Deathworld

Deathworld is perhaps Harry Harrison's best known novel and is certainly the book that put him on the map. Jason dinAlt is a daring gambler. He uses his spotty psionic powers to give himself a slight edge in games of chance. After winning a large fortune at the tables, he flees for his life to Deathworld, the most dangerous planet ever colonized by human beings. He will soon discover that nothing is what it seems.

'Deathworld' is perhaps Harry Harrison's best known novel and is certainly the book that put him on the map. Jason dinAlt is a daring gambler. He uses his spotty psionic powers to give himself a slight edge in games of chance. After winning a large fortune at the tables, he flees for his life to Deathworld, the most dangerous planet ever colonized by human beings. He will soon discover that nothing is what it seems.

A gifted gambler fights to survive on a hostile planet in this classic novel from the creator of science fiction antihero the Stainless Steel Rat. The gravity is twice that of Earth. The weather is an unpredictable maelstrom. All species of life, both plant and animal, monstrous and microscopic, are lethal. And the environment is drenched with radioactivity. This is planet Pyrrus, where telepathically gifted gambler Jason dinAlt has ended up after scamming a government casino out of a fortune. A small, fortified town stands against the nonstop natural onslaught, and its people are the descendants of hardened survivors. But there are some who exist outside the city-the "grubbers," humans living in harmony with the nightmarish surroundings who share a mutual hatred with the technologically superior city dwellers. These people fascinate Jason because they share his psionic abilities. And with their help he soon realizes that Pyrrus is more than just a planet. It's alive. It's intelligent. And it's angry. From the legendary author whose novel Make Room! Make Room! was the basis for the film Soylent Green.

Jason dinAlt has been kidnapped and is being returned to the planet Cassylia to stand trial for his crimes. But en route the space ship he is on crash lands on a planet inhabited by men who have lost much of their technology. It is up to Jason to find a way to stay alive and get off planet. Can he succeed in leaving this new Deathworld?

Jason dinAlt has been kidnapped and is being returned to the planet Cassylia to stand trial for his crimes. But en route the space ship he is on crash lands on a planet inhabited by men who have lost much of their technology. It is up to Jason to find a way to stay alive and get off planet. Can he succeed in leaving this new Deathworld?

This is a classic science fiction novel by Harry Harrison and a follow up to his hugely successful Deathworld. This sequel continues the story of professional gambler Jason dinAlt on a harsh world of primitive violence. The planet's ailing technology is jealously guarded by a series of brotherhoods and to survive, dinAlt has to use all his cunning to get the better of them. This work is part of our Vintage Sci-Fi Classics Series, a series in which we are republishing some of the best stories in the genre by some of its most acclaimed authors, such as Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Robert Sheckley. Each publication is complete with a short introduction to the history of science fiction.