Synopses & Reviews
Best known for his prescient 1974 novel The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe, Compton has three more incisive SF novels collected hereThe Silent Multitude: Set in the near future, this story finds the super-modern, gleaming city of Gloucester, England completely redesigned and rebuilt to the principles of "scientific city planning." The city is threatened with extinction by a mysterious spore from space that brings mankind's proud structures crashing to the ground. Synthajoy: Would you like to experience firsthand the emotions of a great artist, the sublime peace of a saint, the happiness of a child at Christmas? Try Sensitape. Or perhaps you had something more passionate in mind. Don't be shy. Ask for Sexitape. And for the true connoisseur, we have the ultimate human experience: a distinguished blend of synthetic ecstasies. The world is not ready for it, but perhaps you are. We call it Synthajoy. The Steel Crocodile: In answer to an unanswerable future, science has created Bohn, the omnipotent computer whose flashing circuits and messianic pronouncements dictate what tomorrow will—or will not—be. But Matthew Oliver is flesh and blood and full of questions—not nearly as certain as the machine he's appointed to serve. And the right hand of science seldom knows what the left hand is doing.
Synopsis
D.G. Compton is best known for his prescient 1974 novel, THE CONTINUOUS KATHERINE MORTENHOE, which predicted the 21st century's obsessions with media voyeurism and 'reality television'. It was filmed as DEATH WATCH in 1980 by Bertrand Tavernier. This omnibus collects three of his incisive SF novels, ASCENDANCIES, SYNTHAJOY and THE STEEL CROCODILE.
ASCENDANCIES: Into a future where a depleted fuel supply had the world spiralling down into grinding poverty and constant war came ... Moondrift. Mysterious white flakes of alien matter that was the perfect fuel - clean, powerful, dependable. But the aliens - or whatever they were - who sent Moondrift seemed to demand a heavy ransom in return...
SYNTHAJOY: Would you like to experience first-hand the emotions of a great artist, the sublime peace of a saint, the happiness of a child at Christmas? Try Sensitape. Or perhaps you had something more passionate in mind. Don't be shy. Ask for Sexitape. And for the true connoisseur, we have the ultimate human experience: a distinguished blend of synthetic ecstasies. The world is not ready for it, but perhaps you are. We call it Synthajoy.
THE STEEL CROCODILE: In answer to an unanswerable future, science has created Bohn, the omnipotent computer whose flashing circuits and messianic pronouncements dictate what tomorrow will - or will not - be. But Matthew Oliver is flesh and blood and full of questions - not nearly as certain as the machine he's appointed to serve. And the right hand of science seldom knows what the left hand is doing...
About the Author
D. G. Compton is a science fiction author who also has written crime novels under the name Guy Compton and Gothic novels under the name Frances Lynch. His 1970 novel The Steel Crocodile was nominated for the Nebula Award, and he was named the 2007 Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is also the author of The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe. He lives in Maine.