Description

Get ready for a giant, mind-exapnding dose of the best science fiction ever written by the greatest science fiction writers of all time!

When readers first encounter science fiction, they find adventures on other planets and in future worlds, explorations of future technology and its implications, and extrapolations of social trends and warnings of where they may lead, but they also encounter concepts heretofore undreamed of, and the impact on the readers' thinking does nothing less than turn their world upside down.

Now, David Drake, Jim Baen, and Eric Flint gather together some of the greatest science fiction ever written in one volume, with each story chosen for a startling breakthrough concept which left readers stunned and changed the course of science fiction.

In the Golden Age of science fiction, the science fiction magazines weren't given titles such as Astounding, Amazing, Startling, etc., for nothing! Pick up this generous serving of the very best of science fiction and prepare to be astounded, amazed, startled, and entertained.

About the Editors

David Drake was attending Duke University Law School when he was drafted. He served the next two years in the Army, spending 1970 as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th armored Cavalry in Viet Nam and Cambodia. Upon return he completed his law degree at Duke and was for eight years Assistant Town Attorney for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1981. Besides the bestselling Hammers Slammers series, his books for Baen include With the Lightnings and its sequel Lt. Leary, Commanding, Ranks of Bronze, Starliner, All the Way to the Gallows, Redliners, and many more. His most recent novel is The Way to Glory, the latest in his popular Lt. Leary series.

Eric Flint's impressive first novel, Mother of Demons (Baen), was selected by Science Fiction Chronicle as one of the best novels of 1997. His next solo novel, 1632, sold out its first hardcover printing and went back to press almost immediately, and received enthusiastic critical praise. With David Drake he has written five popular novels in the Belisarius series. Flint has also begun a highly-praised fantasy adventure series, so far comprising The Philosophical Strangler and Forward the Mage. Flint received his master's degree in history from UCLA and was for many years a labor union activist. He lives in East Chicago, Indiana, with his wife.

Jim Baen is Editor-in-Chief of Baen Books, and is renowned throughout the science fiction field for his taste and ability to select authors with strong storytelling ability and steer them to commercial success. Prior to founding Baen Books, he was the editor of the legendary science fiction magazine Galaxy, the science fiction editor of Ace Books, and an editor at Tor Books.

Extended Copyright Information

Copyright 2004 by David Drake, Eric Flint, & Jim Baen.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Previously published by Baen Books.

C.L. Moore, "Shambleau" was first published in Weird Tales in November, 1933. Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates. Copyright © 1933 by Popular Fiction Company, renewed 1961 by C.L. Moore. John W. Campbell, Jr. (writing as Don A. Stuart), "Who Goes There?" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in August, 1938. A.E. Van Vogt, "Black Destroyer" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in July, 1939. Lee Gregor, "Heavy Planet" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in August, 1939. P. Schuyler Miller, "Spawn" was first published in Weird Tales in August, 1939. Ross Rocklynne, "Quietus" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in September, 1940. Chester S. Geier, "Environment" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in May, 1944. Arthur C. Clarke, "Rescue Party" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in May, 1946. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agents, Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency, Inc. Theodore Sturgeon, "Thunder and Roses" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in November, 1947. C.M. Kornbluth, "The Only Thing We Learn" was first published in Startling Stories in July, 1949. Copyright © 1949 by C.M. Kornbluth. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Wyman Guin (writing as Norman Menasco), "Trigger Tide" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in October, 1950. Jack Vance, "Liane the Wayfarer" first appeared as part of Jack Vance, The Dying Earth, published by Hillman in 1950. Fritz Leiber, "A Pail of Air" was first published in Galaxy in December, 1951. Michael Shaara, "All the Way Back" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in July, 1952. Poul Anderson, "Turning Point" was first published in If in May, 1953. Robert Ernest Gilbert, "Thy Rocks and Rills" was first published in If in September, 1953. Tom Godwin, "The Cold Equations" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in August, 1954. Fredric Brown, "Answer" first appeared in Fredric Brown's anthology Angels and Spaceships, published by E.P. Dutton in 1954. Robert Sheckley, "Hunting Problem" was first published in Galaxy in September, 1955. L. Sprague de Camp, "A Gun For Dinosaur" was first published in Galaxy in March, 1956. Isaac Asimov, "The Last Question," copyright © 1956 by Columbia Publications Inc., from Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories of Vol I by Isaac Asimov. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. H. Beam Piper, "Omnilingual" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in February, 1957. Robert A. Heinlein, "The Menace From Earth" was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in August, 1957. Gordon R. Dickson, "St. Dragon and the George" was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in September, 1957. Christopher Anvil, "The Gentle Earth" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in November, 1957. Murray Leinster, "The Aliens" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in August, 1959. Rick Raphael, "Code Three" was first published in Analog in February, 1963. James H. Schmitz, "Goblin Night" was first published in Analog in April, 1965. Keith Laumer, "The Last Command" was first published in Analog in January, 1967.

Illustration by Thomas Kidd.
Cover design by Carol Russo Design.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Opening Lines (Experimental)

Norton's Star Rangers.
gone by, and I haven't changed my mind at all.
Who was to blame? For three days Alveron's thoughts had come back to that question, and still he had found no answer. A creature of a less civilized or a less sensitive race would never have let it torture his mind, and ...

Copyright

Copyright 2004 by David Drake, Eric Flint, & Jim Baen.

All Rights Reserved.