LITMIR.BIZ

Mankind was being assailed by a disease that made the Bubonic Plague seem insignificant. People were dying by the thousands, especially in America and in England. They would choke, strangle to death, and then, horribly, burst apart as if blown up by gas! And the horror had been unwittingly caused by one man, Doctor Blair, who had, ironically, tried to invent something that would benefit mankind by eliminating all disease! Instead, the results of his experiment led to the world facing total disaster from…the «Dynasty of the Small»! In addition to the title novella, this collection includes the stories «Ice Maiden,» «The Vicious Circle,» «Chaos,» and «Sweet Mystery of Life.» Great reading from the classic era of the science-fiction magazines.

Подробнее

When Ralph Black, chain store magnate, is found shot by his own gun in his locked library in his palatial home, the New York Police Department pronounces it suicide. However, his family members believe he was murdered. His sister in England, Maria Black, M.A., Headmistress of a girls' school, wants to discover the truth. She travels to America, and with her penchant for solving crimes, sets to work to trace the mysterious plot against Ralph. Can she unmask the amazing truth about her brother's death? Or will the first case of «Black Maria» also prove to be her last? Black Maria, Book One.

Подробнее

For cinema projectionist Sid Elbridge, it seems that things can't get much worse. First, circumstantial evidence has made him the prime suspect in the police investigation of a robbery at the cinema where he works. Secondly, his fiancée Vera has been horribly killed in the same theatre, victim of a falling light fixture. Then he discovers strange, intricate patterns traced in the dust on the wooden frame of a still-case. There's something very wrong about this «accident,» he now realizes, and begins investigating what actually happened. <p> Slowly he realizes that a ruthless murderer is lurking in the shadows, and only Sid can uncover the PATTERN OF MURDER! <p> Another great mystery story by a British master of intricate plot twists.

Подробнее

This volume collects four classic SF tales from the pulp era! <P> THE RULE OF THE BRAINS… <P> After many years spent in wars and struggle, mankind had achieved a perfect civilization. But this Utopia was going directly against the adaptive strain Nature had developed. <P> In earlier times, the human body had been keyed to respond to every emergency. Now it was trying to find a new form of excitation in order to maintain its equilibrium, was seeking to tear down that perfect structure… So mankind’s rulers built the Arbiter, an artificial intelligence created from the brains of twelve men and women, who had sacrificed their lives for the greater good. <P> The pooled intelligence of the Arbiter’s twelve artificial brains would work in unison to provide a common answer, to be the impartial judge of humanity’s future actions. Such was the theory…but the Rule of the Brains threatened to destroy humanity itself!

Подробнее

This volume collects four classic tales from the SF pulp magazines by a master of the genre! <P> THE MAN FROM HELL… <P> From top to bottom the Brant Building became insubstantial, like the illusion of a dream world. It hung transparent, incredible, for a moment with the figures of people momentarily visible through the suddenly glassified walls–then with staggering abruptness the whole 1,000-foot mass snapped into black extinction! Its very foundations changed to cavernous darkness. Where there had been the Brant Building, there was nothing but an abysmal crater, sheerly cut. A yawning emptiness divided the two buildings on each side, both of them quite untouched. Such was the vengeance of Dake Bradfield, the scientist who had been murdered on the orders of industrialist Marvin Brant–but who had returned to life as THE MAN FROM HELL!

Подробнее

This first book publication of three exciting novelettes from science fiction’s Golden Age includes: LAST CONFLICT, in which an artificial storm of incredible violence–a storm that destroys London and all its environs–reveals the rise of a ruthless new scientist who uses his newly acquired control of the weather to gain ultimate power; NEMESIS, in which a rogue asteroid heading straight for Earth is driven out of control by a ruthless dictator who wants to conquer the stars–and instead may only destroy himself and the planet; and THREE’S A CROWD, in which explorer Bruce Langden's beautiful new wife, a descendant of a lost race of Incas he's recently discovered in the Amazon jungle, either suffers either from some strange disease–or is having an affair with his best friend and fellow traveler; the truth is stranger than fiction!

Подробнее

There are six people in millionaire Nick Clayton's limousine when it leaves a country home to return to London: Clayton himself; his girlfriend, Bernice; Dawlish, his driver; the unhappily married financier Harvey Brand and his wife, Lucy; and the tragic socialite, Betty. But the car never reaches its destination; instead, it drives thirty miles down a country road–and just disappears! And when the travelers suddenly find themselves in an alternate reality, one where time stands still, they begin wondering if they'll ever escape…THE TIME TRAP!

Подробнее

Dick opened the door again swiftly, Vera clinging to him–and they were so astounded at what they saw that he forgot for the moment to slam the door shut again. For the phantom was there–clearly visible in the sunlight, which now blazed across the upper half of the great window. A strange, incredible caricature of a being hung in the dusty air, a haze of blurry light surrounding it from the back. There was the pointed tail, the simian ears, the long needle-chinned face, bent arms flexed as though to pounce forward. He seemed to be grinning horribly. Yet he was in mid-air and through him the ancient stone wall could be distinctly seen. This was the ghost–the horror–that everyone knows haunts Sunny Acres Castle, the house that Vera Grantham has just inherited from her late uncle. Together with her boyfriend, Dick Wilmott, she must uncover the secret behind the mansion–a secret worth killing for! A great mystery in the classic British tradition.

Подробнее

For an illusionist to make a woman vanish from a cage is merely a parlor trick, because the person must go somewhere; but in this instance the woman really DOES disappear, in full view of an audience, and cannot be found afterwards. This seeming impossibility is the commencement of a completely baffling puzzle, which even Scotland Yard finds hard to crack. And then the magician himself is found murdered in his flat, lending credence to the notion that the woman has also been killed. Scotland Yard enlists the aid of the indomitable Dr. Carruthers, a genius who specializes in solving scientific puzzles. But can Carruthers unravel the diabolical plot–or will THE SILVERED CAGE, a solid metal structure allowing neither entry nor exit, continue to contain its mystery? A scientific detective thriller with several exciting plot twists!

Подробнее

When rising young artist Clive Hexley, R.A., vanishes, his friends suspect foul play. Chief-Inspector Calthorp of Scotland Yard is called upon to look into the disappearance, and his investigations lead him to question Hexley’s ex-fiancée, Elsa Farraday. Farraday writes horror-tinged mysteries under a pseudonym, and lives by herself in an old house in the English countryside. She eventually confesses that she murdered the artist and threw his body into a swamp. But the girl’s odd, even peculiar mannerisms puzzle Calthorp, and he hesitates to make an arrest when no trace of Hexley's body can be found–or even any proof of his death. Ultimately, he calls in Dr. Adam Castle, the redoubtable psychiatrist and investigator, to help solve the case. Is Elsa a cold-blooded murderer mining her own crimes for her lurid novels? Or is she just an unfortunate «lost soul» who was in the wrong place at the wrong time? An absolutely first-rate psychological thriller!

Подробнее