First published in 1966 by editors Richard Wilson and Alan Frank Barter, this Genre Anthology contains thirteen Science Fiction stories.
Works in this anthology:
- "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick (1953)
- "Meteor", by John Beynon (1941)
- "The Windows Of Heaven", by
Anonymous (1966) - "The Veldt", by Ray Bradbury (1950)
- "Creature Of The Snows", by William Sambrot (1960)
- "Grenvilles Planet", by Michael Shaara (1952)
- "The Gentleman Is An Epwa", by Carl Jacobi (1953)
- "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke (1960)
- "One For The Books", by Richard Matheson (1955)
- "Bitter End", by Eric Frank Russell (1953)
- "The Cricket Ball", by Avro Manhattan (1955)
- "The Fun They Had", by Isaac Asimov (1951)
Tropes appearing in this work:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, there are protec-bubbles to defend against attacks, Outspacers (who might be aliens or enemy humans), newsmachines, and Ridiculously Human Robots.
- Alien Sky: In "Grenvilles Planet", a Short Story by Michael Shaara, the planet discovered by Grenville and Wisher has four moons.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": In "Imposter", a Short Story by Philip K. Dick, sneaks in 'first-meal' rather than 'breakfast' to help establish distance between modern day and the future where the story takes place.
- Deflector Shields: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, protec-bubbles have been designed to defend whole cities from the weapons of the Outspacers. They've developed the technology well enough to build one that encompasses the whole world. Unfortunately, this is only a defensive weapon, so they can't fight off the Outspacers effectively.
- Kill and Replace: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, Earth counter-intelligence has discovered a plot by the Outspacers to build a robot look-alike with a hidden uranium bomb with the programming to kill the original human, and take their place in order to destroy Earth's super weapon projects. They believe the main character Spence Olham is one such robot. They're right.
- Naming Your Colony World: In "Grenvilles Planet", by Michael Shaara, the titular planet is named after one of the two space explorers, crewman Grenville.
- Pen Name: "Meteor" is credited to John Beynon, a pseudonym for John Wyndham.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, the Outspacers have designed robots that look so human, they can be programmed to kill the human they were based on and then forget they were ever a robot. The main character, Spence Olham, must prove he is human or his old friends will kill him.
- Secret Weapon: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, main character Spence Olham is a scientist working on a secret project that will be able to harm the Outspacer ships. Until a robot imposter kills him and takes his place, so that it can blow up his project.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: In "Grenvilles Planet", by Michael Shaara, Wisher realizes that Grenville is probably dead, but he leaves the ship anyway. Before he leaves, he sets up some precautions, which turn out useful because he dies as well. The alien life in the world-wide ocean planned to use their starship. But they didn't expect an automated self-destruct to have been set. The end of the story implies that the explosion may have killed the entire race.
- Single-Biome Planet: In "Grenvilles Planet", a Short Story by Michael Shaara, the planet discovered by Grenville and Wisher is covered by ocean except for two islands.
- Switching P.O.V.: In "Grenvilles Planet", by Michael Shaara, the narration is in third-person omniscient following the two space explorers until they're both dead. At this point, the perspective shifts to include the thoughts of the sentient life underwater, and their inability to predict that the starship will self-destruct.
- Sword of Damocles: In "Imposter", by Philip K. Dick, the mythological sword is mentioned by name when describing the Outspacer's ability to attack. Earth has developed protec-bubbles that can endure any attacks, but unless they develop a way to harm the Outspacer ships, Earth will eventually lose.
- Why Am I Ticking?: "Imposter", an awesome Short Story by Philip K. Dick, features a man trying to prove that he is not a Ridiculously Human Robots with a hidden bomb. At the end, he realizes that he IS a robot, and it's the realization that causes him to explode.
