Out of My Mind by John Brunner (NEL, 1968)

A very battered paperback found in the Green Shed:

 

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE... A wide canvas--and a wide group of stories.  All the way from the downright vicious to the most gently tender: stories rich with humour, ripe with passion.

Just two from man's short past--a blink in time.  A few more for the present we all live in.  And more from the long reach of the future.

Here is a brilliant collection of stories representing the amazing talent of John Brunner.  Read them and discover why the author is fast becoming one of the most popular science fiction writers of the sixties.

The New English Library's science fiction paperbacks had some fascinatingly odd cover art—including this one.  It really doesn't have much to do with the stories inside, all of which were either set in the present or the very near future on Earth.  It does give an impression of strangeness, however, which is perhaps the best come-on you can make to a potential buyer of science fiction!

The Chequer Board by Nevil Shute (Pan, 1968)

Found at a Lifeline Bookfair, bundled with some other books by the same author:

 

THE CHEQUER BOARD

'One of them was a Negro from America,' Turner said.  'The last one to go out... Dave Lesurier, his name was... Then there was Duggie Brent - he was a corporal in the paratroops.  And then there was the pilot of the aeroplane... Flying Officer Morgan.  We was all in a mess one way or another, excepting him, and yet in some ways he was in a worse mess than the lot of us.' 

THE CHEQUER BOARD

Brilliantly interweaving the chequered fates of four men brought together by one violent moment in war, this unforgettable story matches A TOWN LIKE ALICE with its heart-stirring romance, its rich humanity and compelling drama.

World War II was a major influence on Nevil Shute's writing--all his best known novels involve the war in one way or another.  However, he wasn't a writer of straight combat stories.  No, Shute's fiction is mostly about the civilians caught up in the war, and the human effects on the men who have to fight it.

And that brings me to The Chequer Board, which deals with four men in wartime.  Three are in trouble with the law--and the fourth is just in trouble.   The book tells the story of how they got into trouble and what happened to them afterwards (spoiler alert--it ends happily for most of them!)  Of the four stories I enjoyed the one about Dave Lesurier--the 'negro from America'--most, and the culture clash between a small Cornish village and the US Army base that has been planted upon it.

The Chequer Board was first pubished in Great Britain in 1947.

Cupid Rides Pillion by Barbara Cartland (Arrow, 1968)

Found in a dusty corner of the shed part of the Green Shed (and pounced upon because it's perfect for this blog):

 

England under Charles II was a gay, pleasure-loving land.  And Lady Panthea Vyne enjoyed it to the full, for she remembered only too well the dark days of Cromwell's Iron Rule.  She remembered Christian Drysdale, too, Cromwell's bestial tax-collector who had been her husband for a few short hours, until she had been rescued by a mysterious Highwayman.  Five years later, at the richly colourful court of Charles II, others learned her secret, including the jealous Lady Castlemaine... and as the dangers besetting her drew closer, Panthea put her faith in the man whose life was in equal danger--the mysterious, yet strangely familiar Highwayman.

If the fact that the author is Barbara Cartland doesn't alert you to what kind of book this is, surely the fact that the heroine is named Panthea Vyne, must!

Anyway, for those of you who came in late, this was Barbara Cartland:

... self-appointed expert on Romance, upholder of traditional values, step-grandmother of Princess Diana, and the very prolific writer of over 1,000 books.  

Invanders of Space by Murray Leinster (Tandem, 1968)

Another book found rummaging around the dusty shelves of The Green Shed:

 

Things were quiet that night in the space port.  Then the 'Theban' arrived without warning, bringing with it a surly crew, led by a blustering captain, Larson...

The 'Theban' was old, propelled by a totally obsolescent interplanetary drive.  The only way Larson could get it off the ground was to kidnap the young engineer, Horn, who he hoped could at least manage to keep the ship in flight until it reached its final rendezvous.

Their destination was the spaceship 'Danae'--a ship loaded with millions in space credit notes.  If Horn wanted to save the 'Danae' from the onslaughts of the space invaders, he had his work cut out for him...

"Space Invaders".  I'd had hopes that this was based on the video game, but it was in fact about space pirates. It's a workmanlike story by an author who began his career back in the 1910s.

Unfortunately, the cover doesn't convey the idea of "space pirates" at all.   The astronauts in this picture could be doing anything out there: exploring, making necessary repairs to their ship, sightseeing.  I get the impression the artist came up with this generic painting after hearing the word "space" in his commission, and not bothering learn anything more!