Adventure House

A Matter of Matter Paperback 

Meet Chuck Lambert, who, though not exactly a fool, is guilty of letting his imagination get the best of his wits. That's because our young, naive Lambert wants his own planet. But rather than purchase one legally from the Interior Department of the Outer Galactic Control, he soon succumbs to the flashy advertising of an unsavory galactic swindler named Madman Murphy—the purported King of Planetary Realtors.

 

What Madman is the king of, is selling the unwary a planet that isn't quite right, a planet where one can't sit down because there's something the matter with its matter. And that's exactly what becomes the matter for our unlucky voyager, after Chuck toils for eleven grueling years to scrape together enough money to finally buy a planet of his own.

 

ALSO INCLUDES THE SCIENCE FICTION STORIES "THE CONROY DIARY," "THE PLANET MAKERS" AND "THE OBSOLETE WEAPON"

Destiny's Drum Paperback When former captain of this army and that, Phil Sheridan, lands on the shore of the forgotten Indonesian island of Kamling—jewel of the Banda Sea—he's captured instead of welcomed by warriors of a primitive and bloodthirsty tribe. Marched to the natives' camp, he meets Jose Emanuel Batista—one-time slave trafficker, long-time murderer, and now self-appointed tyrant.

Using his smooth-talking tongue and shooting skills to escape, Sheridan finds temporary shelter at the lodgings of a miner and his beautiful daughter. With limited arms and supplies to hold off Batista and his men, Sheridan must take a desperate chance and journey ever deeper into the jungle. His plan? Enlist the help of headhunters who may be more interested in his head than in driving out Batista's regime and ending its tyrannical reign

Sea Fangs

Paperback

Sailor Bob Sherman has his hands full trying to save the ocean yacht Bonito from capsizing in hurricane waters off Venezuela's coast, no thanks to the know-it-all attitude and incompetence of the vessel's captain. Sherman's rugged good looks and seafaring skills at least bring him the attentions of Phyllis Marmion, a raven-haired beauty and daughter of the yacht's owner.

Unfortunately, Sherman's also the bitter enemy of the girl's father who, with the support of corrupt officials, had stripped him of a highly profitable drilling business and taken his land years before.

More's at stake than oil fields when the ship is attacked by modern pirates and are all taken captive. Soon Sherman, crew and passengers find themselves in a dungeon jail on an uncharted island known locally as the Island of Death a place where no one escapes, and Sherman's futile efforts have marked him for an early death.

Itauk the Madman has spread death to the Yukon, throwing the bodies of his victims to his sled team of twelve wolves. Tracking him down are Canadian Mountie Tommy McKenna and his partner Simmons. But when the pair separate to hunt for food, Itauk attacks Simmons and lets his wolves make an unmentionable feast that Tommy later discovers on his return to camp.

Enraged, Tommy follows the maniac's trail to a village and en route he meets an enchanting Eskimo woman named Kaja. Of course, the route's a trap set by Itauk, and the only one who can save Tommy is Kaja-- engaged to be wed to the ruthless killer, who plans to serve the Mountie as the next meal for his personal wolf pack.

An American mining engineer, Captain Humbert Reynolds, has gold fever an elusive ailment that cloaks rational thought and drives men across endless plains and daunting mountain peaks to seek their quarry.

Ignoring all warnings and signs of treachery, Reynolds travels to the barren expanses of the Gobi Desert in search of the glittery gold. Captured by bandits and thrown to an enclave of Machiavellian monks nestled deep inside a cavernous mountain, Reynolds finds a scene that resembles the horrors of Dante's hell. And though he does find his much-desired gold, Reynolds also discovers that the price he has to pay for it just may lead to his doom.

ALSO INCLUDES THE ADVENTURE STORY "PEARL PIRATE"

When several of the city's most respected citizens are inexplicably killed by what appear to be zombies, all Detective Terry Lane has to go on is a blue-grey glove, a Haitian pharmacy bill for some very unusual drugs and a death threat from a mysterious stranger.

Matters are soon complicated when a beautiful nightclub singer shows up who claims to have information that could solve the case, but whose motives are plainly suspect. Against his better judgement, Terry investigates her lead only to find himself sealed in a coffin en route to the next zombie murder--his own.

Lance Gordon killed his father's murderer in a fair fight, but now he's got a price on his head and has been running from the law ever since.

Cornered by men of the US Cavalry in Santos, Lance gets rescued by a mystery man who convinces him to join forces and go after a notorious cattle rustler up the infamous Coyote River.

Even together the pair stands barely a chance of bringing the gang of thieves to account, much less dealing with the soldiers still hot on their trail.

ALSO INCLUDES THE WESTERN STORY "REIGN OF THE GILA MONSTER"

The Sky-Crasher
Paperback

Caution is a second-generation ace pilot desperately trying to bury his past and the memories of his father— a daredevil barnstormer who perished trying to wow crowds and killed Caution's mother from the shock.

