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Sometimes the sky held only clouds, but at other times it could get quite busy. It could be full of sailing ships or bands of mounted warriors or even single figures strolling carefully across the empty air. From the viewpoint of those below they were either apparitions or gods, but in any case to be ignored. From the viewpoint of the sky walkers, those below were neither phantoms nor gods, yet certainly always beneath their notice. Both viewpoints were wrong. Because the time had come when one of the sky walkers was going to do the incredible - fall through. And when that happened, all hell was going to break loose. And did!

To the purple born, the key to life on Earth is the DNA helix, which determines all the characteristics of every living thing. The helix, a series of molecules within the life cell, is a spiral - with a left-hand turn.

The planet called Dextra could have been a duplicate of Earth. It teemed with life, both flora and fauna. But on Dextra the helix of life had a right-hand thread. And there could be no viable combination between the two life forms, the native and the invading Terran.

So it became a battle on the part of the colonists to uproot the native Dextran ecology - purple plants and beasts with surprising intelligence - and replace it with Earth-born green. But the planet fought back in its own way. And the result is a science fiction novel that is unusual, exciting, and highly original.

The conflict between man and nature was never more unconditional than on the planet Destra where the DNA that determines all life runs in reverse from Earth - and where no compromise can exist.

Either the green of Terra must exterminate the purple of Dextra or be exterminated. Yet truce lines were eventually drawn, time did pass, colonies and their governments did arise that seemed stable... but the time had to come when the battle would lead to Armageddon.

When it came it caught the humans in internal warfare, it caught the Dextran world developing a biological super-weapon, and found two humans confronting both crises together.

Although a follow up to Lake's remarkable Right Hand of Dextra, this unusual new novel stands on its own: a surprise-packed science fiction projection in biology and human-alien interplay.

If the universe is infinite, it follows that there may be somewhere real physical worlds that duplicate those of the imagination. And when Tom Carson caught sight of the third planet of 82 Eridani he recognized at once its resemblance to that imaginary Mars called Barsoom of the ancient novelist Burroughs.

The planet at first appeared to be a duplicate of old Mars as Burroughs had portrayed it--Barsoom come to life. But the desperate expeditioners from Earth soon found out otherwise. The red "Martians", the flying boats, the warring cities, and the canal network were all parts of an ancient and well-established civilization.

This did not stop the little human colony from dreaming of conquest. It still seemed possible. Only now it would take cunning diplomacy and the preparation of a few Earth weapons to make themselves masters of that world.

After the moon race, the race to the stars! Earth may be in a radioactive shambles, but still the Cold War goes on - between Euram and Redside on the Moon. And it's vital to save 54 Piscium for the free universe... But when Andrew Adam gets to 54 Piscium, things don't work out quite like that. He finds a world oddly familiar - especially when he lands in the wrong hemisphere.