Lester Del Rey

Badge of Infamy & The Sky Is Falling Lester Del Rey

The story of the "Badge of Infamy" is set in the future where powerful unions called lobbies control much of society. One of the most powerful lobbies is the medical lobby, which following a pandemic that spread across earth, has required all medicine from being practiced only by authorized lobby members and only in approved lobby facilities. Daniel Feldman was once a doctor but has now become a pariah due to his breach of these rules. Trying to escape the shame he travels to Mars, where he discovers a disaster threatening billions of lives. In "The Sky Is Falling" Computer engineer Dave Hanson is transported from Earth to a world where the rules of science and physics are replaced by the rules of magic. Hanson was summoned to help save the world's sky from collapsing. The sky is a literal dome that arches above the world, with the sun and stars not massive celestial bodies trillions of miles away, but smaller lights that move about within the dome of the sky. Hanson must find a way to reconcile his scientific knowledge with the magic of his new world and thus prevent the sky from falling.