Years ago, Nolly Stennis had been a promising baritone. On the threshold of a great career with Narabedla Ltd., illness had ruined his voice. Then a cellist friend received an offer from Narabedla, only to disappear shortly thereafter. When Nolly set out to investigate, he found intergalatic intrigue beyond imagination. Now Narabedla is determined to keep him quiet -- by making his greatest dreams come true . . .

Mars was harsh and unforgiving, but for the colonists who called it home, its future was as bright as the comets that hung in the night sky, for locked in those icy bodies were the water and gases that would make Mars live again, mined from the vast Oort Cloud beyond Pluto. Young Dekker DeWoe yearned to become an Oort miner. But when he finally arrived on Earth to begin training, the mining project was abruptly canceled. Then he began to hear rumors of a plan to force the restoration of the mining -- a plan that would result in the deaths of millions . . .

Fifty years after the colonization of Mars forced its new residents to undergo genetic and cyborg alteration, the Martian computer net, upon which all Martian life depends, develops a dangerous mind of its own. Reprint.

"He had all but cut his jugular vein in two, right in front of his class and the watching world. The murderer inside of his head was getting very strong and sure..." On the campus of a vast televisual university a suicidal madness locks into men's minds. If Cornut cannot resist, it is the end...for all men.

When a man has a great deal of knowledge, it becomes extremely easy for him to confuse "knowledge" with "wisdom" ... and forget that the antonym of "wisdom" is not "ignorance" but "folly."When a man has a great deal of knowledge, it becomes extremely easy for him to confuse "knowledge" with "wisdom" ... and forget that the antonym of "wisdom" is not "ignorance" but "folly."

Just as medicine is not a science, but rather an art -- a device, practiced in a scientific manner, in its best manifestations -- time-travel stories, some would argue, are not science fiction. But whether they are or aren\'t, time-travel has become acceptable to science fiction readers as a traditional device in stories some might call admissible in the genre. Here, Frederik Pohl employs it to portray the amusingly catastrophic meeting of three societies.

The witty sequel to Frederik Pohl's & C. M. Kornbluth's legendary science fiction classic The Space Merchants, written 30 years later. Great advertising agencies still dominate the world and control all governments and every aspect of human behavior. When a handful of renegades on Venus zealously opposes the so-called “benefits” of the hucksters’’ paradise, it seems inevitable that the all-powerful account executives of Earth will stop at nothing, not even war, to force the rebels to submit. But the Veenies have a plan….

Several centuries in the future, human society has reached a state of near-utopia. All communicable diseases have been eradicated and people live affluent, fulfilled lives. Lukewarm fusion provides almost limitless energy supplies, making space travel, even travel to far-distant stars, cheap and easy. And people have time for such pleasure cruises now, for a simple pre-birth operation ensures the body will not age. Other than fatal accidents, there’s every reason to expect to live forever. Perfect—except perfection somehow never includes everyone, and Rafiel’s perfect world is marred by the fact that he is aging and he will die. In a peaceful world of ten trillion immortals, what is it that gives life meaning?

Rear cover: `Scientists and psychics are predicting eruptions and earthquakes that could devastate half the earth, caused by a rare conjunction of the planets. It's called SYZYGY. A ruthless land speculator decides to make a quick killing by starting a panic. Then others cash in on the Syzygy Effect for their own greed: a crackpot cult preaching doom, a politician out for votes, a quack scientist out to make the headlines. When California is paralyzed by brush fires and flash floods, hysteria explodes. Only a dedicated scientist and a beautiful NASA astrophysicist can prevent massive destruction. But they're up against forces that will stop at nothing to keep the truth from getting out.'

This is a good collection of Pohl's short fiction that originally appeared in Galaxy Magazine (and one from If) from 1958-1960. Later known primarily as a novelist, Pohl was a master of the shorter forms to satirize as well as to entertain, particularly in the 1950s and 60s. 7 Stories: Third Offense The Hated The richest Man in Levittown The Martian in the Attic I Plinglot, who you? The seven deadly Virtues Mars by Moonlight

Frederik Pohl, co-author with the late, great C.M. Kornbluth of such modern classics of science fiction as "the Space Merchants", "Gladiator-at-Law" and "Wolfbane", is one of the biggest names in SF today. His stories explore facets of our future on Earth and in space with wit, a daringly speculative intelligence and supreme narrative skill. This volume is an outstanding collection - eight novelettes and five shortstories - of Frederik Pohl's shorter work. Here is science fiction at its most stimulating.   Contents: The Day the Icicle Works Closed • (1960) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Middle of Nowhere • (1955) • short story by Frederik Pohl The Man Who Ate the World • (1956) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Haunted Corpse • (1957) • short story by Frederik Pohl Survival Kit • (1957) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Knights of Arthur • (1958) • novelette by Frederik Pohl Mars by Moonlight • (1958) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Seven Deadly Virtues • (1958) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Wizards of Pung's Corners • [Jack Tighe] • (1958) • novelette by Frederik Pohl The Snowmen • (1959) • short story by Frederik Pohl The Day of the Boomer Dukes • (1956) • short story by Frederik Pohl The Waging of the Peace • [Jack Tighe] • (1959) • novelette by Frederik Pohl I Plinglot, Who You? • (1959) • novelette by Frederik Pohl (variant of I Plinglot — Who You?)