Stanisław Lem

The Chain of Chance is a science fiction/detective novel by the Polish writer Stanisław Lem, published in 1975. Lem's treatment of the detective genre introduces many nontraditional elements. The reader is prompted not only to consider various suspects as possible culprits in a series of murders, but also the …

'On one side of the ducats was stamped the radiant profile of Archithorius, on the other - an image of his six hundred arms' Mortal Engines is a selection of the best of Stanislaw Lem's extraordinary miniature space epics, chosen by his heroic translator Michael Kandel, who has somehow battled through Lem's jokes, …

Fiasco is a science fiction novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem, first published in a German translation in 1986. The book, published in Poland the following year, is a further elaboration of Lem's skepticism: in Lem's opinion, the difficulty in communication with alien civilizations is cultural, rather than spatial, …

The Invincible is a science fiction novel written by Stanisław Lem and published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania. A translation into German was published in 1967; an English translation by Wendayne Ackerman of the German translation …

Return from the Stars is a science fiction novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem. Written in 1961, it revolves around the story of a cosmonaut returning to his homeworld, Earth, and finding it a completely different place than when he left. The novel touches among the ideas of alienation, culture shock and dystopias. …

From 'A giant of twentieth-century science fiction' (Guardian), the adventures of Pirx, a hapless everyman in outer space'By now he fancied himself something of a rocket jockey, a space ace, whose real home was among the planets'In a future where space travel has become routine and unremarkable, Pirx the pilot bumbles …

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub is a science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem first published in 1961. It was first published in English in 1973; a second edition was published in 1986.

His Master's Voice is a science fiction novel written by Stanisław Lem, first published in 1968. It was translated into English by Michael Kandel in 1983. It is a densely philosophical first contact story about an effort by scientists to decode, translate and understand an extraterrestrial transmission. The novel …

Ijon Tichy, Lem's Candide of the Cosmos, encounters bizarre civilizations and creatures in space that serve to satirize science, the rational mind, theology, and other icons of human pride. Line drawings by the Author. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book Ijon Tichy, Lem's Candide of the Cosmos, …

Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a future cure. …