Williamson, Jack

Mazeway

Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1990. Special First Edition. Signed by Jack Williamson. “Roxane Kwan was born on the far-off Earth a year or so after the skyweb fell. During a monsoon season, so her father said, in a hunting camp somewhere on the Serengeti plain. He never pointed out the place, and she never knew the date. She couldn’t remember her mother. “The lions ate her.” That was all he ever told her. The hard truth, or only a bitter joke? She used to wonder. He was a grimly silent man, even with those he commanded, yet he had cared for her as tenderly as their hard lives allowed and she thought he loved her. She grew up as a sort of mascot for the Kwan Corps. That was his brave name for the handful of hopeless relics he had gathered from the wrecks and life-pods and ejection gear that had brought them down alive from the falling skyweb…”--Jack Williamson, pg. 10. Jack Williamson (1908-2006) was an American Science-Fiction writer, considered among the best of the last century alongside the likes of Issac Asimov (1920-1992), Harlan Ellison (1934-2018), and Philip K. Dick (1928-1982). Offered today is the 1990 novel Mazeway. This 1990 sci-fi novel explores a future in which Earth is devastated by an alien invasion, leaving humanity in barbarism. To earn salvation and gain membership in the advanced galactic community (the Eldren), humanity’s champion must successfully navigate "Mazeway," a deadly planetary double-world testing ground used for Eldren initiation. A sequel to the 1984 novel Lifeburst, Mazeway follows Benn Dain—the son of the previous novel's hero, Quin Dain. The alien Eldren communities view humanity as a primitive, excessively aggressive species and refuse to share the technology needed to rebuild Earth. The primary action unfolds around three human competitors attempting to survive the "Game of Blade and Stone" on the double-planet Mazeway. A sci-fi classic packed with non-stop action, a break-neck pacing, a genuinely gripping story & tons of genre conventions, Mazeway is a great piece of genre fiction up there with classics like Neuromancer, Hyperion & The Foundation. An exemplary EP production bound in sumptuous black/dark navy leather without dust jacket as issued (but with our clear protective cover as always), with gilt decorations at covers & spine, gilt text block edges, silken paste-downs & recto or verso endpapers, silken gold-brown bookmark ribbon, & loose Certificate of Authenticity present & retained between front paste-down & endpaper. Signed in thin blue ink at signature page before title page by Jack Williamson. Hardcover. Special First edition as indicated at copyright page, presumed first printing though not explicated as such. In very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges, and very minimal smudging/scratching to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #9150]

Price: $60.00