The novel “The Man Who Owned the World”, also known as “He Owned the World”, by Charles Eric Maine was published for the first time in 1961.

Robert Carson is an astronaut who is supposed to be the first man to reach the Moon. Unfortunately for him, a small meteorite hits one of his rocket’s thruster power systems, an extremely unlikely event. The result is that his rocket is sent off course and, when even the desperate attempt to use the retrorockets to correct the course fails, Carson is doomed to die in space.

When Robert Carson awakens, he finds himself in an unknown place, attached to machines. After a long series of treatments, he regains his strength and is told that he’s on Mars, where he was taken after being found wandering in space. The science developed by humans living on Mars is even capable of reanimating the dead, an extremely complex operation accomplished in his case because he’s a really important man.

The novel “The Player of Games” by Iain M. Banks was published for the first time in 1988. It’s part of the Culture series.

Jernau Morat Gurgeh is the best player in the Culture but his skill with any type of game leads him to get bored. The Contact section offers him to go to the Empire of Azad to participate in a very special game that goes far beyond the normal concept of board game but that civilization’s home planet is many light-years away from the Culture and the journey would take a few years. The commitment seems too heavy and Gurgeh declines the offer.

The robot Mawhrin-Skel offers Gurgeh help in a match that would allow him to achieve a perfect score. Gurgeh only partially accepts the help and doesn’t achieve perfection but above all Mawhrin-Skel blackmails him to get help from him to be readmitted in Special Circumstances, which had expelled it due to its instability. To do this, Gurgeh ends up accepting the offer to travel to the Empire of Azad.

The novel “Hostile Takeover” by David Bruns and Chris Pourteau was published for the first time in 2018. It’s the third book in The SynCorp Saga series and follows “Cassandra’s War”.

The Council that decides the fate of the Earth is an uneven group of people who have very different ideas about how to save the planet from a climate catastrophe. Internal power struggles can change many plans but the secret ones continue behind the scenes and Ming Qinlao goes to extremes to carry out her own. The possible ramifications of Elise’s pregnancy add to the uncertainties.

A large group of refugees enters the USA, led by Corazon Santos in search of a better future promised by Cassandra. General William Graves is ordered to keep them under control but the meeting with their leader surprises him when she tells him that he will help her achieve her goals.