The 11th Science Fiction MEGAPACK®: 36 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories

Fritz Leiber · Robert Silverberg · Frederik Pohl · Hal Clement · C.M. Kornbluth

Jan 2016 · Wildside Press LLC

About this ebook

Welcome to The 11th Science Fiction MEGAPACK®! We hope you will enjoy the stories we have selected for you this time. There's a greater emphasis than usual on Golden Age writers (just the way it came together) -- but we have one original story as well, a posthumous collaboration with H.B. Fyfe, finishing a really terrific but not-quite-done tale he had been working on before his death. It's a bit reminiscent of James Tiptree, Jr.'s best work -- but predates Tiptree by a couple of decades. And we have novels by Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth, Murray Leinster, E. Everett Evans, and Donald Wollheim...not to mention part 2 of our serialization of Tony Rothman's mammoth 2013 novel, Firebird. And a ton of great short stories. 36 works in all, more than 1900 pages of great reading!

ANGELS IN THE JETS, by Jerome Bixby
A CODE FOR SAM, by Lester del Rey
STAR SHIP, by Poul Anderson
THE WELL-OILED MACHINE, by H.B. Fyfe
JACK OF NO TRADES, by Evelyn E. Smith
THE GRAVITY BUSINESS, by James E. Gunn
DOOMSDAY EVE, by Robert Moore Williams
MASTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, by Robert Silverberg
FALCONS OF NARABEDLA, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
NEW LAMPS, by Robert Moore Williams
THE PIRATES OF ZAN, by Murray Leinster
OUT OF THE IRON WOMB!, by Poul Anderson
LATER THAN YOU THINK, by Fritz Leiber
THE PLANET MAPPERS, by E. Everett Evans
AFTERGLOW, by H.B. Fyfe and John Gregory Betancourt
SHIPPING CLERK, by William Morrison
CONTAGION, by Katherine MacLean
THE LIGHT ON PRECIPICE PEAK, by Stephen Tall
THE LUCKIEST MAN IN DENV, by Simon Eisner
ON THE FOURTH PLANET, by J.F. Bone
BIMMIE SAYS, by Sydney Van Scyoc
SWEET TOOTH, by Robert F. Young
SEARCH THE SKY, by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
STAR, BRIGHT, by Mark Clifton
HOT PLANET, by Hal Clement
TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST, by Frank M. Robinson
THE ALIEN, by Raymond F. Jones
BODYGUARD, by Christopher Grimm
JAYWALKER, by Ross Rocklynne
SECOND CHILDHOOD, by Clifford D. Simak
OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS, by William Tenn
POLLONY UNDIVERTED, by Sydney Van Scyoc
DELAY IN TRANSIT, by F. L. Wallace
A GIFT FROM EARTH, by Manly Banister
ONE AGAINST THE MOON, by Donald A. Wollheim
Special Feature: FIREBIRD, by Tony Rothman [Part 2 of 3]

If you enjoy this volume of classic stories, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 270+ other entries in this series, including science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure, horror, westerns -- and much, much more!

About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was born December 24, 1910, the son of a notable Shakespearean actor. He was a graduate of the University of Chicago where he had majored in psychology and physiology, and also attended Episcopal General Theological Seminary. Leiber was an Episcopal Minister from 1932 to 1933, but was encouraged to join his father's company, and toured with him in 1934, leaving two years later when he married in 1936. Leiber became an Editor with Consolidated Book Publishers in Chicago from 1937 to 1941. He was a Speech and Drama Instructor at Occidental College in Los Angeles from 1941 to 1942, a Precision Inspector at Douglas Air Craft Company, Santa Monica from 1942 to 1944, an Associate Editor for Science Digest Magazine from 1944 to 1956, and a Freelance Writer from 1956 to1992. Leiber's interest in writing came from correspondences with a a close college friend, Harry Fischer. Together they developed alter ego characters: Nordic Fafhrd a tall gangly limbed individual from 'the North' - based on Leiber, and the effervescent Grey Mouser - based on Fischer. Leiber first featured the characters in a story, "Adepts Gambit". The story was rejected, but the two characters reappeared in his first published story "Two Sought Adventure", which was published in Unknown magazine John W Campbell, of Astounding Science Fiction was Leiber's first editor. Leiber's first major work as an SF author came with his novel Gather, Darkness! in 1943, concerning the overthrow of a religious dictatorship. An anthology, Ill Met in Lankhmar, published in 1970, received the Hugo science fiction award. Leiber also received a Life Award for his contribution to his field, presented at the Second World Fantasy Convention. He regularly contributed a column to the SF trade magazine, Locus. Leiber was a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and a Lecturer for Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshops at Clarion State College and San Francisco State University. In his lifetime, Leiber won 7 Hugo Awards and a Hugo Grandmaster of Fantasy Award, 2 Nebula Awards and a Nebula Grandmaster Award, an August Derleth Award, 3 World Fantasy and one British Fantasy Awards, a Clark Ashton Award, a Balrog Award, a Locus Award, 3 Gigamesh Awards, an Anne Radcliffe Award, a University of Chicago Proffesional Achievemant Citation, and a Bram Stoker Life Achievement Award. He was also nominated for 7 other Nebula Awards, as well as 4 Lovecraft's and one Second Stage Lensman at Moscon. Leiber has appeared in television, film, on radio and in theater, and has written over 40 books. Fritz Leiber died September 5, 1992 at the age of 81. Frederik Pohl (1919-2013) was one of science fiction's most important authors. Among his many novels are "Gateway", which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, the Locus SF Award, and the Nebula Award, "Beyond the Blue Event Horizon", which was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and "Jem", which won the 1980 National Book Award in Science Fiction. He also collaborated on classic science fiction novels including "The Space Merchants" with Cyril M. Kornbluth. Pohl was an award-winning editor of "Galaxy "and "If", a book editor at Bantam, and served as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by SFWA in 1993, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.