Search Worlds Without End

Seven stories by the author of Bridge on the River Kwai, Planet of the Apes and other well-known novels. Translated by Elisabeth Abbott.

Table of Contents:

• 9 - His Last Battle - novelette (trans. of Son dernier combat 1970)
• 39 - The Plumber - short story (trans. of Le plombier 1970)
• 56 - Interferences - short story (trans. of Interférences 1970)
• 77 - The Duck Blind - short story (trans. of L'affût au canard 1970)
• 87 - When the Serpent Failed - novelette (trans. of Quand le serpent échoua 1970)
• 127 - The Holy Places - short story (trans. of Les lieux saints 1970)
• 139 - The Heart and the Galaxy - novelette (trans. of Le cœur et la galaxie 1970)

Long before The Hunger Games or Battle Royale, Pierre Boulle's darkly comic and twisted imagination came up with Desperate Games. Like his most famous masterpiece, The Planet of the Apes, Desperate Games is a dystopian sci-fi classic, imagining an alternate future where humans seal their own fate.

Despairing at the state of world degeneration, a group of the world's most renowned intellectuals form the new Scientific World Government, aiming to put the world to rights. Elected into power, they quickly start making changes for the better, eliminating world hunger and cancer; encouraging scientific thought and banning frivolous entertainment. But while congratulating themselves on a job well done, they fail to notice that actually, people are not happy - The suicide rate has sky-rocketed and, strangely, it turns out the public want a little risk and conflict in their lives.

So to cater for the masses, the Department of Psychology forms a plan. They will stage an entertainment show the likes of which the world has never seen before. It starts with gladiatorial style battles, bloodthirsty and brutal, where the victors become celebrities of unseen proportions, and quickly escalates into entire historical battle re-enactments involving chemical warfare and mass destruction.

The Scientific World Government has unleashed a monster. What has the world let itself in for?

Hitler is dead. The German scientists have joined the victors. What started as inspired collaboration at Peenemunde turns into a fatal race as the brilliant 'lunatics' scatter across the earth to join up with the big powers in the desperate race to put the first man on the moon. Convention, morality and genius crumble when an inspired contender engineers the world's greatest upset.

A monster sails the seas, carrying the threat of atomic catastrophe on the one hand and of a potential oil slick in the other. This is how a group of worried ecologists perceives the nuclear powered giant oil tanker Gargantua, which they soon nickname Leviathan. But in the end, this evil creature comes out to be a double blessing: first because of the unexpected virtues of atomic desintagretion, and secondly, because of the unpredictable carateristic of the slimy poison it holds in its side.

This time, Pierre Boulle appears on the scene, as a writer who has the luck, when he runs out of ideas, to meet a strange hundred-year-old man from the kingdom of Shandung, somewhere between India and China. The stories from this kingdom are the material of the book. The general tone is to a delightful mix of gravity and mischieviousness and the stories are subtely clever.

Table of Contents:

• 11 - The Royal Pardon - novelette (trans. of La grâce royale 1976)
• 35 - The Marvelous Palace - novelette (trans. of Le palais merveilleux de la petite ville 1976)
• 61 - The Laws - novelette (trans. of Les lois 1976)
• 91 - The Limits of Endurance - novelette (trans. of Les limites de l'endurance 1976)
• 119 - Compassion Service - novelette (trans. of Service compassion 1976)
• 153 - The Angelic Monsieur Edyh - novelette (trans. of L'angélique monsieur Edyh 1976)

A masterful, prophetic collection of twelve stories set in an improbable but all-too-real future by the author of Planet of the Apes and The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Translated from the French by Xan Fielding and Elisabeth Abbott.

Table of Contents:

• 7 - Time Out of Mind - novelette (trans. of Une nuit interminable 1953)
• 43 - The Man Who Picked Up Pins - short story (trans. of L'homme qui ramassait les épingles 1965)
• 52 - The Miracle - short story (trans. of Le miracle 1957)
• 79 - The Perfect Robot - short story (trans. of Le parfait robot 1953)
• 94 - The Enigmatic Saint - novelette (trans. of Le saint énigmatique 1965)
• 139 - The Lunians - novelette (trans. of Les Luniens 1957)
• 176 - The Diabolical Weapon - short story (trans. of L'arme diabolique 1965)
• 187 - The Age of Wisdom - short story (trans. of Le règne des sages 1953)
• 206 - The Man Who Hated Machines - novelette (trans. of L'homme qui haïssait les machines 1965)
• 255 - Love and Gravity - short story (trans. of L'amour et la pesanteur 1957)
• 275 - The Hallucination - short story (trans. of L'hallucination 1953)
• 288 - E=mc² - novelette (trans. of E=mc² ou le roman d'une idée 1957)

Among all the absurdities that have been created over the centuries to embellish our spiritual sphere, the dogma of Trinity always seemed to me like the most wonderful one. It is possible to believe in one god or to adore a plurality of deities, but the fact that god can be at the same time one and three, here is paradox which would have delighted the greeks, but would have been a shame if considered seriously. One day, admirative in front of such aburdism, I felt as if I had been chosen to embroid this model of nonsense with other props. I did it in my way, considering the dogma as a postulate and looking for the logical consequences this may imply. The first one is obvious : considering the principle of three distinct characters with their own personalities as described in the Scriptures, I claim that their interactions can only be conflictual. This is a side of this book.

The other one is due to my guardian angel, who kept blaming me for having turned Heaven upside down and urged me to make this chaos cease. It was difficult, but I finally accepted, and I congratulate myself to have found the only possible rational solution to the issue. It is revealed in the last part. Some will judge that the personalities given to my characters : the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost and Marie (the hero in the story) may be a bit bold. Unlike the ancients, the christians endowed their deities with all sorts of virtues and not a single flaw. I wanted to rectify this by giving them true human feelings. Having done this, I am waiting for Hell, without furthermore worries, and even carrying the intimate hope that the Lord will show some kindness toward a follower of the religion of doubt, of which I have been a follower for years with such constance and faith that it has to be worthy of some consideration.

The original novel that inspired the films!

First published more than fifty years ago, Pierre Boulle's chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history.

In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems.

They soon discover the terrifying truth: On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while wondering: Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense.