Two classic novels and a short story collection from the legendary Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author in one volume. This volume from an icon of the Golden Age of science fiction includes: City: In this International Fantasy Award–winning novel, millennia have passed since humankind abandoned Earth, leaving their most loyal animal companions alone. Granted the power of speech centuries earlier, the intelligent, pacifist dogs are the last keepers of human history. With the aid of Jenkins, an ageless service robot, the dogs live in harmony and peace. But now they’re threatened by the reawakened remnants of a warlike race called “Man.” A Heritage of Stars: More than a thousand years have passed since humankind intentionally destroyed its treacherous technology. The scant knowledge that has survived is kept in monastery-like “universities” where Tom Cushing learns of the legendary “Place of Going to the Stars.” On an amazing trek across what was once America, Tom and a band of misfits seek the source of the myth, only to discover an astonishing revelation at the end of their journey. Grotto of the Dancing Deer: Ten tales of wonder, danger, and the future, including the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning “Grotto of the Dancing Deer,” in which a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia; “Over the River,” where children from an embattled future are sent back for safekeeping to their ancestors in the peaceful past; “Day of Truce,” about the inhabitants of a suburban subdivision who must barricade themselves against bands of roving attackers who invade when the gates open wide one day every year; and seven more stories from a master of speculative fiction.

Tales of nostalgia and loss in a world overrun by technology Hank is walking home from the bar when the Model T pulls alongside him. It’s been decades since he saw a car this old, and the sound of it takes him right back to his twenties. The door is open, and when he climbs in, the car takes off—without a driver. Before he knows what’s happened, Hank is right back at Big Spring Pavilion, where he spent his youth drinking bootleg whiskey and chasing pretty girls. He will find the past is not quite as he remembered it, but still a lovely place to go for a drive. This collection includes some of the finest short fiction Clifford Simak ever wrote, including “City,” the story that became the basis for his beloved novel of the same name. In the history of science fiction, no author has ever better understood that the Great Plains and the cosmos are closer together than we think. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

Simak's "City" is a series of connected stories, a series of legends, myths, and campfire stories told by Dogs about the end of human civilization, centering on the Webster family, who, among their other accomplishments, designed the ships that took Men to the stars and gave Dogs the gift of speech and robots to be their hands. Contents: · City · nv Astounding May 1944 · Huddling Place · ss Astounding Jul 1944 · Census · nv Astounding Sep 1944 · Desertion · ss Astounding Nov 1944 · Paradise · ss Astounding Jun 1946 · Hobbies · nv Astounding Nov 1946 · Aesop · nv Astounding Dec 1947 · The Simple Way [The Trouble with Ants] · nv Fantastic Adventures Jan 1951 · Author’s Note · is · Epilog · ss Astounding, ed. Harry Harrison, Random, 1973

Synopsis - From the magazine: “July 17, H. Jackson killed by Nelson ... Old Henry Dide ... July 18, Stover Idled stranger, got 500 dolar...So read the ragged cripple’s “Who’s Who In Hell” of Gun Gulch town. And when square-shooting tinhorn Grant Culver, on the trail of his bushwhacked pardner, read those lines, he knew his own rendezvous with deadly gunflame was only seconds away... .

Without setting foot on another planet, people like Shep Blaine were reaching out to the stars with their minds, telepathically contacting strange beings on other worlds. But even Blaine was unprepared for what happened when he communed with the soul of an utterly alien being light years from Earth. After recovering from his experience, he becomes a dangerous man: not only has he gained startling new powers - but he now understands that humankind must share the stars. Hunted through time and space by those who he used to trust, Blaine undergoes a unique odyssey that takes him through a nightmarish version of small-town America as he seeks to find others who share his vision of a humane future. Blaine has mastered death and time. Now he must master the fear and ignorance that threatened to destroy him!

'One of those complex and enormously inventive stories... based on some real, honest, practical ethical thinking. It is an idea book.' - Groff Conklin in Galaxy Science Fiction Asher Sutton has been lost in deepest space for twenty years. Suddenly arrives a warning from the future, that he will return- and that he must be killed. He is destined to write a book whose message may lead to the death of millions in centuries to come. For this reason Sutton is hounded by the sinister warring factions of the future who wish to influence or prevent the writing of this book he has not yet begun to write. Yet already a copy has been found in the burnt-out wreckage of a space-craft on Alderbaran XII.

The Planet beckoned them from space--& closed round them like a venus Fly Trap! Captain Mike Ross finds himself leading an interplanetary expedition to an anonymous planet that welcomes them with a homing beam & then seals shut around them. Their ship is sealed against them & they are hurled into a wholly inhospitable desert. "Assailed by strange perils & even stranger temptations, the little group stumbled towards its destiny--Mike Ross, the pilot, Sara Foster, the big game hunter, blind George Smith, & the odious Friar Tuck. Before them was a legend made flesh, around them were creatures of myth & mystery, close behind them stalked Nemesis. The doll, the little wooden painted doll, was to be their salvation. Or their damnation, for each might choose, & find, his own Nirvana."

A mind-opening collection of short science fiction from one of the genre’s most revered Grand Masters. Legendary author Robert A. Heinlein proclaimed, “To read science fiction is to read Simak. A reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science fiction at all.” The remarkably talented Clifford D. Simak was able to ground his vast imagination in reality, and then introduce readers to fantastical worlds and concepts they could instantly and completely dig into, comprehend, and enjoy. In the title story, a man’s newfound ability to walk in the past allows him to dwell among dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers . . . and something even more timeless. In “Construction Shack,” the first manned expedition to Pluto reveals that no matter how advanced aliens may be, even they don’t always get everything right. And in “Univac 2200,” the thin line between humans creating technology and humans becoming technology is about to be crossed—and there may be no going back. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

Money was worthless; it had no value! It couldn't buy housing, clothing, or food. Someone with enormous quantities of cash was buying houses and tearing them down, buying stores and closing them. Perhaps a few people could have stopped the transactions before it was too late. They could have said that Earth was being taken over by alien beings in the shapes of bowling balls, talking dogs, and dolls that walked like men. In fact, they did say it. The trouble was, no one believed them!

