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Cover art: John Berkey
Blurb: “19 masterful tales by one of science fiction's most inventive authors
As Lester del Rey says in this book's
ingorze aou he Iie and vors o
Frederik Pohl. His stories vary more in length, attitude, type and treatment than those of any other writer. He has been one of the leaders in almost every activity that relates to the broad field of science fiction." From his early days as a fledgling pulp author to his present spot as one of the genre's top writer/editors, Frederik Pohl has always striven for excellence. The 19 tales in this collectors' edition prove that point beyond ashadow of a doubt.
Some of the stories included are:
THE TUNNEL UNDER THE WORLD - It all started when Guy Burkhardt went down to his basement to replace a faulty fuse. He pushed aside an old steamer trunk and discovered a shiny metal floor underneath it - where cement should have been! He found a hammer and cracked the floor in a dozen other spots. everywhere was metal. Even the brick walls were false fronts for copper pan-els. "That's crazy," he said to the emptiness,
, "what in the name of heaven would anybody do that for?" The startling answer came sooner than Burkhardt ever would have dreamed...
THE SNOWMEN - In the old days, back when the Earth was green and open to the sky, you might have expected aliens to come skyrocketing down from the stars. Not now... not
when most of the heat had left the world and mankind was only
a few
short decades away from extinction.
But one particularly cold and gray morning, a being from beyond did in fact put down his saucer on our barren planet. Just his luck, he fell right into the arms of two of Earth's most desperate criminals....
SPEED TRAP
- Dr. Charles
Grew had laughed dryly at Larry Ros-nick's remark - "The minute a man does anything, anything at all, the whole world enters into a conspiracy. to keep him from ever doing it again.'
Tharcher Lorn Rosnick was Tound searcher Larry dead of accidental causes - a great loss to science and humanity. The tragic event set Grew thinking ... suppose Larry's death wasn't an accident, suppose somebody didn't want the human race to get ahead as fast as it could, Somebody from another world.
The idea was quite preposterous...
THE MARTIAN IN THE ATTIC Hector Dunlop was positive that millionaire Quincy Lafitte was holding a Martian captive in his mansion. It had to be - because Lafitte could never have come up with all those marvelous moneymaking inventions himself. He must have had the help of a superior alien intelligence. But why should the Martian continue to aid his captor? A trip up to Lafitte's darkened attic to get the answer proved quite surprising for Mr. Dunlop.....
These and other classic stories such as "The Children of Night," "The Census Takers,"
and "Father of the
make THE BEST OF FRED-ERIK POHL outstanding reading - the kind of absorbing science fiction that will be talked about whenever great writers and their stories come up.“