THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF SPACEFLIGHT
Special Omnibus Editions of the Books That Inspired the Space Age
The novels in this collection not only remain fun reading even after a century or more has passed, but are accurate mirrors of the scientific knowledge of the time in which they were written, as well as being a gauge of the interest space travel had for their contemporary readers.
Bang! Zoom! The Electromagnetic Gun Omnibus. In the 1920s and 1930s, engineer/scientist E.F. Northrup performed extensive experiments on the use of electromagnetic guns for launching projectiles. Zero to Eighty is his fictionalized account of his experiments, concluding with a trip to the Moon in a spacecraft boosted by a huge electromagnetic cannon. R.H. Romans' The Moon Conquerors of 1930 was one of the first SF novels to describe the use of electromagnetic launching. Fully illustrated.
The Gun Club Trilogy combines for the first time in one volume all three of Jules Verne's classic novels about the adventures of the Baltimore Gun Club. From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon---two of the most influential novels in the history of astronautics---are entirely new English translations. The Purchase of the North Pole is an edited and expanded version of the original 19th century English translation. Fully illustrated and with technical appendices.
From Germany to the Stars. In the decades preceding World War II, Germany and Austria had every reason to believe that they would be the first into space. Those nations had already made enormous progress in the development of rocketry. This confidence is reflected in the four novels included in this volume: Otto Willi Gail's The Shot Into Infinity and its sequel, The Stone From the Moon, Otfrid von Hanstein's Between Earth and Moon and Max Valier's A Daring Flight to Mars. Illustrated.
Astronauts by Gaslight includes five spaceflight novels from the era of steam engines and gaslight: George Tucker's 1827 Voyage to the Moon, John Locke's 1835 The Moon Hoax, Edgar Allan Poe's 1835 The Unparalled Adventures of One Hans Pfall, Edward Everett Hale's 1870 The Brick Moon and George Griffith's 1900 Honeymoon in Space. Illustrated.
The Mars Omnibus