Now Caution has worked his way up the ladder as an ultra-efficient, ultra-conservative general manager of a small airline struggling to make ends meet. When the US Post Office puts its international delivery service up for grabs to the first airline that can successfully circumnavigate the globe and outperform every other airline, Caution's boss presses him into competing for the contract.

Against his better judgement, Caution throws his name to the wind, risking the hazards of the round-world air race. Joined by a fiery blonde stunt flyer as his female co-pilot, he begins the journey only to discover that a rival airline is trying to sabotage their every move.

ALSO INCLUDES THE ADVENTURE STORY "BOOMERANG BOMBER"

Under the Die-Hard Brand
Paperback

When Lee Thompson is making the long journey from Texas to Montana to see his aging father, he gets wind of the fact that the old man, one Sheriff Diehard Thompson, is losing control over Wolf River's town troublemakers. So, Lee decides to step in.

Lee's choice is a tough one, as the rule of law and his father's reputation hang in the balance. Since Diehard hasn't seen Lee in fifteen year's, Lee's not entirely surprised when his father doesn't recognize him. But more trouble awaits; it seems every frontier criminal has heard the same rumor of how easy the town is for outlaws, and nobody's seen the sheriff draw in three years. Now they're all on their way.

ALSO INCLUDES THE WESTERN STORIES "HOSS TAMER" AND "THE GHOST TOWN GUN-GHOST"

Hostage to Death
Paperback

Legionnaire Bill Reilly was given specific orders to guard a railroad station where nightly trains carrying Spanish supplies and troops pass by. He would have done so had it not been for a severed hand that arrived in his camp. The grizzled token carried a taunting message from a renegade Berber chieftan, claiming capture of an Englishwoman named Kay MacArthur and challenging the Legion to rescue her. Reilly's sense of honor overrides all. He takes up the gauntlet knowing full well he could be walking into a trap—with deadly consequences.

Wind-Gone-Mad
Paperback

In a tale played out during the last days of pre-World War II China and the rise of Communism, Jim Dahlgren, representative of the Amalgamated Aeronautical Company, has had enough of the fatalistic brand of diplomacy from other nations that claim to want a united China, one that can resist invasion from without and treason within— but which refuses to intervene and prevent it's demise..

And the damage is just too costly when lives are at stake, especially when a villain known as "The Butcher" is allowed to rise up with fire and sword carving the way on his warpath for complete control of the nation.

When Dahlgren disappears— purportedly to find a mysterious aviator, the man called "Wind-Gone-Mad" who has always fought against the province warlords— he ignites a series of actions which just may spell disaster.

ALSO INCLUDES THE ADVENTURE STORIES "TAH" AND "YELLOW LOOT "

He was the last man Lars Marlin had expected to see in Rio de Janeiro— and it took all of his willpower not to slay him on the spot.

Paco Corvino was a smooth-talking and slippery con man, a contraband runner, and escaped convict . . . not to mention murderer. He also was the man responsible for changing Captain Lars Marlin into Convict 3827645 of the penal colony in French Guiana known as Devil's Island— a prison from which he had only just escaped.

An unstoppable whirlwind of events brings Paco on board as the debonair chief steward of a luxury oceangoing yacht with an heiress and her rich friends as passengers. At the helm is skipper Lars Marlin. No one else knows that Paco and Lars are bitter rivals with an old score to settle, or that the voyage will be their final showdown upon the high seas.

Pilot Terry Lee has taught Bill Trevillian everything he knows about flying, enough that Bill's know considered the ace of American test pilots just as war breaks out in World War II Europe. Unknown to Bill, Terry's also taught his own kid sister, Kip, who's now almost as good a pilot as Bill and quite the looker to boot.

When France and Great Britain must choose between different American plane designs to outlfy the newest and deadliest Nazi fighters, the competing companies send their two best test pilots . . . Kip and Bill. Unfortunately, a spy also has been sent to infiltrate and sabotage the planes to make sure that neither the French nor British will consider them safe enough to fly. Soon Kip and Bill suspect the other of sabotage— a problem that not only threatens their already electric relationship but their very lives.

Published by Galaxy Press

Primed for promotion to the World-Journal city editor, grizzled senior reporter Pop is stunned when it's announced that young Leonard Caulborn, the publisher's son-in-law, will get the post. Worse, the lad wants him out. In protest, Pop demands to be given a beat again and gets his wish. . . only now he's got just two days to find the "real" story about a dead-end assignment— a month-old physics lecture— or be fired.

When Pop starts searching for the story's source, a professor named Pertwee, he lands in the middle of the story of a century after the Empire State Building, Grant's Tomb and Grand Central Station all disappear. Apparently, Pertwee's the mastermind behind it all. But Pop soon discovers that, instead of inventing a new way to blow things up, the professor may be doing quite the opposite.

