twist, set in Depression-era New York City.

The King had a good head on his shoulders -- for the moment, anyway. Everyone agreed that King Jorian of Xylar had been a good and just ruler. In fact, many also agreed that, in this case, it was a pity that the laws of Xylar decreed that each randomly chosen King must reign for only five years and then, after due pomp and ceremony, have his head cut off! Understandably, Jorian himself was wholeheartedly in agreement with the second sentiment, so with the help of a spell provided by the wizard Karadur, he escaped from the beheading ceremony with his head still on his shoulders. Unfortunately, his beloved wife, Queen Estrildis, was left behind, and getting her out of Xylar would be anything but simple -- particularly with the Royal Guard of Xylar hot on the trail of their fugitive monarch. With Karadur''s magic, Jorian might be able to pull off the rescue. But first, he would have to locate a trove of ancient spells, deal with an enemy wizard, steal an item from a 500-year-old (but still beautiful) princess who turns into a giant serpent at inopportune moments, repair the giant tower clocks of Iraz to fulfill a prophecy, break a pirate siege, and finally fly back to Xylar in an enchanted bathtub and whisk away his beloved Estrildis before the Royal Guard notices that their King (not to mention his head) has returned. Then things began to get complicated....

Examines the role of neurotransmitters in the abnormal movement disorders that are sometimes diagnosed in developmentally disabled, mentally retarded and autistic populations as well as in some elderly patients. Various research trends and developments are considered.

“Mr. de Camp has the trick of being able to show technology engaging in feats as full of derring-do as those of Hannibal’s army. History as it should be told.”—Isaac Asimov, The New York Times Book Review The Pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon of Greece, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum of Rome. Today, we stand in awe before these wonders of the ancient world. They hold our history and the deepest secrets of our past in their hidden recesses. In The Ancient Engineers, L. Sprague de Camp delves into the heart of the mystery. He introduces us to the master builders who had the vision, the power, and the passion to reach for the clouds and touch the heavens. We share in some of the greatest technological triumphs of all time—triumphs of the human mind, imagination, and spirit.

A humorous adventure from the author of The Complete Compleat Enchanter. He looks like a cross between a dragon and a catfish, and he can bend iron bars with a flick of his hand. In fact, Zdim, the mild-mannered demon, is a scholar of philosophy and logic. So when he''s drafted for a year''s servitude on the mortal plane, Zdim is certain a mistake has been made. Previoulsy published by Del Rey.

Fleeing the outraged father of Adeliza, Kerin discovers Princess Nogiri being held captive on a pirate''s ship, and is determined to rescue her

Igor Shtain was the greatest explorer the planets had ever seen, and his support staff of photographer, stuntman, speech writer and secretary made sure that everyone knew it. Now Igor is missing, and it is up to his assistants to find him. Swashbuckling adventure from the author of The Complete Compleat Enchanter.

The king of Vendhya is dead, the victim of black magic. At the request of the king''s sister, Conan scales the craggy peaks of the Himelians to the fortress of the Black Seers. There he must battle powerful magicians with the only weapons he has--his cunning and his strength.

Here is a fascinating study by L. Sprague de Camp of controversial and often little-known happenings in science and technology, with an emphasis on the wayward activities of those who dabble in fringe science. The Fringe of the Unknown is in three parts. The first, "Our Ingenious Forebears," examines some of the mysteries and oddities surrounding ancient technologies. Occultists and pseudoscientists often attribute extraordinary knowledge and wisdom to "the ancients," crediting them with inventions and discoveries that have generally been accepted as accomplishments of recent centuries. De Camp refutes some of these claims, but goes on to show that the ancients, starting from a much lower base of general knowledge, nevertheless achieved some remarkably ingenious results. In Part 2, "Beasts of Now and Then," the author explores a number of oddities and controversies in biology, such as the curious adventures and ramifications of the elephant family, the never-ending efforts to prove that monsters from former eras still roam the earth, the celebrated sighting of a sea serpent by H.M.S. Daedalus in the South Atlantic in 1848, and the many speculations about the great waves of extinction that have, from era to era, impoverished the earth''s faunas. In Part 3, "Scientists, Mad and Otherwise," de Camp tells of the behavior of some scientists, from the merely eccentric to the certifiably insane, and examines the differences between real science and pseudoscience. This wide-ranging work is a treasury of entertaining accounts of history and science.