BY JACK HIGGINS

It is November 1943, and the Second World War is in its fourth year. Adolf Hitler's Third Reich is fending off Allied advances in the Eastern Front and in Italy. German cities are being bombed "around the clock" by the American and British air forces. Across the English Channel, the Anglo-American forces are marshaling troops and making plans for history's greatest amphibious operation, which is tentatively scheduled for May of 1944.

This dangerous mission is assigned to Lt. Col. Kurt Steiner, the son of a German general and his American wife, and a small group of paratroopers. Their mission: to drop into East Anglia near the town of Studley Constable, where Abwehr agent Joanna Grey and IRA operative Liam Devlin are waiting to assist in the capture of Britain's wartime leader, and snatch Churchill from the estate where he is staying while on an inspection tour.

Jack Higgins' bestselling novel was published almost 30 years ago, but its taut storyline and inventive blend of fact and fiction place this World War II thriller in the ranks of the best books of the genre. His descriptions of historical characters -- such as Adolf Hitler -- and his references to actual historical events give the whole scenario verisimilitude. All the characters -- hero, anti-hero, and even villains -- are well-developed and believable. Higgins also has the creative chutzpah of injecting a first-person narrator named Jack Higgins, making the book sound like a reporter's expose of a German mission so daring that it had to be covered up by the Allies.

The novel launched Higgins' career into almost instant fame, and in turn inspired a 1977 film version starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland, and Joanna Miles. It was followed in the mid-1980s by a sequel, The Eagle Has Flown.

BY CLIVE CUSSLER

The President's secret task force develops the ultimate defensive weapon. At its core: byzanium, a radioactive element so rare sufficient quantities have never been found. But a frozen American corpse on a desolate Soviet mountainside, a bizarre mining accident in Colorado, and a madman's dying message lead DlRK PITT to a secret cache of byzanium. Now he begins his most thrilling, daunting mission -- to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century!

In a daring gamble, DIRK PITT locates the Titanic -- and suddenly his crew is in deadly jeopardy. Sabotaged by Russian spies and savage storms, Pitt must stop a diabolical plan for Soviet world supremacy -- or see the mighty Titanic blasted out of existence!

The task force has developed an unprecedented defensive weapon that relies on an extremely rare radioactive element--and Dirk Pitt has followed a twisted trail to a secret cache of the substance. Now, racing against brutal storms, Soviet spies, and a ticking clock, Pitt begins his most thrilling mission--to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century...

BY JULES VERNE

First new unabridged translation since 1876 of one of Verne's best-known novels.

The second title in Wesleyan's new Early Classics of Science Fiction series is Sidney Kravitz's translation (14 years in the making) of Jules Verne's castaway epic, The Mysterious Island. Like the new Modern Library edition, it boasts black-and-white illustrations and is unexpurgated; unlike it, this volume contains a Verne chronology and brief biography, endnotes, appendixes and information about previous translations.

Many of Verne's novels have become cultural icons for Americans though Verne was French and we read him in translation. Nevertheless, his philosophy that enlightened good will and scientific advancement would save society is so close to American idealism, he seems much more American than almost any of his contemporaries.

Everyone is familiar with Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues. For some reason, The Mysterious Island is not read as widely. Yet, in my opinion, it is Verne's best and most rewarding novel.

BY MARTIN GROSS

A Southern U.S. Senator, Jed Hawkins sets his sights on the Oval Office and with the backing of Soviet agents and sympathizers and the unwitting cooperation of a naive American electorate manages to get elected. With Hawkins in power the Soviets plan to take over the country. Only a retired CIA chief and a TV newscaster know the plot and race against impossible odds to head off what seems like certain disaster. In his first work of fiction, Gross ( The Brainwatchers ) offers a frighteningly convincing tale of espionage and intrigue. His well-drawn characters, carefully researched plot, and understanding of the Washington political scene all combine to make The Red President a sure bet for popular fiction collections.

In The Red President, Martin Gross tells the story of a closeted Communist who becomes a contender for the highest office in the land. Intricately plotted and well researched, this novel gives the reader a look at the inner workings of the CIA and the KGB at a point in history that would turn out to be the waning days of the Soviet Union. Though not quite as jarring as The Manchurian Candidate, to which it will undoubtedly be compared, The Red President is a suspenseful, action packed Cold War thriller that does not disappoint. It's safe to say that spy genre fans will find this book highly entertaining.

BY IAN FLEMING

When a stranger arrives in the Bahamas, the locals barely turn their heads, seeing another ex-pat with money to burn at the casino tables. But James Bond has more than money on his mind; he's got less than a week to find two stolen atom bombs hidden among the coral reefs. While acting the playboy, Bond meets Domino, sultry plaything of secretive treasure hunter Emilio Largo. In getting close to this gorgeous Italian girl, Bond hopes to learn more about Largo's hidden operation.

