Reproduction of the original: The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne

PROLOGUE. IN THE MARQUESAS. It was about three o'clock of a winter's afternoon in Tai-o-hae, the French capital and port of entry of the Marquesas Islands. The trades blew strong and squally; the surf roared loud on the shingle beach; and the fifty-ton schooner of war, that carries the flag and influence of France about the islands of the cannibal group, rolled at her moorings under Prison Hill. The clouds hung low and black on the surrounding amphitheatre of mountains; rain had fallen earlier in the day, real tropic rain, a waterspout for violence; and the green and gloomy brow of the mountain was still seamed with many silver threads of torrent. In these hot and healthy islands winter is but a name. The rain had not refreshed, nor could the wind invigorate, the dwellers of Tai-o-hae: away at one end, indeed, the commandant was directing some changes in the residency garden beyond Prison Hill; and the gardeners, being all convicts, had no choice but to continue to obey. All other folks slumbered and took their rest: Vaekehu, the native queen, in her trim house under the rustling palms; the Tahitian commissary, in his beflagged official residence; the merchants, in their deserted stores; and even the club-servant in the club, his head fallen forward on the bottle-counter, under the map of the world and the cards of navy officers. In the whole length of the single shoreside street, with its scattered board houses looking to the sea, its grateful shade of palms and green jungle of puraos, no moving figure could be seen. Only, at the end of the rickety pier, that once (in the prosperous days of the American rebellion) was used to groan under the cotton of John Hart, there might have been spied upon a pile of lumber the famous tattooed white man, the living curiosity of Tai-o-hae. His eyes were open, staring down the bay. He saw the mountains droop, as they approached the entrance, and break down in cliffs; the surf boil white round the two sentinel islets; and between, on the narrow bight of blue horizon, Ua-pu upraise the ghost of her pinnacled mountain tops. But his mind would take no account of these familiar features; as he dodged in and out along the frontier line of sleep and waking, memory would serve him with broken fragments of the past: brown faces and white, of skipper and shipmate, king and chief, would arise before his mind and vanish; he would recall old voyages, old landfalls in the hour of dawn; he would hear again the drums beat for a man-eating festival; perhaps he would summon up the form of that island princess for the love of whom he had submitted his body to the cruel hands of the tattooer, and now sat on the lumber, at the pier-end of Tai-o-hae, so strange a figure of a European. Or perhaps from yet further back, sounds and scents of England and his childhood might assail him: the merry clamour of cathedral bells, the broom upon the foreland, the song of the river on the weir.

Welcome to the 10th Science Fiction MEGAPACKTM! This time we present 30 stories (including several full-length novels) by some of the biggest and best in the science fiction field, plus 2 poems and the first (of 3) installments in our first novel serial. From David Gerrold's "The Martian Child" (winner of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and HOMer Award) to brand new works published here for the first time by David Gerrold and Lawrence Watt-Evans to modern masterpieces by Pamela Sargent and Jay Lake to classics by E.E. "Doc Smith" and Alan E. Nourse -- we have everything a science fiction fan could want. Almost 1,500 pages of great reading! Fiction: TORQUING VACUUM, by Jay Lake COLLECTORS, by Pamela Sargent VICTORY, by Lester del Rey THE TREE OF LIFE, by C. L. Moore YE OLDE RESIGNATION, by Rhys Hughes FACE TO FACE, by Adrian Cole BEYOND THE THUNDER, by H. B. Hickey CAPTIVES OF THE THIEVE-STAR, by James H. Schmitz THE DEEPS, by Keith Roberts MADMEN MUSTERED, by Connor Freff Cochran EXILE FROM SPACE, by Judith Merril THROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: THE CHAIRMAN DANCES, by David Gerrold THE FROZEN PLANET, by Keith Laumer THE TAIL-TIED KINGS, by Avram Davidson THE GRAIN KINGS, by Keith Roberts HIS MASTER'S VOICE, by Randall Garrett BACK TO JULIE, by Richard Wilson BRIGHTSIDE CROSSING, by Alan E. Nourse THE SECRET OF THE SCARAB, by Ron Goulart REINVENTING CARL HOBBS, by James Glass THE OLD SHILL GAME, by H.B. Fyfe NOTES TOWARD A NEW TRAIT AS REVEALED BY CORRELATION AMONG ITEMS OF THE MMMPI, by M. Purrzillo, U. R. A. Ferball, and C. Kitirun THE SLEEPER IS A REBEL, by Bryce Walton THE TEACHER FROM MARS, by Eando Binder NIF'S WORLD, by Lawrence Watt-Evans A MAN OBSESSED, by Alan E. Nourse FIRST LENSMAN, by E.E. “Doc” Smith REINCARNATE, by Lester del Rey THE MAN WHO LIVED FOREVER, by R. DeWitt Miller and Anna Hunger THE MARTIAN CHILD, by David Gerrold Poetry: I’VE NEVER SEEN, by Hannes Bok (poem) THOUGHT AND SPACE, by Ray Bradbury Novel Serial: FIREBIRD, by Tony Rothman (part 1 of 3) If you enjoy this MEGAPACKTM, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 240+ other entries in this series, including science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure, horror, westerns -- and much, much more!

Triplanetary - Arisians, the alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their arch-enemies, the Eddorians... First Lensman - The novel chronicles the founding of the Galactic Patrol by Virgil Samms, the first sentient being in our cosmos to wear the "Lens", a unique badge of authority which is actually a form of "pseudo-life" that grants telepathic powers to the defenders of Civilization... Galactic Patrol - Kinnison and Clarissa MacDougall are the penultimates of the human breeding program the Arisians had set up many eons earlier... Second Stage Lensmen - The four superior Lensmen: Kinnison, Worsel, Tregonsee, and Nadreck, are armed with mental powers allowing them to control the minds of others and see, hear, and feel without using their physical senses (the "sense of perception")... The Vortex Blaster or, Masters of the Vortex - Neal "Storm" Cloud is not a Lensman. Instead he is a nuclear engineer with an amazingly mathematical mind. He is a high level genius and a lightning calculator...

This meticulously edited Sci-Fi box set is packed with the selected dystopian novels & the post-apocalyptic classics. The ebook is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Ayn Rand: Anthem Jack London: Iron Heel H. G. Wells: The Time Machine The First Men in the Moon When The Sleeper Wakes Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race Hugh Benson: Lord of the World Edward Bellamy: Looking Backward: 2000–1887 Equality Mary Shelley: The Last Man Edgar Allan Poe: The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion Owen Gregory: Meccania the Super-State Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels William Hope Hodgson: The Night Land Fred M. White: The Doom of London Series The Four White Days The Four Days' Night The Dust of Death A Bubble Burst The Invisible Force The River of Death Ignatius Donnelly: Caesar's Column Ernest Bramah: The Secret of the League (aka What Might Have Been) Milo Hastings: City of Endless Night Arthur Dudley Vinton: Looking Further Backward Gertrude Barrows Bennett (aka Francis Stevens): The Heads of Cerberus E. M. Forster: The Machine Stops Richard Jefferies: After London Samuel Butler: Erewhon Edwin A. Abbott: Flatland Anthony Trollope: The Fixed Period Fritz Leiber: The Night of the Long Knives Richard Stockham: Perchance to Dream Irving E. Cox: The Guardians Cleveland Moffett: The Conquest of America Richard Jefferies: After London William Dean Howells: A Traveler from Altruria Through the Eye of the Needle Philip Francis Nowlan: Armageddon–2419 A.D. The Airlords of Han (Sequel) Anonymous: The Great Romance Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: Sultana's Dream George Griffith: The Angel of the Revolution The Syren of the Skies (Sequel)

There's a secret in the basement of the engineering building. Three travelers, claiming to be from a utopia six thousand years hence, are helping Dr. Gustafson and his graduate staff invent a time transport. Their stated goal: to stop war and secure a peaceful future. Overloaded and overtaxed, the transport experiments start to go wrong. Dreadfully wrong. What the professors don't know is that the Travelers have their own plans for the machine. And their own secrets.... The future isn't peaceful. The past is not the past. And the machine in the engineering building has everything to do with an unimaginable war...in David Drake's thrilling time travel adventure novel, Bridgehead. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

E. E. Smith's 'Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection' is a literary masterpiece that encompasses a range of thought-provoking science fiction stories that are both visionary and imaginative. Smith's writing style is characterized by its detailed world-building, epic storylines, and intricate scientific concepts that set the standard for the genre. Each story in the collection is a testament to Smith's mastery of crafting intricate plots and engaging narratives that keep readers on the edge of their seats. As one of the pioneering figures in science fiction literature, Smith's work continues to captivate readers with its innovative ideas and compelling storytelling. Smith's background as a chemical engineer and food scientist inspired his passion for science fiction writing, allowing him to seamlessly blend scientific principles with fantastical elements in his stories. His unique perspective and expertise in the field make 'Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection' a must-read for any fan of the genre or anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of science and technology in literature. Whether you're a seasoned science fiction enthusiast or a newcomer to the genre, E. E. Smith's collection is sure to leave a lasting impression and ignite your imagination with its groundbreaking stories.

This edition brings to you exciting space operas and Sci-Fi stories by E. E. "Doc" Smith in one convenient volume! Contents: The Skylark of Space Skylark Three Spacehounds of IPC Triplanetary (I) Triplanetary (II) First Lensman Galactic Patrol Second Stage Lensmen The Vortex Blaster or, Masters of the Vortex The Galaxy Primes Subspace Survivors Imperial Stars Masters of Space Tedric Lord Tedric Robot Nemesis