Armchair Fiction presents extra-large editions of classic science fiction double novels, complete with original illustrations. The first novel is Stanton Coblentz's "Planet of the Knob-heads." Newlyweds Jack and Marjorie Wainright were two of the brightest stars in the scientific world. They had it all--youth, success, and the respect of their peers. Then one evening at home they stumbled onto an amazing sight. As they looked through their telescopic reflector into the night sky, they were astonished to see a spaceship descending toward Earth! Soon the Wainrights were in search of the landing site of the mysterious alien spacecraft. They found it in the wilds of Equatorial West Africa. There the Wainrights met the knob-heads of Uuleppe--a planet near Andromeda. Unfortunately these strange visitors repaid their hosts' kindness by kidnapping and whisking them across the void. Treated as "specimens of Earth fauna," the Wainrights faced a seemingly hopeless struggle on an alien planet, with little chance of ever returning to Earth. The second novel is straight from the pages of Amazing Stories, "Out of the Void" by Leslie F. Stone. One evening as he was driving to his remote mountain lodge for a weekend fishing trip, Wall Street journeyman Carl Wooten saw something very odd. It was an ominous flash of light somewhere in the woods beyond his lodge. After entering, Wooten found the strangest of things...a beautiful ruby sitting on his dressing table, seemingly put there in payment for numerous articles of his clothing that were now missing. Upon investigating the next morning, Wooten made a discovery that would rock his senses. Sitting in a nearby meadow, in plain sight, was an enormous spaceship--the likes of which could not possibly have been made by anyone on Earth. Moments later, Wooten found himself a prisoner--captured by two humanoid creatures clearly not of Earthen origin. And before long Carl Wooten was drawn into the incredible story of an aging professor, two daring adventurers, and a rocket flight beyond the edge of the Solar System...

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

A brave starship crew are drawn into the schemes of interplanetary powers competing for galactic domination, in this epic space opera from the best-selling strategic boardgame, Twilight Imperium Captain Felix Duval and the crew of the Temerarious quietly patrol a remote Mentak Coalition colony system where nothing ever happens. But when they answer a distress call from a moon under attack, that peaceful existence is torn apart. They rescue a scientist, Thales, who’s developing revolutionary technology to create new wormholes. He just needs a few things to make it fully operational… and now, ordered to aid the scientist, the Temerarious is targeted by two rival black-ops teams intent on reacquiring Thales. Can Felix trust Thales? Or is this a conspiracy to tip the balance of power in the galaxy forever?

Reproduction of the original: Phases of an Inferior Planet by Ellen Glasgow

NOMINATED FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL * Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in Velocity Weapon, the first book in this epic space opera trilogy by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe. Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost. The star system is dead. Ada Prime and its rival Icarion have wiped each other from the universe. Now, separated by time and space, Sanda and Biran must fight to put things right. The ProtectorateVelocity Weapon

Henry Miller’s landmark travel book, now reissued in a new edition, is ready to be stuffed into any vagabond’s backpack. Like the ancient colossus that stood over the harbor of Rhodes, Henry Miller’s The Colossus of Maroussi stands as a seminal classic in travel literature. It has preceded the footsteps of prominent travel writers such as Pico Iyer and Rolf Potts. The book Miller would later cite as his favorite began with a young woman’s seductive description of Greece. Miller headed out with his friend Lawrence Durrell to explore the Grecian countryside: a flock of sheep nearly tramples the two as they lie naked on a beach; the Greek poet Katsmbalis, the “colossus” of Miller’s book, stirs every rooster within earshot of the Acropolis with his own loud crowing; cold hard-boiled eggs are warmed in a village’s single stove, and they stay in hotels that “have seen better days, but which have an aroma of the past.”

Since the appearance of the first science fiction magazine in 1926, thousands of short stories have been published in periodicals devoted to the genre. These stories cover a wide range of subjects, from spacecraft to the human condition, and feature little-known authors as well as masters like Ellison and Asimov. In the past, finding which issue of what magazine ran a certain story was nearly impossible. This much-needed reference tool provides valuable assistance in the daunting task of locating short stories published in science fiction magazines, providing exhaustive indexes to magazines, authors, and titles, allowing a variety of options for research on 34,000 stories appearing in nearly 5,000 issues of 133 genre magazines. Stories from all major American publications, as well as from several minor periodicals, are indexed. Also included is an appendix of the best known and most prolific contributors, giving the titles of all their stories in this work (necessary because the huge author index does not show titles). A guide to how to use this book clarifies its features for the researcher.

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

It's 1895, Melbourne is in crisis, and Pearl and Vally Cole's father has suggested the unthinkable: it might be time to close the grandest bookshop in the world. When a ghostly visitor offers Pearl magic that could save her home, she seizes her chance. But her new friend is not what he seems, and the unstoppable magic in the palm of her hand comes at a terrible cost. Vally can see just one way to save Pearl before she is lost forever. He must call upon the sinister magician who nearly destroyed the Cole family two years ago. But the Obscurosmith only performs the impossible for a price ... Reunite with old friends, solve fiendish puzzles, and find five lost treasures from across the globe in this sweeping adventure that concludes the story of The Grandest Bookshop in the World.

Monsters aren't real. They belong to the world of storybooks and legends. Or so you have been led to believe. For the past twenty years, Gomer Horsenick has been building the world's strangest zoo. He and his ragtag group of men have explored the globe, collecting monsters of the sea, sand, sky and sewers. And now the zoo is ready to open. But not if Juniper Lowery can stop him. A fervent animal activist, Juniper gets wind of Gomer’s intentions and makes it her mission to set these creatures free. When her plan backfires, the monsters flee, descending upon the nearby town. A horrific nightmare of chaos and destruction ensues. It is up to Juniper and Gomer to reconcile their differences and save the city before the terror spreads.