Science Fiction Stories

What will the end of the Earth's lifespan look like? What will happen to the humans left on the planet when it fades into obsolescence? These are just a few of the profound questions at the center of science fiction master Poul Anderson's thought-provoking tale The Chapter Ends.

A hayseed Martian among big-planet slickers. of course he would get into trouble. But that was nothing compared to the trouble he would be in if he did not get into trouble!

There has always been, and will always be, the problem of surviving the experience that any trained expert can handle. when there hasn't been any first survivor to be an expert! When no one has ever gotten back to explain what happened....

Dueling as a means of settling disputes has been revived by the invention of the dueling machine, which allows two adversaries to have at each other in the imaginary world of their choosing, with no danger to either other than humiliation and the loss of the point in dispute, until the Kerak Worlds found a way to kill with the machine. Unless a young Star Watchman can solve the mystery, the warlike Kerak Worlds will gobble up the planets.

Revenging himself brutally upon the sadistic Hyrkanian lord who vanquished his current band of mercenaries, Conan also rescues his misused mistress, Olivia, a princess of Ophir. Escaping across the seas that separate eastern Hyrkania from western Turan, they come across a seemingly uninhabited island, in which resides the ruins of court lined with life-like bronze statues of a race unknown to the barbarian.

Sometimes getting a job is harder than the job after you get it--and sometimes getting out of a job is harder than either!

Space Platform tells of man's first step into outer space. of the difficulties and dangers of reaching for the stars. It is also an exciting adventure. When young Joe Kenmore came to Bootstrap to install pilot gyros in the Platform he hadn't bargained for sabotage or murder or love. But Joe learned that ruthless agents were determined to wreck the project.

The robots were built to serve Man; to do his work, see to his comforts, make smooth his way. Then the robots figured out an additional service--putting Man out of his misery.

Every boy should be able to whistle, except, of course, Martians. But this one did!

What is desirable is not always necessary, while that which is necessary may be most undesirable. Perhaps the measure of a man is the ability to tell one from the other. and act on it.