The Floating Press: 2252 books

Jack Danvers is a sickly teenager more apt to spend his days inside reading rather than outside roughhousing and exploring. When his doctor recommends some outdoor time to allow Jack to build up his strength, it is decided that he should spend a few months helping out at his uncle's ranch in the Rockies. Will this bookworm be able to adapt to life in the Wild West?

Over the course of several years, young Jack Danvers evolved from a shy bookworm into a skilled outdoorsman through his participation in a series of exciting expeditions in the Rockies. In this action-adventure tale for younger audiences, Jack gets an opportunity to explore the Pacific Northwest.

This novel is one of the pillars of the Scenes of Provincial Life section of Honore de Balzac's story cycle The Human Comedy. Through a series of tragedies and coincidences, a kind and pious teenager named Ursula has been taken in by an octogenarian doctor, Denis Minoret. Inspired by Ursula's goodness,...

The novel A Start in Life is part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honore de Balzac's masterpiece of nineteenth-century realism, The Human Comedy. In much of Balzac's work, the aristocracy is portrayed as vain, duplicitous, and greedy. But in this novel, it is members of the working class who...

British novelist John Galsworthy is regarded as a literary figure of key importance because his work reflects the transition from the strict social mores of the Victorian era to the more modern sensibility that began to emerge in the Edwardian period. This engaging collection of essays, vignettes and observations spans topics ranging from social justice issues to censorship.

What will happen when we first encounter sentient beings from outer space? In this action-packed account of first contact between the human denizens of Earth and an alien species, Murray Leinster details the tense early interactions between clashing spaceships. Is long-term coexistence possible? Read The Aliens to find out.

What if you had clawed your way to a position of nearly unlimited power and influence -- only to be supplanted by an even more powerful political figure? That's the premise behind Murray Leinster's thought-provoking tale "The Leader," which many science fiction enthusiasts view as one of the most influential stories of its era.

What if you could talk to the version of you who existed ten days ago, or the you who will exist ten days in the future? That's exactly what enterprising telephone lineman Sam Yoder figures out how to do in the surprisingly funny science-fiction story "Sam, This Is You." At first, he focuses on the money-making...

Settle in for a rollicking science-fiction adventure from golden-era star Murray Leinster. In The Fifth-Dimension Tube, a prominent scientist and his beloved daughter have become stranded in another dimension. In order to survive, they must cast their lot with rogue mathematician Tommy Reeves. To succeed...

As a member of the elite Interstellar Medical Service, Dr. Calhoun is used to encountering the most complex and challenging illnesses and injuries. But nothing could have prepared him for the bizarre affliction that comes to be known as the Hate Disease. Will he be able to put an end to the pandemic before it destroys the universe?

The American science fiction writer who used the nom de plume Murray Leinster was extremely prolific, penning more than 1,500 stories and novels over the course of his career, as well as a number of radio, television, and movie scripts. The story "Sand Doom" recounts the tale of a stranded ship that...

Far in the future, one planet has regressed to a primitive, desolate state. The man called The Keeper maintains a lonely vigil there. When some unexpected visitors make an appearance, he learns some startling truths about the planet's place in history -- and his own destiny.

Should a nation's political climate guide its scientific agenda, or should research exist in a separate realm that's unaffected by these types of considerations? That's the question at the heart of "The Mercenaries," a thought-provoking science fiction tale from H. Beam Piper. In a world divided by political...

This classic science fiction tale from H. Beam Piper takes place in the Federation universe that served as the setting for many of his stories. In the distant future, the inhabitants of the strange planet Poictesme have long heard rumors about a remarkably powerful computer that is hidden away right...