DMR Books is proud to announce our first split release in the tradition of the Ace Double series! This book contains two novellas, Lands of the Earthquake by Henry Kuttner and Under a Dim Blue Sun by Howie K. Bentley.
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After a year-long bout of amnesia, William Boyce was haunted by fleeting memories of his missing year. His search for the woman he could not remember yet could never forget led him through a crystal portal to another dimension. He is taken to Kerak, the castle built by French Crusaders who have been trapped in this timeless world for six centuries. When the Crusaders’ leader, Guillaume du Bois, falls victim to the enchantments of Kerak’s enemies in the Sorcerers’ City, Boyce goes in his place to rescue his comrade, Godfrey.
Will Boyce survive in the Sorcerers’ City long enough to discover the secret of his lost year? And what roles do the Oracle of Kerak and the mad Huntsman play in this?
Lands of the Earthquake is one of Henry Kuttner’s greatest science-fantasy tales in the tradition of A. Merritt, along with The Dark World and The Mask of Circe. It was originally published in Startling Stories in 1947 and has never appeared in book form before.
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Captain Erasmus O’Brien was assigned a task that could decide the fate of World War II: infiltrate German headquarters and steal the Nazis’ latest technological development – a flying saucer. O’Brien pulls it off, but loses control of the ship and ends up on a planet in another galaxy. He arrives just in time to rescue the slave girl Elekaina from the clutches of the hideous snake men, the Nag-Gaina. Armed with laser rifles procured from the ship, O’Brien plans to rid Thalparia of the serpent menace, only to run afoul of Queen S’ang Taura, who is secretly in league with the Nag-Gaina. He is sentenced to do battle in the arena with Thargg Tanuth, outlaw prince of the jaguar men.
Under a Dim Blue Sun is a tale that will surely excite the imaginations of all who love other sword-and-planet tales such as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, Robert E. Howard’s Almuric, and Leigh Brackett’s Sword of Rhiannon.
Release date: June 2017
Classic Size: 6.5" x 4.25", 156 pages (Lands of the Earthquake) + 79 pages (Under a Dim Blue Sun), was $13.00, now on sale for $10.00
Reviews:
“Bentley writes with total conviction and has delivered a nice blast of pulp adrenaline. Remember, we read S&S and related genres for fun, to give us a jolt in our generally mundane lives. “Under a Dim Blue Sun,” with its echoes of Burroughs, does those things splendidly.” (Fletcher Vredenburgh, Black Gate)
“I’ve read quite a bit of Henry Kuttner’s work and always enjoyed it. He’s one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy authors from the pulp era and can always be counted on for well-written, fast-moving yarns. That’s certainly true of LANDS OF THE EARTHQUAKE… Overall, I think this is one of my favorite Kuttner novels.” (James Reasoner, Rough Edges)
“Lands of the Earthquake is a hugely entertaining quick read; a compellingly page-turning one, with atmosphere and color to spare… The reader will never guess what is coming next in this nonstop thrill ride, or be able to figure out the answers to any of Boyce’s many questions... [Under a Dim Blue Sun] is an awful lot of story to squeeze into a scant 77 pages, but Bentley makes it work, throwing in a goodly dose of violence (the arena combats that we witness are all highly sanguinary ones, and the overall body count here is fairly high), humor, action and color… Two wonderful pieces of pulp fiction; one old, one new, and both offering fine entertainment value for the discriminating reader. “ (Sandy Ferber, Fantasy Literature)