From the vaults of The SF Gateway, the most comprehensive digital library of classic SFF titles ever assembled, comes an ideal introduction to the work of the award-winning Bob Shaw. Best known for his extraordinary novel of 'slow glass', Other Days, Other Eyes, Bob Shaw was a fan favourite at conventions for his hysterical 'serious scientific talks'. This omnibus contains three of his finest works: Orbitsville, A Wreath of Stars and The Ragged Astronauts

Racing from the certain vengeance of Earth's tyrant ruler, space captain Vance Garamond flees the Solar System.And discovers the almost unimaginably vast spherical structure soon to become famous as 'Orbitsville' - a new home for Earth's huddled masses.Behind Garamond comes Earth's space fleet...Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1975

The chronicle of adventures of the survey ship Sarafand as it journeys through space exploring and mapping newly-discovered planets.The mission brings them into contact with man startling life-forms and menacing aliens. On one world the Sarafand sends out six survey modules and seven return: one of them is a shape-changing malevolent alien - but which?On another planet they discover a humanoid civilisation which can move around in time. Suddenly the Sarafand investigators a...

Twenty-four years have passed since Toller Maraquine led the population of Land to the sister planet of Overland. Somehow, those left behind have become immune to the deadly pterthacosis which caused the exodus, and their voracious ruler now lays claim to Overland.Grudgingly put in charge of his planet's defence, Toller designs a front-line force of spaceships and satellites made of wood, which will engage the enemy fleet in the cold vastness of space, before the invaders can set f...

What unfathomed secrets lay sleeping in this eerie world of water?The Clan knew almost nothing about the giant sphere of water they inhabited, and even less about the sun and planets nearby in space. Living amidst a cluster of nets anchored to the roots of a giant plant, they were aware only of their unending quest for precious air bubbles; and of the unending threat from the ever-hungry Hora. Those who fell victim to the beasts' voracious tentacles were left to sink slowly to the ...

Shrouded by its shell of drifting lunar fragments, the planet Mnemosyne is a refuge for creative artists and poets, a place isolated from the desperate, losing struggle of the humans against the Syccans.But then COMsac, theFederation's High Command, come to Mnemosyne, and suddenly the planet is more a military colony than a place for artists.For Mack Taverner, the dilemma is stark: either go along with the brutal military visitation or join the hopeless resitance and become...

'The entire head had been stripped of skin, creating a nightmarish sculpture in gelled blood...'The hideous apparition that confronted John Redpath almost defied description. It was the beginning of a horrific ordeal that would cause him to question his own sanity...A member of a telepathic research project, Redpath believes the cause to be side-effects from the experimental drugs he is taking - but then stranger things begin to happen. He wakes up to find himself in America....

Lucas Hutchman is the Ground Zero ManThe man who has his finger on the button, the man who can destroy the world - or save it, the man whose own life suddenly has no value, unless he can make the governments of Earth understand that he is the absolute master of the ultimate doomsday device - a device that can trigger every nuclear weapon in existence if Hutchman's demands are not met in time.

"One of the most entertaining ... science fiction authors of the 20th Century" - Alan Brown, Reactor Magazine"I read this when it was first published and have greatly enjoyed re-reading it" - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars"A superb novel" - Amazon Reviewer, 5 starsLand and Overland are twin worlds, barely a few thousand miles apart. On Land, humanity faces a threat to its very survival - an airborne species, the ...

The opening of The Fugitive Worlds finds Toller Maraquine II - grandson of the hero of The Ragged Astronauts and The Wooden Spaceships - bemoaning the fact that life on the twin planets of Land and Overland has become dull and uneventful compared to the stirring times in which his illustrious forebear lived. Then, while on a balloon flight between the worlds, he makes an astonishing discovery - a rapidly growing crystal disc, many miles across, is creating a barr...

Thirteen fantastical tales, including What Time Do You Call This? - a wildly ironic story about a bank robber who shuttles to an alternate universe and runs into himself. Communication - a modest plan by a shaman spiritualist gets out of hand when the dead begin to contact him. And Isles Where Good Men Lie - a space caravan of scale-armoured, bacteria-laden immigrants begins to make landings on Earth every twenty-two hours.. and is likely to do so for the next twelve centuries.

Defying time, Jack Breton crosses into a parallel world to regain Kate - the wife who, nine years earlier, was found raped and strangled in a lonely park. But, in the alternate time-stream Kate is married to his double, John. And for one husband to remain either Jack or John must die.