In Vulcan's Hammer a super-computer makes all the important decisions for a worldwide government. But when religious fanatics decide to fight back, it leads a high-ranking official to question whether the peace provided by the computer is worth the abnegation of free will.

When Ivan Wright stepped out of his mountain cabin, rifle in hand, to investigate the sound of a strange helicopter, he stepped right into the middle of a galactic crisis. For the crew of that odd aircraft were not men such as he'd ever seen before - and when he tried to oppose them, he found himself hurled uncontrollably into oblivion. He awoke to find himself considered as a kidnapped barbarian from a backward planet in a galaxy of advanced civilizations - yet one who somehow held in his own hands the key to all their futures!

Following the end of WWII the United Kingdom embarked on an audacious program of aircraft and weapons development to maintain its position as a world power. This led ultimately to the V-bombers; Valiant, Victor, and Vulcan, that carried the British nuclear deterrent from the mid 1950s until replaced by Polaris in the late 1960s. Prior to the V-bombers, the British aviation industry examined a number of schemes to deliver that deterrent, such as Blue Moon, while their intended replacements, the supersonic Avro 730 and English Electric P.10, could have been the most advanced aircraft in the world in 1960. As political and military circumstances changed, the V-force adopted new concepts, specifically the American Skybolt and the patrol missile carriers: the Pofflers. Running in parallel with aircraft development were a number of programs to advance V-bomber weaponry. In addition to free-fall bombs, the UK aviation industry undertook development of missiles and the associated propulsion and guidance systems, and in Blue Steel, created the most complex vehicle ever produced in the UK. As well as arming the Victor and Vulcan, Blue Steel was to form the basis of a range of weapons for TSR.2 and Mirage IV, test vehicles and satellite launchers. Illustrated with more than 200 photographs and drawings plus new color artwork, Vulcan's Hammer presents the story of an alternative V-force and its armament providing a wealth of fascinating information for historians and modelers alike.

Having just lost Berkeley and his wife in a game of Bluff, a bizarre game that has become a blinding obsession for the last inhabitants of Earth, Pete Garden prepares to play his next opponent, who isn't even human, for stakes that are much higher

After the twentieth century’s devastating series of wars, the world’s governments banded together into one globe-spanning entity, committed to peace at all costs. Ensuring that peace is the Vulcan supercomputer, responsible for all major decisions. But some people don’t like being taken out of the equation. And others resent the idea that the Vulcan is taking the place of God. As the world grows ever closer to all-out war, one functionary frantically tries to prevent it. But the Vulcan computer has its own plans, plans that might not include humanity at all.

At the beginning of his career, Philip K. Dick, whose later work won him widespread acclaim as the world's greatest science fiction writer, wrote a number of short novels which were published as paperback originals back-to-back in dual volumes with works by writers who were then more famous. This book three of these novels. They are: 'The Man Who Japed'; 'Dr. Futurity'; and 'Vulcan's Hammer'.

Prefect Tom Dreyfus investigates a murderous attack on one of the space habitats of the Glitter Band--a crime that has left nine hundred people dead--and uncovers a plot by a mysterious entity seeking total control of the region.