Dating from 1960 this James Bond novels feature all the standard trappings for the series: master criminals, beautiful damsels in distress, and plenty of action-essentially everything fans have come to associate with 007. Though a bit dated, the Bond outings are still fun reads-great beach books-and the character is still immensely popular on screen, so these are well worth having.

BY MARTIN CAIDIN

This was one of the first works of fiction (perhaps the first) to use the term "cyborg"; it also popularized the word "bionics." The author, Martin Caidin, was familiar with the actual cyborg research being conducted by the U.S. Air Force.

The story focuses on an Air Force test pilot named Steve Austin who is badly wounded in a plane crash. The Air Force (and a mysterious security agency) decide to rebuild Austin with bionic parts, a task led by the head of the cybernetics laboratory, Dr. Killian: Killian was to supervise directly, participate intimately in a program to create out of the mutilated human wreck not only a new man but a wholly new type of man. A new breed. A marriage of bionics (biology applied to electronic engineering systems) and cybernetics. A cybernetics organism. Call him cyborg...

At the same time, however, the cyborg is equipped with conspicuously mechanical devices. Steve Austin's body is outfitted with an array of James Bond-like gear: a camera in one eye, an oxygen canister stored inside one artificial leg (for underwater expeditions) and a radio transmitter in the other, a dart gun concealed inside a finger.

So, how much does it cost to build a state-of-the-art cyborg like this? "Doctor, tomorrow by this time there will be placed within your fiscal control--nonreturnable so long as this project is under way--six million dollars." You guessed it: Cyborg provided the basis for the 1970s television show The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman.

BY ARTHUR C CLARKE

An all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts given the task of exploring the hollow cylindrical ship are able to decipher some, but definitely not all, of the extraterrestrial vehicle's puzzles. From the ubiquitous trilateral symmetry of its structures to its cylindrical sea and machine-island, Rama's secrets are strange evidence of an advanced civilization. But who, and where, are the Ramans, and what do they want with humans? Perhaps the answer lies with the busily working biots, or the sealed-off buildings, or the inaccessible "southern" half of the enormous cylinder. Rama's unsolved mysteries are tantalizing indeed. Rendezvous with Rama is fast moving, fascinating, and a must-read for science fiction fans. Clarke collaborated with Gentry Lee in writing several Rama sequels, beginning with Rama II.

In the year 2130, a mysterious and apparently untenanted alien spaceship, Rama, enters our solar system. The first product of an alien civilisation to be encountered by man, it reveals a world of technological marvels and an unparalleled artificial ecology.

But what is its purpose in 2131?

Who is inside it?

And why?

BY ROBERT LUDLUM

In THE MATARESE CIRCLE, a century-old conspiracy to create chaos in the world is uncovered by superagent Baywolf Agate and his Russian counterpart. Hunted by their own secret agencies, they chase all over the world seeking the root of this ultimate evil in an attempt to stop the momentum. Stephen Lang's deep, emotive voice draws the listener into the web of deceit and conspiracy, which involves every facet of the world's economy and politics. Lang's performance captures the tension between good and evil that Ludlum has created. This tension, combined with the plot, becomes an unstoppable force that feeds upon itself until it erupts in the destruction of the Matarese, for now.

The world's top--secret agents--the American, Scofield and the Russian, Taleniekov-have each sworn to kill the other. Yet know they must becomes allies in order to destroy the Matarese, an international circle of killers dedicated to reducing the world to chaos by assassination and terror.

"This is a chase story that will leave readers gasping for breath...(Booklist) "It's a blockbuster!" (The Wall Street Journal)

BY MICHAEL CRICHTON

Some biologists speculate that if we ever make contact with extraterrestrials, those life forms are likely to be--like most life on earth--one-celled or smaller creatures, more comparable to bacteria than little green men. And even though such organisms would not likely be able to harm humans, the possibility exists that first contact might be our last.

That's the scientific supposition that Michael Crichton formulates and follows out to its conclusion in his excellent debut novel, The Andromeda Strain.

A Nobel-Prize-winning bacteriologist, Jeremy Stone, urges the president to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility to sterilize returning astronauts, satellites, and spacecraft that might carry an "unknown biologic agent." The government agrees, almost too quickly, to build the top-secret Wildfire Lab in the desert of Nevada. Shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to Stone, the U.S. Army initiates the "Scoop" satellite program, an attempt to actively collect space pathogens for use in biological warfare. When Scoop VII crashes a couple years later in the isolated Arizona town of Piedmont, the Army ends up getting more than it asked for.

The Andromeda Strain follows Stone and rest of the scientific team mobilized to react to the Scoop crash as they scramble to understand and contain a strange and deadly outbreak. Crichton's first book may well be his best; it has an earnestness that is missing from his later, more calculated thrillers.

California

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