C. C. MacApp (1917–1971)

Though there are many SF concepts in this book, this is more a crime thriller on another planet than an SF book. It takes place on a colony planet. People fly around in anti-gravity cars. There's an enormous pink force-field barrier that divides the colony into the Insiders who live a life of leisure and the Bumsiders -- exiled prisoners and their descendants -- who struggle in near-desert conditions. The local large cat-like predator appears to be capable of reflective thought. All of these show more are just props in a story about one Bumsider teenager who uncovers a network of corrupt politicians and police while looking for another Bumsider who has disappeared. The plot is straight out of a hundred generic non-SF thrillers, including the shootout at the end. The writing varies wildly from chapter to chapter. Early chapters have a nice nitty-gritty realism, the middle chapters are pretty standard SF-naive, except for a brief surprisingly direct acknowledgement of sexual desire, and the final chapters are pure pulp with exclamation marks flying like bullets. Ditto typos -- misspellings jumped out at me every few pages. show less

A very short satire on materialism and the power of advertising. The final joke in the story wasn't very tasteful, but it made a highly appropriate point.

This one is old but the story is readable because it isn't too dated technologically. A man is recruited to do some spying for some aliens in return for Earth getting a working Starship. In the course of his mission, he explores a dark "wanderer" and discovers the way to an older vanished more advanced alien race.

Everybody wants a coffin now!! Free download available at Gutenberg Project.