Fantasy Fiction Military Science Fiction Sci-Fi Fantasy Science Fiction Short Stories Space Opera

Berserker #1

Berserker

Name: Berserker
Rating: 3.86 (7708 reviews)
Author: Fred Saberhagen

Fred Saberhagen January 1, 1967

3.86 7.7k Ratings

Ongoing Status

9 Views

Start Reading

Synopsis

Long ago, in a distant part of the galaxy, two alien races met–and fought a war of mutual extinction. The sole legacy of that war was the weapon that ended it: the death machines, the BERSERKERS. Guided by self-aware computers more intelligent than any human, these world-sized battlecraft carved a swath of death through the galaxy–until they arrived at the outskirts of the fledgling Empire of Man.

These are the stories of the frail creatures who must meet this monstrous and implacable enemy–and who, by fighting it to a standstill, become the saviors of all living things.

Books similar to Berserker

Dorsai!

★ 4.03

Gordon R. Dickson

aka The Genetic General
Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe.

Donal Graeme is Dorsai, taller and harder than any ordinary man. But he is different as well, with talents that maze even his fellow Dorsai. And once he ventures out into the stars, the future will never be the same.

Tuf Voyaging

★ 4.11

George R.R. Martin

From the multiple award-winning, best-selling author of The Song of Ice and Fire Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader who likes cats. So how is it that, in competition with the worst villains the universe has to offer, he's become the proud owner of the last seedship of Earth's legendary Ecological Engineering Corps? Never mind, just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in human space is in good hands-hands which now control cellular material for thousands of outlandish creatures. With his unique equipment, Tuf is set to tackle the problems human settlers have created in colonizing far-flung hosts of hostile monsters, a population hooked on procreation, a dictator who unleashes plagues to get his own way... and in every case the only thing that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf's ingenuity-and his reputation as an honest dealer in a universe of rogues... Tuf Voyaging interior illustrations by Janet Aulisio. Included will be her original eight illustrations, along with 28 newly commissioned ones.

Miles in Love

★ 4.53

Lois McMaster Bujold

Omnibus with two complete novels and a novella in one large volume. This collection shows Miles and Ekaterin meeting (Komarr), getting to know each other as Miles tries to court her (A Civil Campaign), and the wedding (Winterfair Gifts), and, of course, Miles dealing with assorted family relationships. Miles deals with political problems along the way plus recounts the loves of his life to Ekaterin. ...none of them would marry him; they all went on to lead successful lives--so unlike her life on Komarr. The last on his list was Rian: "And what does she do now?" ... "Now, She's an empress" ... "Can I take a number and get in line?" ... "The next number up", he breathed, "is one".

Contents:
Komarr: Miles Vorkosigan is sent to Komarr, a planet that could be a garden with a thousand more years of terraforming; or an uninhabitable wasteland, if the terraforming project fails. The solar mirror vital to the project has been shatteredby a ship hurtling off course, and Miles Vorkossigan has been sent to find out if it was an accident, or sabotage. Miles uncovers a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever - and discovers an unexpected ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his own.

A Civil Campaign: On Komarr, Miles met the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson, who has no intention of getting married after the heartbreak and betrayal of her first experience. But Miles has a cunning plan to change her mind. Unfortunately his clone-brother Mark and his cousin Ivan have cunning plans of their own, and the three-way collision of cunning plans threatens to undo Miles' brilliant romantic strategy.

"Winterfair Gifts": Miles and Ekaterin make elaborate preparations for their wedding. But Miles has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death.

Children of Time

★ 4.3

Adrian Tchaikovsky

A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

Necromancer

★ 3.61

Gordon R. Dickson

aka No Room for Man
Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe.

Diamond Mask

★ 4.22

Julian May

The 21st century was drawing to a close, and metapsychic humankind was poised at last to achieve Unity to be admitted into the group mind of the already unified alien races of the Galactic Milieu. But a growing corps of rebels was plotting to keep the people of Earth forever separate in the name of human individuality. And the rebels had a secret supporter: Fury, the insane metapsychic creatrue that would stop at nothing to claim humanity for itself. Fury's greatest enemy was the mutant genius Jack the Bodiless, whose power it craved. But Jack would never be a tool for Fury . . .
And so it turned to Dorothea Macdonald, a young woman who had spent a lifetime hiding her towering mindpowers from the best mind readers of the Milieu. But she could not hide them from Fury or from Jack. Time and again she rejected their advances, unwilling to be drawn into the maelstrom of galactic politics or megalomaniacal dreams. And in the end, no one not Jack, not Fury, not even the Galactic Milieu would be a match for the awesome powers of the girl who would come to be called Diamond Mask . . .

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth

★ 4.06

Roger Zelazny

Here are strange, beautiful stories covering the full spectrum of the late Roger Zelazny's remarkable talents. In Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, Zelazny's rare ability to mix the dream-like, disturbing imagery of fantasy with the real-life hardware of science fiction is on full display. His vivid imagination and fine prose made him one of the most highly acclaimed writers in his field.
Contents:
· The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth · nv F&SF Mar ’65
· The Keys to December · nv New Worlds Aug ’66
· Devil Car [Sam Nurdock] · ss Galaxy Jun ’65
· A Rose for Ecclesiastes · nv F&SF Nov ’63
· The Monster and the Maiden · vi Galaxy Dec ’64
· Collector’s Fever · vi Galaxy Jun ’64
· This Mortal Mountain · nv If Mar ’67
· This Moment of the Storm · nv F&SF Jun ’66
· The Great Slow Kings · ss Worlds of Tomorrow Dec ’63
· A Museum Piece · ss Fantastic Jun ’63
· Divine Madness · ss Magazine of Horror Sum ’66
· Corrida · ss Anubis v1 #3 ’68
· Love Is an Imaginary Number · ss New Worlds Jan ’66
· The Man Who Loved the Faioli · ss Galaxy Jun ’67
· Lucifer · ss Worlds of Tomorrow Jun ’64

Nightfall

★ 4.06

Isaac Asimov

In 1941, Astounding Science Fiction magazine published a short story by a little-known writer named Isaac Asimov. The story was called "Nightfall", and many years later it has long been recognized as a classic, its author a legend. Now, the Grand Master of Science Fiction teams with Robert Silverberg, one of the field's top award-winning authors, to explore and expand an apocalyptic tale that is more spellbinding today than ever before -- Nightfall: The Novel.

Imagine living on a planet with six suns that never experiences darkness. Imagine never having seen the stars. Then, one by one the suns start to set, gradually leading into darkness for the first time ever. Kalgash is a world on the edge of chaos, torn between the madness of religious fanaticism and the unyielding rationalism of scientists. Lurking beneath it all is a collective, instinctual fear of the Darkness. For Kalgash knows only the perpetual light of day; to its inhabitants, a gathering twilight portends unspeakable horror. And only a handful of people on the planet are prepared to face the truth, their six suns are setting all at once for the first time in over two thousand years, signaling the end of civilization as it explodes in the awesome splendor of Nightfall.

Encompassing the psychology of disaster, the tenacity of the human spirit, and, ultimately, the regenerative power of hope, Nightfall is a tale rich in character and suspense that only the unique collaboration of Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg could create.

Berserker

Books similar to Berserker

Dorsai!

Tuf Voyaging

Miles in Love

Children of Time

Necromancer

Diamond Mask

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth

Nightfall

Welcome Back!