ALSO INCLUDES THE SCIENCE FICTION STORIES "BATTLE OF WIZARDS" AND "THE DANGEROUS DIMENSION"

After Billy Newman strikes gold while mining in the Phillipines, he believes Lady Luck favors him so much that he buys his own South Seas island for a bargain price . . . or so he thinks.

But when the natives fall ill from plague and crops start failing, the tribal chiefs blame Billy for angering the local god Tadamona. Their solution: sacrifice a beautiful young girl before the 75-foot god. Appalled, Billy argues to stop the ritual, but the chiefs demand he cure their ills in just one day or allow the killing to go forward. Desperate, he denies that the deity even exists and dares Tadamona to show himself. Not only does Billy get his wish, he draws a beastly wrath upon the entire island.

ALSO INCLUDES THE FANTASY STORIES "THE ROOM" AND "HE DIDN'T LIKE CATS"

Michael Patrick Obanon, proud owner of a 100,000-acre spread willed to him by his father, suddenly loses his entire inheritance when a band of criminals makes false claims on the ranch. Faced with having to save his property and his people, Obanon takes a courageous stand against the renegades.

Yet he soon realizes it will take far more than mere weapons to win the day. With all guns seemingly drawn against him, Michael must come up with a devious strategy of his own to outwit the imposters and regain his birthright.

Published by Galaxy Press LLC

The Japanese have led a heavily armored assault against the Chinese city of Shunkien, pounding wreckage into ashes and wiping out a city dating back to Genghis Kahn. One of the few buildings still standing is the small American consulate, now packed with one hundred and sixteen frightened American refugees. Food is low and deadly Asiatic cholera is starting to run rampant, with carnage and corpses piling up in the streets.

Two hundred miles away, the USS Miami drops anchor, well equipped with the needed gold to buy food and a cholera serum to prevent disease and death. The dillema is that should the Marines take military action to rush supplies to the consulate, it could force the US into an all-out battle with the Japanese.

Marine Gunnery Sergeant James Mitchell and Private First Class Spivits instead are ordered to conduct a treacherous supply mission facing impossible odds to reach and rescue the trapped Americans.

FBI agent Bill Norton has been sent to Ketchikan, Alaska to track down his former boss, who's vanished while investigating a heroin smuggling ring. Norton instantly suspects the smugglers are operating from inside the local fishing fleet. But six months and a string of declared "accidental" drownings have failed to turn up any clues.

Norton's cold case heats up when the local radio station owner emerges, floating face-down at the docks, and a heart-stopping heiress to the halibut trade makes a maelstrom of trouble. The fact that Norton is well dressed and neatly shaven causes some of the local toughs to mistake the agent for a "chee-chalker"—or newcomer—much to their regret.

American arms merchant Blacky Lee is wanted by nearly every government in 1930s Europe— especially the Nazis. They want Blacky's head for selling them dud weapons, prompting his rapid (and illegal) escape across the Balkans to the kingdom of Aldoria with his business partner in tow.

Aldoria is well chosen. Years before, Blacky discovered he was the spitting image of the country's Prince Philip, learned the archduke's speaking voice and memorized the royal family tree just in case. When Blacky brazenly impersonates the leader, things go surprisingly well . . . that is, until he finds himself caught in the middle of a Communist plot to rig elections and take over.

 

SPY KILLER: Story Description

As he wrung the water from his clothes he discarded his memories one by one. As mate of the Rangoon, he had been known as a bucko sailor, a hard case who struck first and questioned afterward, renowned for a temper as hot and swift as a glowing rapier.

And the reputation had not helped him when the captain had been found dead in his cabin and when it was discovered that the safe was open and empty. Kurt Reid had been the last man to see the captain alive, so they thought.

Shanghai stretched before him, and behind it lay all of China. If he could not escape there, he thought, he deserved to die. His only regret now was the lack of money he had been accused of stealing. A man does not go far on a few American dollars.

—L. Ron Hubbard

 

“One of my all-time favorite writers! On par with Jack London, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Dashiell Hammett.”             —George Clayton Johnson, author of Logan’s Run

 

Kurt Reid may be innocent of the murder he’s charged with (and of grand larceny, for that matter), but he’s got no time to be thrown in jail and defend himself. Instead, Reid flees to pre-Communist China and Shanghai, the exotic city of mystery and death.

 

Reid takes refuge in a tea house where he meets White Russian Varinka Savischna, whom he manages to rescue from certain death. As beautiful as she is smart, she recruits him in her crusade against Chinese intelligence services. Unfortunately, Reid manages to get himself captured by the Chinese and blackmailed into pursuing and assassinating a Japanese spy. Now Reid must enter the cloak-and-dagger world of espionage and intrigue, where everything and everyone is not who or what they appear to be.