Author | Robert Silverberg |
---|---|
Cover artist | Ed Valigursky |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
The Silent Invaders is a science fiction novel by American author Robert Silverberg, first published as a paperback Ace Double in 1963, which reissued it as a stand-alone volume in 1973; a Tor paperback appeared in 1985. [1] [2] The novel was expanded from a novelette which first appeared in Infinity Science Fiction in 1958. [3]
The novel is set in a future in which Earth is a rising galactic power. Two older starfaring species, the Darruu and the Medlins, are ancient enemies, and both have concluded that their respective survivals will require enlisting Earth on their side in the conflict. To this end, both have dispatched agents (surgically altered to pass for human) to infiltrate Earth and manipulate public opinion and politics. Major Abner Harris is a Darruu agent freshly arrived on Earth, who coincidentally encounters a Medlin agent. When his attempt to kill her fails and she has him at her mercy, she confounds him by letting him live. Harris eventually discovers that the Medlin presence on Earth has been subverted; their agents have allied themselves with a secret group of human mutants, who are evolving toward transcendence. The latest generation of the latter are fully conscious and telepathic even in the womb, and the Medlin agents have accepted them as the natural superiors and successors of all three species. Harris must choose whether he will side with his hatefully nationalistic Darruu superiors or with the Medlin and human mutant cabal, which requires that he kill all the Darruu agents known to him in cold blood as his price of admission.
Foundation , reviewing the 1975 edition, stated that it had been "inflicted" on readers, and expressed gratitude that Silverberg's skills as a writer had developed in the intervening years. [4]
Galactic Journey praised the worldbuilding, but criticized "Silverberg's immature style" and overall "amateur quality to the writing", noting that the "emotions don't ring true", and ultimately concluding that the plot "just isn't big enough for two big revelations". [3]
Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.
John Kilian Houston Brunner was a British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, about an overpopulated world, won the 1969 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and the BSFA Award the same year. The Jagged Orbit won the BSFA Award in 1970.
Foundation and Earth is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fifth novel of the Foundation series and chronologically the last in the series. It was published in 1986, four years after the first sequel to the Foundation trilogy, which is titled Foundation's Edge.
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–50, and subsequently in three books in 1951–53, for nearly thirty years the series was widely known as The Foundation Trilogy: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov later added new volumes, with two sequels, Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1986), and two prequels, Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993).
The Galactic Empire series is a science fiction sequence of three of Isaac Asimov's earliest novels, and extended by one short story. They are connected by their early place in his published works and chronological placement within his overarching Foundation universe, set around the rise of Asimov's Galactic Empire, between the Robot and Foundation series to which they were linked in Asimov's later novels.
Orphans of the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988), consisting of two parts: "Universe" and its sequel, "Common Sense". The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback. The work presents one of the earliest fictional depictions of a generation ship.
Pebble in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1950. This work is his first novel — parts of the Foundation series had appeared from 1942 onwards in magazines, but Foundation was not published in book form until 1951. The original Foundation books are also a string of linked episodes, whereas this is a complete story involving a single group of characters.
Foundation and Empire is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov originally published by Gnome Press in 1952. It is the second book in the Foundation series, and the fourth in the in-universe chronology. It takes place in two parts, originally published as separate novellas. The second part, "The Mule," won a Retro Hugo Award in 1996.
The World of Null-A, sometimes written The World of Ā, is a 1948 science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt. It was originally published as a three-part serial in 1945 in Astounding Stories. It incorporates concepts from the General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski. The name Ā refers to non-Aristotelian logic.
In science fiction, uplift is the intervention in the evolution of species of low-intelligence or even nonsentient species in order to increase their intelligence. This is usually accomplished by cultural, technological, or evolutionary interventions such as genetic engineering. The earliest appearance of the concept is in H. G. Wells's 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. The term was popularized by David Brin in his Uplift series in the 1980s.
James Henry Schmitz was a German-American science fiction writer.
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company active 1948 – 1962 and primarily known for fantasy and science fiction, many later regarded as classics.
Head Games is an original novel written by Steve Lyons and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Bernice, Chris, Roz, Mel and Ace.
Collision Course is a science fiction novel by American author Robert Silverberg, first published in hardcover in 1961 by Avalon Books and reprinted in paperback as an Ace Double later that year. Ace reissued it as a stand-alone volume in 1977 and 1982; a Tor paperback appeared in 1988. An Italian translation was also published in 1961, and a German translation later appeared. Silverberg planned the novel as a serial for Astounding Science Fiction, but John W. Campbell rejected the work and Silverberg eventually sold a shorter version to Amazing Stories, where it appeared in 1959.
The Seed of Earth is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg, originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction in June 1962, and expanded as an Ace Double in 1962. The novel takes place in the near future, and tells the story of a group of individuals, selected randomly by a government-sponsored lottery, who are forced to leave Earth and establish a colony on a distant world. Once there, four of the colonists are abducted by the planet's native inhabitants, and must put aside their differences and work together in order to survive.
The Foundation universe is the future history of humanity's colonization of the galaxy, spanning nearly 25,000 years, created through the gradual fusion of the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation book series written by American author Isaac Asimov.
Galactic Derelict is a science fiction novel by American writer Andre Norton, the second in her Time Traders series. It was first published in 1959, and as of 2012, had been reprinted in eight editions. It is part of Norton's Forerunner universe.
Shadow Over Mars is the debut science fiction novel by American writer Leigh Brackett, published in 1944.
The War Against the Rull is a science fiction novel by American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in 1959 by Simon & Schuster. The novel is a fixup made from six short stories and two newly-written connecting chapters.