Collected tales of wonder, danger, and the future, including the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning title story This volume contains ten stellar short stories by science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak. In “Grotto of the Dancing Deer,” a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia. In “Over the River,” which Simak wrote in memory of his beloved grandmother Ellen, children from an embattled future are sent back for safekeeping to their ancestors in the peaceful past. And in “Day of Truce,” the inhabitants of a suburban subdivision must barricade themselves against bands of roving attackers. On only one day each year do the gates open wide. . . . Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook. Contents: The Language of Clifford D. Simak • essay by David W. Wixon Over the River and Through the Woods • (1965) • short story by Clifford D. Simak The Grotto of the Dancing Deer • (1980) • short story by Clifford D. Simak (variant of Grotto of the Dancing Deer) The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch • non-genre • (1944) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak The Civilization Game • (1958) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Crying Jag • (1960) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Hunger Death • (1938) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Mutiny on Mercury • (1932) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Jackpot • (1956) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Day of Truce • (1963) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak Unsilent Spring • (1976) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak and Richard S. Simak

A scholar, a goblin, and a gnome, among others, pursue the secrets of a vanished ancient race through a wasteland of dark magic in this enthralling fantasy quest adventure On an Earth that is different from ours, the young scholar Mark Cornwall becomes a target of the Inquisition, and specifically its most evil and obsessed agent, Beckett. Damned for asking questions, Mark is forced to escape over the border into the Wastelands, a magical realm that is home to all manner of flesh-devouring monsters. Luckily he will not have to make his journey alone. He is accompanied by a cadre of stalwart companions, including the rafter goblin Oliver, Snively the gnome, and secretive Mary from one of three parallel planes. Somewhere beyond the vengeful, blood-hungry Hellhounds, somewhere past the horrific legacy of the now-destroyed Chaos Beast, the mysteries of the Old Ones are waiting to be revealed—and only those with the courage to seek them will be able to alter the destiny of their worlds. In Enchanted Pilgrimage, Clifford D. Simak ingeniously blends elements of science fiction into a savory fantasy stew. The award-winning Grand Master of science fiction spreads his wings and takes glorious flight into a bold new realm of magic and adventure, demonstrating why he remains one of the most acclaimed storytellers in the literature of the remarkable.

Twelve tales of the unknown from a master of science fiction Clifford D. Simak had a sublime ability to evoke a lost way of life. He spent his youth in rural Wisconsin, a landscape filled with mysterious hollows, cliffs, dark forests, and the Wisconsin River flowing in its deep-cut valley. As Simak wandered the countryside and the ridges, he peopled them with imaginary characters who later came to life in his stories. One such individual is Johnny, the orphaned farm boy of “The Contraption,” who stumbles upon a wrecked starship and receives a priceless gift from its owners. Another is the old prospector Eli, whose surprising discoveries on Mercury get him killed in “Spaceship in a Flask.” In “Huddling Place,” a man with paralyzing agoraphobia is the only one who can save the life of a dear friend on Mars—if he can bear to make the trip. And in the title story, aliens slowly take over Earth while humans leave it behind and head for the Homestead Planets. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

Two reporters looking for a story in the outer reaches of the Solar System come upon a derelict spaceship. Inside, they find the only inhabitant, a beautiful young woman who has been imprisoned for a thousand years in suspended animation, suspended but aware for the whole time. Together they set off on a grand adventure across the vastness of space and time in a search for a race known as the Cosmic Engineers on a mission to save the universe. Originally published as a short novel in Astounding Stories in 1939 and later expanded in this 1950 version, Cosmic Engineers shows the scope and imagination of one of science fictions true masters, Clifford Simak.

Multiple masterpieces of science fiction from a Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author in one volume. From a master of the Golden Age of science fiction, this collection includes: Way Station:Enoch Wallace lives a secluded life in the backwoods of Wisconsin. He carries a nineteenth-century rifle and never seems to age—a fact that has caught the attention of prying government eyes. The truth is Enoch's the last surviving veteran of the American Civil War, and for close to a century, he has operated a secret way station for aliens passing through on journeys to other stars. But the gifts of knowledge and immortality that his intergalactic guests have bestowed upon him have opened Enoch's eyes to humanity's impending destruction. Time and Again: Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished in the star system 61 Cygni. Now, he has returned to Earth, but the star-traveler is no longer completely human—and he has a...

Tales of science fiction and adventure from the Hugo Award–winning author of Way Station and *City. The long and prolific career of Clifford D. Simak cemented him as one of the formative voices of the science fiction and fantasy genre. The third writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, his literary legacy stands alongside those of Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury. This striking collection of nine tales showcases Simak’s ability to take the everyday and turn it into something truly compelling, taking readers on a long journey in a very short time. In “Dusty Zebra,” Joe discovers a portal that allows him to exchange everyday objects with an entity he can neither see nor hear, and soon learns that one man’s treasure may be another dimension’s trash. In “Retrograde Evolution,” an interplanetary trading vessel tries to figure out how to deal with a remote society that has suddenly decided to become far less civilized. And in “Project Mastodon,” an unusual ambassador from an unheard-of country offers amazing opportunities in a place the modern world can never compete with: the past. Simak’s mastery of the short form is on display in these and six other stories. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.*