“[A] combination of mystery and science fiction almost reaching the level of Isaac Asimov’s classic LIJE BALEY—Daneel Olivaw novels.” —CHICAGO SUN TIMES The second volume of the spectacular science fiction thriller evolving from the works of Arthur C. Clarke, the grandmaster of science fiction. Her code name is Sparta, whose beauty veils a mysterious past and abilities of superhuman dimension; the product of advanced biotech engineering. When a team of scientists is trapped in the gaseous inferno of Venus, Sparta must risk her life to save them, unaware that her actions will help recover a mysterious artifact: irrefutable evidence of life on another planet.

“I have long admired Paul Preuss’s work and for this reason was pleased when he expanded six of my short stories into the Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime series, which has been extremely successful. I wish him every success with his new novel.” —Arthur C. Clarke “Paul Preuss is one of the rather few science fiction writers who really understand and appreciate science. He’s also a fine writer by any other standard. In Core he gives us a story both exciting and thought provoking, filled with people we come to know about and care about.” —Poul Anderson “What is the deepest hole which may be dug into the earth?” was first asked about 1947, not 1941, by Enrico Fermi. It can be found in University of Chicago Graduate Problems in Physics, with Solutions, from the University of Chicago Press. The catch is, it appears in the section of experimental problems, for which no solutions are given. To address it, one ought to know something about drilling techniques, materials, and the earth. When Byron Preiss challenged me with the question (he phrased it differently) around the time of the 125th anniversary of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, I knew next to nothing about any of these subjects. Besides spinning a yarn, nothing is more fun than research. The earth’s magnetic field begins to collapse, leaving the planet unprotected against deadly cosmic rays and solar flares. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children suffer radiation burns and deaths, severe power disruptions, and communications blackouts. If the collapse continues, the ozone layer will be totally destroyed, setting loose plagues of cancer, sterility, mutations, birth defects, and worse. Scientists, srambling to understand these savage new phenomena, ultimately realize that unless an answer is found quickly, all life on earth will be destroyed in a rapidly approaching apocalypse. Against this freighteningly real near-future backdrop, Cyrus and Leiden Hudder—father and son, two of the world's great scientific minds, separated by an undying hatred and resentment—are brought together through the work of fiercely independent physicist Marta McDougal. Marta has developed one of the greatest technological breakthroughs of the age, a machine to bore through the earth’s solid crust to reach its very center...but this invention is a two-edged sword. The ultimate weapon, it could be mankind’s salvation—or its destruction! Packed with explsive action in a world poised on the brink of collapse, this hight-tech masterpiece is Paul Preuss’s finest achievement. Paul Preuss began his successful writing career after years of producing documentary and television films and writing screenplays. He is the author of twelve novels, including Venus Prime, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and the near-future thrillers Core, Human Error, and Starfire. His non-fiction has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Besides writing, he has been a science consultant for several film companies. He lives in San Francisco, California.

A selection of what he considers to be his best short stories is presented by this leading science fiction writer

Six decades of fascinating stories from the legendary “colossus of science fiction” and creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey gathered in one compendium (The New Yorker). Arthur C. Clarke, along with H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein, was a definitive voice in twentieth century science fiction. A prophetic thinker, undersea explorer, and “one of the true geniuses of our time,” Clarke not only won the highest science fiction honors, the Nebula and Hugo Awards, but also received nominations for an Academy Award and the Nobel Peace Prize, and was knighted for his services to literature (Ray Bradbury). Now, more than one hundred works of the sci-fi master’s short fiction are available in the “single-author collection of the decade” (Booklist, starred review). This definitive edition includes early work such as “Rescue Party” and “The Lion of Comarre,” classics like “The Nine Billion Names of God” and “The Sentinel” (which was the kernel of the later novel and movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey), and later works including “A Meeting with Medusa” and “The Hammer of God.” Encapsulating one of the great science fiction careers of all time, this immense volume “displays the author’s fertile imagination and irrepressible enthusiasm for both good storytelling and impeccable science” (Library Journal). “One of the most astounding imaginations ever encountered in print.” —The New York Times “As his Collected Stories helps to demonstrate, there has been no popular writer since the days of C S Lewis and Charles Williams whose disposition is more nakedly apocalyptic, who takes greater pleasure in cradling eternity in the palm of his hand.” —The Guardian

"Prelude to Space, the first of the novels, is a vivid account of the events that culminate in a man's first voyage to the moon. Written when the adventure seemed a remote possibility, and now regarded as a classic in its field, it gains fresh interest from an introduction discussing ways in which the actualities of space travel are overtaking the author's speculations about it. Actuality has yet to overtake Sands of Mars, a novel in which courageous and visionary men bring off a vast experiment to make permanent colonization of that forbidding planet possible"--Front jacket flap.

This classic collection of short stories includes some of Clarke's finest work: vivid glimpses into the future, a year, a decade, a century, a millennium from now.

Wealth . . . or death. Those were the choices Gateway offered. Humans had discovered this artificial spaceport, full of working interstellar ships left behind by the mysterious, vanished Heechee. Their destinations are preprogrammed. They are easy to operate, but impossible to control. Some came back with discoveries which made their intrepid pilots rich; others returned with their remains barely identifiable. It was the ultimate game of Russian roulette, but in this resource-starved future there was no shortage of desperate volunteers.