Random House Inc.

A companion novel to Slaughterhouse 5, covering similar themes and drawing on the author's experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden. A black satire, it tells of an American spy in Germany who becomes confused by his own methods as he sends his coded messages by using pro-Nazi radio broadcasts.

Nabokov's third novel, The Defense, is a chilling story of obsession and madness. As a young boy, Luzhin was unattractive, distracted, withdrawn, sullen — an enigma to his parents and an object of ridicule to his classmates. He takes up chess as a refuge from the anxiety of his everyday life. His talent is prodigious and he rises to the rank of grandmaster — but at a cost: in Luzhin' s obsessive mind, the game of chess gradually supplants the world of reality. His own world falls apart during a crucial championship match, when the intricate defense he has devised withers under his opponent's unexpected and unpredictabke lines of assault.

A weary concert violinist, unable to endure one more grueling tour, looks forward to relaxing in Innocence, Mississippi, at her grandmother's secluded old bayou home. But the sleepy bliss is shattered formever one steamy summer night when a single spark ignites a deadly crime of passion.

When the spoilt and haughty Dona Constanza tries to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, she starts a running battle with the locals. The skirmishes are so severe that the Government dispatches a squadron of soldiers led by the fat, brutal and stupid Figueras to deal with them. Despite visiting plagues of laughing fits and giant cats upon the troops, the villagers know that to escape the cruel and unusual tortures planned for them, they must run. Thus they plan to head for the mountains and start a new and convivial civilisation.

The three laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey orders givein to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. With this, Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when he formulated the laws governing their behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future — a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete. Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-read robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world — all told with the dramatic blend of science fact & amp; science fiction that became Asmiov's trademark.

The arrival of a spaceship from Earth — destroyed when its sun went nova — carrying five million Earthlings in suspended animation, as well as an uncensored cultural record of Earth, threatens to destroy the paradisiacal planet of Thalassa.

There is a woman haunted by her dreams of her dead mother. There is an adulterous couple stepping over the line where the initial excitement ends and the pain begins. There is a widow visiting a Scottish village in search of her husband's past and instead discovering unsettling truths about a total stranger. The ten stories in this collection not only astonish and delight but also convey the unspoken mysteries at the heart of all human experience.

Leichtsinnig und romantisch, ehrgeizig und kaltblütig, Leitstern der Troubadoure, eine meisterhafte Politikerin, wenig besser als eine Dirne — all diese Eigenschaften wurden der grossen Königin des 12. Jahrhunderts von der Überlieferung nachgesagt. Was davon wahr ist? Vielleicht ein wenig von allem. Aufgewachsen an einem der kultiviertesten Höfe der Zeit, fand die junge, lebenshungrige Eleonore erst als über Achtzigjährige im Kloster von Fontevrault ihren Frieden: Sie hatte zwei königliche Ehemänner und acht ihrer zehn Kinder überlebt.

At a small-town carnival two men, each mysteriously summoned by telegram, witness a bizarre killing. The telegrams are signed Jason Bourne. Only they know Bourne's true identity and understand the telegram is really a message from Bourne's mortal enemy, Carlos, known also as the Jackal, the world's deadliest and most elusive terrorist.

Led by its founding father, the great psycho-historian Hari Seldon, and taking advantage of its superior science and technology, the Foundation survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Yet now it must face the Empire — still the mightiest force in the Galaxy, even in its death throes. When an ambitious general determined to restore the Empire's glory turns the vast Imperial fleet toward the Foundation, the only hope for the small planet of scholars and scientists lies in the prophecies of Hari Seldon. But not even Hari Seldon could have predicted the birth of the extraordinary creature called the Mule — a mutant intelligence with a power greater than a dozen battle fleets... a power that could turn the strongest-willed human into an obedient slave.

At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they retum to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all — and that its still — defiant survivors are preparing their revenge. Now the two exiled citizens of the Foundation — a renegade Councilman and the doddering historian — set out in search of the mythical planet Earth... and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile someone — or something — outside of both Foundations sees to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!

The first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as a would-be artist, he settles in London to train as a doctor where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a tortured and masochistic affair.

For the first time Asimov chronicles the life of Hari Seldon, the man who laid the framework for the universe that came to be known as the Foundation. The long-awaited overture to the greatest science fiction series of all time.

So far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she...?

A humor classic by one of the funniest writers today, Side Effects is a treat for all those who know his work and those just discovering how gifted he is. Included here are such classics as Remembering Needleman, The Kugelmass Episode, a new sory called Confessions Of A Buglar, and more.

The Godfather is the Mafia leader Vito Corleone, a benevolent despot who stops at nothing to gain and hold power. Set in Long Island, Hollywood and Sicily, this is a story of a feudal society within society which does not hesitate to consolidate its power.

Part of the omnibus series, this volume contains «The Mating Season», «Ring for Jeeves» and «Very Good Jeeves». Other titles in the omnibus series are «Jeeves 1», «Jeeves 2», «Aunts», «Golf» and «Drones».

Prisoner of war, optometrist, time-traveller — these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, hero of this miraculously moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse. «Slaughterhouse 5» is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centring on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.

Primarily known as a dramatist, Chekhov also wrote short stories. This selection of his work includes «The Swedish Match», «Easter Eve», «Mire», «On the Road», «Verotchka», «Volodya», «The Kiss», «Sleepy» and «The Steppe».

Arthur C. Clark, creator of one of the world's best-loved science fiction tales, revisits the most famous future ever imagined in this NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, as two expeditions into space become inextricably tangled. Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monloiths, must again confront Dave Bowman, HAL, and an alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.

Homer's epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War has inspired writers from Virgil to James Joyce. Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens' song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope. Favorite of the gods, Odysseus embodies the energy, intellect, and resourcefulness that were of highest value to the ancients and that remain ideals in out time. In this new verse translation, Allen Mandelbaum — celebrated poet and translator of Virgil's «Aeneid» and Dante's «Divine Comedy» — realizes the power and beauty of the original Greek verse and demonstrates why the epic tale of «The Odyssey» has captured the human imagination for nearly three thousand years.

Peter Darwin was hoping for some quiet leave from the Foreign Office. Instead he found himself in the village of his childhood — at the service of a veterinary surgeon whose operating theatre was rapidly acquiring an unwanted reputation as an abattoir. The sudden unexplained death of a string of valuable racehorses from one small area in Gloucestershire was a mystery the police couldn't solve. But Darwin was local. He remembered the people and what was at stake...And now he know enough to get himself killed...

The long-awaited new novel by the award-winning, bestselling author of Startide Rising and The Uplift War — an epic novel set fifty years from tomorrow, a carefully-reasoned, scientifically faithful tale of the fate of our world. «One hell of a novel... has what sci-fi readers want these days; intelligence, action, and an epic scale». Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Line drawings.

Pat Conroy has created a huge, brash, thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and the dark and violent past of the extraordinary family into which they were born. Filled with the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina lowcountry as well as the dusty glitter of New York City, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy's most magnificent novel yet.