The Flight of the Eagle: Restored Classics to Go Edition

· Otbebookpublishing
Ebook
24
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

In a starving future, Earth turns to Venus for salvation, where a strange weather-plant may feed the world—but may also be alive in ways no one understands. Into that danger goes Bat Kendo, a hard-drinking radar mutant whose uncanny senses make him the one man fit for the job, aboard the atomic-powered R. S. Eagle. Told through the wry, hard-edged voice of a spacer who joins the mission in gritty Foy City, the story follows a perilous voyage from Luna to Venus, through crushing clouds, toxic air, and the swampy settlements of Venusberg. There the crew learns the plant gathers water and nitrogen from the atmosphere, and may even possess a kind of sentience. But the real threat emerges on the return trip, when a meteor swarm—actually supercooled ice drawn to the cargo—cripples the ship, kills crewmen, and destroys the fuel and communications systems. With Earth looming and the Eagle nearly helpless, Bat makes a final, sacrificial stand in radioactive mist to guide the ship through a blind descent into the Mojave Desert. His death helps deliver the cargo that will one day turn barren land fertile, even as the tale mourns how quickly civilization forgets the people who bought progress with their lives. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
In a starving future, Earth turns to Venus for salvation, where a strange weather-plant may feed the world—but may also be alive in ways no one understands. Into that danger goes Bat Kendo, a hard-drinking radar mutant whose uncanny senses make him the one man fit for the job, aboard the atomic-p...

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About the author

Alfred Coppel was an American writer whose career bridged the worlds of military service, journalism, and imaginative fiction, giving his work a grounded, sharply observant quality that set him apart. Born in the early twentieth century and shaped by the upheavals of war and the rapid changes of the modern era, he brought to his writing a deep interest in conflict, duty, technology, and the moral pressures placed on ordinary people by extraordinary circumstances. He became especially noted for fiction that combined suspense, speculation, and a clear sense of human consequence, earning a reputation as a versatile storyteller with a gift for pace and atmosphere. Across his career, he explored themes of survival, ambition, loyalty, and the costs of progress, often asking how individuals maintain integrity in systems larger than themselves. Those concerns still feel urgent today in a world defined by technological change, geopolitical tension, and ethical uncertainty. Coppel's legacy lies in his ability to make genre storytelling feel serious, immediate, and emotionally resonant, offering readers not only excitement but also reflection on the responsibilities that come with power and choice. Readers who enjoy thoughtful adventure, military fiction, and speculative stories with a human core will find his work especially rewarding.

Alfred Coppel was an American writer whose career bridged the worlds of military service, journalism, and imaginative fiction, giving his work a grounded, sharply observant quality that set him apart. Born in the early twentieth century and shaped by the upheavals of war and the rapid changes of ...

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