Return to the Stars by Edmond Hamilton (Lancer, 1969)

Found at a charity book fair.  Someone had evidently been keen on traditional space opera, because I managed to find a number of vintage paperbacks like this one.

KINGDOM OF THE STARS

John Gordon, twentieth century Earthman, is torn from his own time to a far distant future--a time when the entire galaxy is inhabited.  But men do not rule the future; our race is only one among thousands, and many of those thousands are sworn enemies of humanity!  Gordon, man of the past, is forced to form alliances with the men of the future in a desperate battle to save the human race from final annihilation...

The cover is all 1960s, but the stories inside date from 1947!

The Leaves of Time by Neal Barrett Jr (Lancer, 1971)

 

the gorgon 

came from some time line far across the multiple worlds.  It moved among men, looking always as though it was one of them ... but it was not a man.  For the Gorgon was the destroyer of the universe, and with it came death, and destruction.  The alien could not tolerate other forms of life, and would not permit them to exist.  The first a world knew of the beast in its midst was when its citizens began dying... horribly ... and then it was already too late.  For there was no defense for a beast that could assume the shape and identity of any other creature ... until a man whose world had been destroyed was thrown across the time lines, to an Earth whose only defense was the gentle philosophy of a man long dead ...

a lancer science fiction original never before published

This cover is taking a trip.  An acid trip.  And "The Gorgon" appears to have eaten random capital letters on the back cover.

Cover aside, I  usually enjoy stories about time travel and parallel worlds, and this one is a good example of its kind.   There is a hero, a monster, and an interesting world sideways to this one.  What more could a reader want?

The Time Masters by Wilson Tucker (Lancer, 1971)

Wilson Tucker is another one of my "forgotten favourites" --a science fiction author whose work I relish, but is barely remembered today.

THE YEAR THE FUTURE BEGAN

Was it 1940--when the United States made the fateful decision to proceed with the construction of an atomic bomb?  Was it 1957--when Sputnik finally cracked the door that led into space?  Or will it be that day in the very near future when the first starship probe seeks the nearest stars, in hope of finding intelligent life other than man?  The question is of the utmost importance to one man and one woman, castaway on this alien planet, Earth, by an unimaginable disaster--10,000 years ago!

  "An unimaginable disaster".  Oh please.  That's almost the same as telling us that the author couldn't think of a reason to strand his characters on Earth, so he fudged it.

In any case, it doesn't really matter, because the emphasis in this book is on what our 10,000 year old castaways are doing in the here and now--"now" being the near future the author has imagined.   The original publication date was 1953, so in some ways it's a very 1950s future filled with secrets and Cold War paranoia.

Of course, the 1953 copyright date makes complete nonsense of the reference to Sputnik on the back cover, because for obvious reasons Sputnik doesn't appear in the book!

The front cover on the other hand... it's a beautiful example of late sixties/early seventies design.  It depicts our ancient castaways falling to Earth in transparent spacesuits--or maybe they're indulging in a bit of nude free-falling disco instead.  Either way, I love it!