Dan Dannerman has been through hell. Caught in the middle of an interstellar war that will end only with the death of the universe, he's been captured by aliens who call themselves the Beloved Leaders, cloned repeatedly, torn from his wife, and brutally tortured.Sitting in a prison cell on an alien world, slowly going mad, Dan is finally freed by the Horch, the sword enemies of the Beloved Leaders. The time has finally come for Dannerman to strike back--but at whom?Trusting neither side, Dannerman must somehow convince the Horch to send him back to Earth so he can warn humanity of the approaching alien menace. But when he finally returns he finds an Earth far stranger than he can possibly imagine, an Earth that already has two Dan Dannermans--an Earth already under seige by the Beloved Leaders...

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

My conversionNice collection of short stories includes: “The Martian in the Attic” first appeared in If Magazine, © 1960 Galaxy, as follows:  “Mars by Moonlight,” “The Seven Deadly Virtues,” “Third Offense” “I Plinglot, Who You?” all © 1958 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation; “The Richest Man in Levittown” (published as “The Bitterest Pill”) © 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation.

First they cracked the codes. The big electronic calculators that handled math codes, production lines, found it simple to decipher the small but racy vocabularies of the animals. Then man had achieved the age-old dream: He could respond when his dog struggled to tell us something, and he could tell that foolish sheep that if he didn't act right he'd be mutton; and, being a man, he could create the wildest, craziest secret weapon for the war that's man's heritage but not that of the new, now-articulate minorities.

Sent to investigate alien signals warning of the destruction of Earth by the malevolent Horch, a group of astronomers led by Dan Dannerman is taken prisoner by aliens with their own diabolical plans for Earth, but these aliens have underestimated the ingenuity of their human captives.

The discovery of another habitable world might spell salvation to the three (Food Bloc, Fuel Bloc & People Bloc) bitterly competing power blocs of the war torn & resource-starved 21st century. But when their representatives arrive on Jem, with its three intelligent species, they discover instead the perfect situation into which to export their rivalries. Subtitled, with savage irony, 'The Making of a Utopia', Jem is one of Frederik Pohl's most powerful novels.

One of the Grand Masters of SCi-Fi relates tales of the early days of the genre becoming important.

Elegy for a Dead Planet: Luna 1937 writing as Elton Andrews--1st publication, a poem The Dweller in the Ice 1940 writing as James MacCreigh The King's Eye 1940 writing as James MacCreigh It's a Young World 1940 writing as James MacCreigh Daughters of Eternity 1940 writing as James MacCreigh Earth, Farewell! 1940 writing as James MacCreigh Conspiracy on Callisto 1943 writing as James MacCreigh Highwayman of the Void 1943 writing under Dirk Wylie's name Double-Cross 1943 writing as James MacCreigh

Although the three part serial beginning in the June 1952 issue in collaboration with Cyril Kornbluth had established Frederik Pohl as a formidable contributor, this novelette in the April 1954 issue was his first solo contribution and marked him as an important addition to the growing roster of social satirists enlisted by Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine. The audacious and patchwork concept underlying this story (the richer you are the less you are forced to consume; the greatest poverty is involved with the aggregation of goods) was Horace Gold’s and according to Pohl he had offered it to almost all of his regular contributors, asking for a story centered on the idea. The idea lacks all credibility, everyone (including Pohl) told him and everyone refused to write something so patently unbelievable until, according to Pohl, Horace browbeat him into an attempt and Pohl decided that it was less trouble to deliver something than continue to resist. To his utter shock, the story was received by Gold and his readership with great glee, was among the most popular GALAXY ever published (or Pohl) and one of the most anthologized. Whether this demonstrated the audacity and scope of Gold’s unreason or whether it confirmed Gold’s genius (or both) Pohl was utterly unable to decide. The sculpted consumer-obsessed society was used again by Pohl a few years later in the novelette THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD which was far more credible (consumption-obsession as a kind of personal tyranny) and, perhaps for that very reason, much less successful, barely remembered.

Contents: - The Children of Night - The Ghost Maker - Let the Ants Try - Pythias - The Mapmakers - Rafferty's Reasons - Target One - Grandy Devil - The Tunnel Under the World - What to Do Till the Analyst Comes

The aliens aren't coming. They're here. We've captured some of them. Are they our saviors, or are they out to destroy us? We've seen no spaceships, received no ultimatums--but the aliens may have a more insidious plot.... Government agent Dan Dannerman and astronomer Patrice Adcock were kidnapped by the aliens and have been returned in altered states, cloned and implanted with strange devices. To what end? Before the reasons behind their abduction can be made clear, a wave of extremist threats and terrorist attacks sweeps the globe. Are the attacks a reaction to the aliens' arrival--or a part of their plan? A race around the earth and into space begins, as humankind desperately tries to prevent the aliens from establishing a beachhead no Earth. The siege has begun.

What will happen to us?When can we replace ourselves with unfailing machines just like us?When can we experience the ultimate ecstasy from a little pill?When can we trip back in time to “correct” the errors of history?When all our problems are solved—except the deadly ones we never thought of?

Collected here are five adventures from Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master and Science Fiction Hall of Fame member, Frederik Pohl. Each of these stories will transport you to an imaginative place and time. Pohl was one of the best science fiction writers of all time and these are some of his best stories.

Wealth...or death. Those were the choices Gateway offered. Humans had discovered this artificial spaceport, full of working interstellar ships left behind by the mysterious, vanished Heechee. Their destinations are preprogrammed. They are easy to operate, but impossible to control. Some came back with discoveries which made their intrepid pilots rich; others returned with their remains barely identifiable. It was the ultimate game of Russian roulette, but in this resource-starved future there was no shortage of desperate volunteers.