The Starcombers, the & Year When Stardust Fell

Armchair Fiction presents extra large editions of classic science fiction double novels. The first novel is another "can't-put-it-down" gem by Edmond Hamilton, "The Starcombers." There were immense fortunes to be had on a dying world, but Sam Fletcher was a spaceman near the end of his rope. He had signed on with Harry Axe's fleet and hated himself for doing so. They were just a bunch of greedy space scavengers. They took the dead dreams of ancient races and sold them for junk. And a love-hate relationship with Harry's sultry wife didn't make things any better. That all changed, though, after they stumbled upon this black, sunless world filled with priceless alien artifacts. It was there that a bitter confrontation with a dying alien race, and a fight to the death with some of the most horrible space monsters imaginable, taught Sam Fletcher which dreams were really worth dying for. The second novel is from the man who gave us "This Island Earth," Raymond F. Jones. "The Year When Stardust Fell" is an engaging sci-fi thriller about an Earth in peril. Mayfield was the typical college town. Nothing too unusual ever happened there until a mysterious comet was suddenly observed by the scientists on College Hill. And then one day the modified engine on Ken Maddox's car began overheating mysteriously. By morning it didn't run at all. Art's Garage, local headquarters for hot-rodders, was soon so full of cars that wouldn't run, that Ken's science club began working in the garage after school. It didn't take long for the club to discover that all the moving parts on these stalled cars had fused together. Soon all machinery had stopped in Mayfield. There was no longer any light or power anywhere. This mysterious creeping paralysis was spreading. The copper-yellow glow of the comet seemed to have brought the whole world to a grinding halt. Finally man was left with only a few primitive tools in this startling and thought-provoking tale that shows how human nature might react to catastrophe.