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Twenty-six science fiction stories, complete in one volume, originally published before 1939 (when the Golden Age of SF began), with autobiographical remarks by Asimov before each story. Contents: Introduction; Part 1: 1920 to 1930 by Isaac Asimov. Part II - 1931: The Man Who Evolved, Edmond Hamilton: As man evolves what changes will he undergo in a thousand years? A million or more? The Jameson Satellite, Neil R. Jones: When a scientist knows he must die, he conceives a brilliant idea for the preservation of his body... the result of which even exceeded his expectations. Submicroscopic: A ray is invented that causes both miniturisation and enlargement; Awlo Of Ulm, Captain S. P. Meek: Could an atom be a miniature solar system - and if so, what of our own? Tetrahedra Of Space, P. Schuyler Miller: Three different civilisations meet in a struggle to the death. The World Of The Red Sun, Clifford D. Simak: A pair of adventurers leave Denver in their flying time machine, intending to travel five millennia... but they land five million years later in a desolate world ruled by the evil and cruel brain, Golan-Kirt. Part III - 1932: Tumithak of the Corridors, Charles R. Tanner: In the fifty-third century, two millennia after Earth has been invaded by the shelks from Venus, mankind has been driven underground into a maze of deep tunnels. Tumithak, a young man, determines to venture to the surface and kill a shelk and on his way, discovers other societies that have evolved. The Moon Era, Jack Williamson: An insufficiently tested space ship delivers its lone passenger to the Moon of the distant past, where he will play a role in the final episode of a ruthless, genocidal war. Part IV - 1933: The Man Who Awoke, Laurence Manning: Elderly banker Norman Winters puts himself into suspended animation for 5,000 years at a time - and has adventures through Time. Tumithak In Shawm, Charles R. Tanner: Tumithak leads a party of warriors back to the surface to defeat the shelks. Part V - 1934: Colossus, Donald Wandrei: As an apocalyptic atomic world war breaks out, a man leaves Earth in a experimental spaceship, hoping to reach the ends of the known universe. Born of the Sun, Jack Williamson: The Sun is a sentient being, and planets and moons are its eggs - and now the eggs are beginning to hatch, including the egg shell known as 'Earth...'. Sidewise in Time, Murray Leinster: As 'time-quakes' reveal parallel universes, a professor and a team of students attempt to establish themselves as masters of a time-fractured world. Old Faithful, Raymond Z. Gallun: Martian civilisation is slowly dying and Martian 774 is informed - as is the custom - that he has forty days left to live and his work of establishing communication with Earth is not relevant to saving the Martian race. So...Martian 774 hitches a ride on a passing comet...Part VI - 1935: Parasite Planet, Stanley G. Weinbaum: Tidal locking keeps one side of Venus perpetually facing the Sun, creating a barren desert. Towards the planet's twilight zone the temperature drops below the boiling point of water and the Hotlands begin: a place inhabited by parasitic native life forms. Proxima Centauri, Murray Leinster: The starship Adastra is in sight of its goal, Proxima Centauri with a crew that is half loyal officers and half mutineers. And when a young mutineer is promoted for picking up signals from Proxima, a loyal officer is enraged...and he doesn't seem to realise the communications are less than friendly. The Accursed Galaxy, Edmond Hamilton: The force field prison of an immortal Energy Being lands on Earth and the secret of why other galaxies flee the Milky Way is revealed. Part VII - 1936: He Who Shrank, Henry Hasse: The greatest scientist ever has invented a new means of exploring the world of the infinitely small - and sends his devoted assistant on a mind-boggling series of adventures exploring the infinite series of concentric universes. The Human Pets of Mars, Leslie F. Stone: The Martians land on a golf course and capture a small group of humans, transporting them back to Mars, where they are kept as pets. The Brain Stealers of Mars, John W. Campbell, Jr.: Two rogue inventors break the law to create an atomic powered space ship. On Mars, they find two life forms - one of which can become anything it likes...Devolution, Edmond Hamilton: A variant on the creation myth, where perfect beings devolve into lesser beings in all ways - including morally. Big Game, Isaac Asimov: A drunk man in a bar tries to convince his audience that ten years ago, he built a time machine and travelled back to before the extinction of the dinosaurs, where he met an intelligent race of humanoid dinosaurs with the ability to communicate telepathically. Part VIII - 1937: Other Eyes Watching, John W. Campbell, Jr: A non-fiction piece on the solar system, focusing on Jupiter. Minus Planet, John D. Clark, Ph.D.: Humanity is endangered by the approach of a world composed of pure antimatter. Past, Present and Future, Nat Schachner: Kleon, not content to be worshipped as a god by the Mayans, will sleep the centuries away...until a careless explorer succumbs to the sleeping gas. Together, explorer and Kleon awake to the even more distant future: the Age of the Olgarchs. Part IX - 1938: The Men and the Mirror, Ross Rocklynne: A cop and a crook become trapped in a frictionless, mirrored bowl. Escape depends on co-operation - and ingeniously applied physics. Cover art by Christian Vankeer. -
In this volume of extraterrestrial children...Doorstep, Keith Laumer: An alien visit where everything is misinterpreted by a general bucking for another star. In The Jaws Of Danger, Piers Anthony; The Witness, Eric Frank Russell: AN alien is charged with illegally entering Earth. The Mississippi Saucer, Frank Belknap Long: A family living on the Mississippi River has quite an adventure when a flying saucer lands around the bend. Primary Education Of The Camiroi, R.A. Lafferty: A PTA delegation from Dubuque, Iowa who visit another planet to investigate their educational methods. Tween, J.F. Bone; Zoo, Edward D. Hoch: Professor Hugo and his space-themed Zoo of creatures travels throughout the solar system via his space ship. Subcommittee, Zenna Henderson: All humanity is stumped by the mystery of why alien invaders demand complete access to all the world's oceans. Keyhole, Murray Leinster: Researchers try to communicate with a being living on the moon - and find it has learned more from them than they’ve learned from it. Kindergarten, James E. Gunn. The seven day journal of a child considered 'not so bright' who has been given a special task. Cover art by Tony Roberts. -
A Meeting With Medusa, Arthur C. Clarke; Shaffery Among the Immortals, Frederik Pohl: Shaffery, a well educated scientist, would love nothing more than to be famous. However, the problem is he can never seem to actually do any science. Patron Of The Arts, William Rotsler: Thorne, a billionaire, cares only about women and art. He pays the world's finest artist to make a work of art of the incomparable woman Madelon, in the new and extraordinary artform - the sensatron. Then Madelon and the artist disappear - through the sensatron...And Thorne must solve the secret of the sensatron alone. When It Changed, Joanna Russ: The inhabitants of an all-female human colony planet produce offspring by chemically combining ova after all their males died in a plague 30 generations earlier. On the Downhill Side, Harlan Ellison: A man who loved too much walks his unicorn through the night streets of New Orleans to meet Lisette, who loved too little. Both have incurred the wrath of the God of Love and have one last chance to escape eternal damnation. The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe: Far from Earth, sister planets Saint Anne and Saint Croix circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere... When We Went to See the End of the World, Robert Silverberg: In which time travel allows Nick, Jane and their friends to witness the final apocalypse. Goat Song, Poul Anderson: In a future where the world is controlled by a giant super-computer which stores the personalities of the deceased for future resurrection, a balladeer is on a mission - the restoration of his dead lover. Cover art by Anthony Roberts.
