The Unorthodox Engineers are a misfit bunch of engineers, commanded by maverick engineer Fritz van Noon and including, amongst others, a convicted bank robber as quartermaster (on the entirely-sound grounds that he was likely to be the most capable person for the job). They solve problems of alien technology and weird planets in the future. The Unorthodox Engineers contains: The Railways Up on Cannis (1959) The Subways of Tazoo (1964) The Pen and the Dark (1966) Getaway from Getawehi (1969) The Black Hole of Negrav (1975)

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google’s Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You’ll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient—lessons directly applicable to your organization. This book is divided into four sections: Introduction—Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practices Principles—Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE) Practices—Understand the theory and practice of an SRE’s day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systems Management—Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

THE CLOUDBUILDERS and Other Marvels was collected by John Pelan and it contains all five of the Unorthodox Engineers series, first published in New Writings in SF. In his introduction, John traces the history of each story and places them in historical context. The stories are: The Cloudbuilders, New Writings in SF #12, 1968 Ambassador to Verdammt, Analog, April 1968 The Railways on Cannis, New Worlds, 87 1959 The Subways of Tazoo, New Writings in SF #3 1964 The Pen and the Dark, New Writings in SF #8 1966 Getaway from Getawehi, New Writings in SF #16 1969 The Black Hole of Negrav, New Writings in SF #25 1975 Something in the City, Analog, November, 1984

A sunflare, a meteorite strike, a tachyon storm - all natural disasters - were wiping out the best brains of mankind at a rate of a thousand times greater than normal. The Director of ChaosCenter laid it out bluntly: "All our evidence suggests that a device that can alter probability exists. For want of a better name we call it the Chaos Weapon. Somebody, somewhere, wants us cut back - and hard. Unless we find that Chaos Weapon and destroy it, it's going to destroy us!".

Why is the government deliberately destroying all trace of Man's past? Why are the laws of gravity and momentum strangely altered? Why has the world's population continually increased without the predicted eco-crisis taking place? Why is there an international conspiracy to conceal the future of the human race? These are just some of the reality-shattering questions that face Manalone, a brilliant computer scientist, when he tries to find out exactly what has happened to humanity. Manalone, outcast from society, must fight the entire machinery of a ruthless police state to discover the truth. And the truth is an awful, chilling one, that sounds only too real in today's world.

FAILWAY- the organisation whose process could break through into an inferior energy level, transporting the people into other dimensions, bringing them pleasures simple, exciting, exotic or erotic... FAILWAY- a police state, which tolerated no opposition. It was ruthless, thorough, and invariably fatal to its opponents... FAILWAY- against whose other-world power stood one man... DALROI

The Star King had bet on Colonel Bogaert's ability to survive...and the fate of Terra was at stake!