The Nebula Award nominee,
MANHATTAN TRANSFER
by John E. Stith

Open Format Full-Length SF Novel

Download for only $2 US

Aliens kidnap Manhattan; read all about it. Manhattan is sliced loose from the surface of the earth, placed under a huge clear dome, and whisked aboard a gigantic starship. Through the dome, the captive residents can see dozens of similarly trapped alien cities. But humans (and New Yorkers) might be more than these aliens ever bargained for. Originally published in hardcover by Tor books, Manhattan Transfer is a Nebula Award nominee.

"How can you possibly resist?... Superscience SF in the classic vein, fast-moving, heroic...loaded with sensawunda. You'll love it."--ANALOG

"This is science fiction on a grand scale, full of stunning visuals of New York City being ripped from the surface of the Earth, vast starships, and intriguing extraterrestrials."--ROBERT J. SAWYER

"Considerable ingenuity...Think of it as a visually spectacular movie...and a really outstanding, imaginative, and professional production staff and special effects crew working to bring off the big set-pieces and guarantee the thrills."--LOCUS

"This is the kind of story that brought me to SF. Put a little fun back into your life and read Manhattan Transfer."--SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE

Text / HTML / Newton Messagepad / PDF / VTech HELIO / RocketBook versions available

As an experiment, the author is making available an electronic book version of his novel MANHATTAN TRANSFER available for a $2.00 (US) download, in hopes that most readers are honest and will pay for the download.

This notice is here partly because there are electronic copies of some of the author's work circulating on the net, and with this system in place ethical readers downloading ebooks can make payments that keep free copies from eliminating the writing income of writers whose work they enjoy. This page shows how to send payment for a novel you found someplace on the net, or one you download here.

How to Pay

You may download your MANHATTAN TRANSFER file(s) after you send the author payment via any of the following methods:

• $2US credit card payments may be made directly to the author via PayPal. Just click the PayPal icon at the head of this paragraph. You might check this page from time to time to see if additional novels are available. As soon as you make your purchase, you will be taken to a URL that will allow you to download. If for any reason you don't get the URL promptly, email the author at jestith at neverend.com and he will respond quickly. (This page depends on Java being enabled in your browser. If you have an old browser or choose not to enable Java, please go to www.paypal.com to pay your $2 to the author's email address, jestith at neverend.com, and then email the author saying you need the download URL.)

• You do not need a PayPal account to send $2 via PayPal.
• Cash or Check from anywhere. $2US checks (or cash, though sending cash is risky) may be sent directly to the author: Email the author, jestith at neverend.com, for the postal address. Be sure to include your email so the author can email you the download URL.

The Book

About MANHATTAN TRANSFER (Tor Books hardcover 1993, paperback 1994). Aliens kidnap Manhattan; read all about it. Manhattan is taken away and placed under a huge clear dome, through which the trapped residents can see dozens of similarly trapped alien cities. Science Fiction Book Club selection. Reached the preliminary Nebula Award ballot. On the Science Fiction Chronicle best of year list. Hugo Award Honorable Mention. Seiun Award nominee (Japan). La Tour Eiffel nominee (France). Available in Braille and audio cassette from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the Library of Congress in the USA who meet the qualifications. Manhattan Transfer hardcover at Amazon.com.

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FREE if you're in doubt about whether you want to buy it.

The author will periodically check the number of downloads against the number of people paying for the downloads and will keep the file available as long as most people are being honest.

Please report any difficulties with this page to the author, jestith@neverend.com, who will immediately set things straight. He can fix anything wrong with the plain text version and html version, but doesn't currently own a Newton or RocketBook or have the tools to make changes in those versions.

The author also has most of his work available at eReader.com (formerly peanutpress and Palm Digital Media), and some of his work available at Fictionwise. See Below.

REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS, MANHATTAN TRANSFER, DEATH TOLLS, DEEP QUARRY, and MEMORY BLANK are available at Fictionwise in a variety of electronic formats (Adobe Acrobat, Palm doc, Rocketbook, Microsoft Reader, Franklin ebookMan, hiebook, iSilo, and MobiPocket).

Related Links

• Palm Note: The compressed PDB file needs a compressed-capable reader to view it, such as QED (shareware) or Peanut Reader (freeware) , among many others.
• RocketBook note: The free eRocket reader for RocketBooks on the PC is available at http://www.rocket-ebook.com/eRocket/index.html.
• vTech HELIO note: This compressed hDB file needs the vTech HELIO handheld plus the version 1.13 OS upgrade.
• Here are free HTML excerpts from all of Stith's published novels. In each case the excerpt is the beginning of the novel, and consists of about five percent of the book.

Special Thanks

The following people people volunteered, with the author's permission, to generate alternate formats for the book.

• Newton Version. The version for the Newton Messagepad 2100 is courtesy of Loren Finkelstein.
• Palm Pilot Version. Version for the Palm was provided courtesy of Arno and John Bartley. Since a Palm edition is now licensed to Peanut Press, the author has taken the Palm version off this page.
• PDF Version. The version for Adobe Acrobat Reader is provided courtesy of Greg Browne.  Best read on a 17+" monitor in Continuous-Facing Page mode. On smaller monitors, maximize the page and read 1 page at a time.
• RocketBook Version. The version for the RocketBook (and the HTML version) is provided courtesy of Joe Buckley. 
• vTech HELIO Version. The version for the vTech HELIO is provided courtesy of John Bartley, Portland, OR.
• Thanks very much for your efforts, Arno, Greg, Joe, John, and Loren! Thanks, too, to the supporters of this experimental distribution system.

How to Encourage This Approach

If you like the book, and if you feel this $2 distribution method is fair to readers, please pay your fee and tell a friend. The more successful this experiment is, the more likely the author is to release additional works this way, and the more likely that other authors will try the same thing.