Monday 21 January 2013

The Worlds Best Science Fiction Ebooks

By Claudine MacDonald


Never in the history of human literature has it been so easy to obtain the best science fiction ebooks. With a few minutes searching, it is possible to find literally dozens and dozens of websites where they can be obtained for free or for just a few pennies. In fact, this can drive you into a total frenzy just looking at the many different titles and subgenres that are available.

The first publishing house to fully embrace the concept of providing free ebooks was Project Gutenberg. This organization now offers more than 40,000 titles in a number of popular digital formats free of charge. Gutenberg defines science fiction (aka SF, Sci-Fi) as a work of fiction wherein something about it is significantly different from our own past or present reality. This difference can be philosophical, metaphysical, technological, physical or historical. One paradigm that is excluded from this genre is magic, which is considered under the Fantasy genre.

Even the major brand name suppliers are being very generous with their titles. One name that has become internationally synonymous with ebooks markets a series of what they call sci-fi megapacks. Each megapack contains 25 different science fiction titles. These may be downloaded off their website for less than a dollar. Among the authors whose work is contained in these collections are Nelson S. Bond, Cyril M. Kornbluth and Arthur J. Burks.

Former American Marine colonel, Arthur J. Burks, was a prolific writer. He began writing full-time after he resigned from the Marine Corps in 1928 and quickly found his way to the "million-word-a-year" list. Among his sci-fi titles was, "Monsters of Moyen."

Cyril Kornbluth was born without a middle name so he chose to use the middle initial of his wife's name, which was Mary. As a member of the Futurians, he formed part of the critical mass of authors and editors who drove the sci-fi genre forward during the years between 1937 and 1945. He used several different pen names, including Scott Mariner, Simon Eisner and Kenneth Falconer. Among his works are "Eight Worlds of C. M. Kornbluth" and "The Space Merchants."

The first-ever powerful female character to grace the sci-fi pages was, "Meg the Priestess." These books written by Nelson S. Bond, a prolific author of television, books, stage and radio. One of his titles, "Lancelot Biggs Cooks a Pirate, " is included in a megapack.

Fans of planetary romance, soft science fiction, lost world, and sword and planet genres will be pleased to know they can amass a huge collection of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. As well as the famous Tarzan stories, Burroughs created the Barsoom series, a collection of novels about a fictional situation on the planet Mars. The first Barsoom novel, "A Princess of Mars, " was published in 1917.

Expert shoppers will spot an occasional story by a more modern science fiction writer in one of the megapacks. "The Big Trip Up Yonder, " by Kurt Vonnegut, is one example. The best science fiction ebooks ever written by other well-known writers like Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury are also easy to find. In no time at all, you can download a collection that will keep you entertained on a voyage to Mars and back.




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