<div>From the Nebula Award&ndash;winning author of Way Station: Ten stories&mdash;including one never before published&mdash;of mystery and imagination in a world that cannot be. People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same. Along with the other stories in this collection, &ldquo;I Am Crying All Inside&rdquo; is a compact marvel&mdash;a picture of an impossible reality that is not so different from our own. Also included in this volume is the newly published &ldquo;I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air,&rdquo; originally written for Harlan Ellison&rsquo;s The Last Dangerous Visions.&trade; Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.</div>

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I Am Crying All Inside

<div>A telepath acquires a powerful alien consciousness&mdash;and must run to escape corporate assassins and angry mobs&mdash;in this novel by the author of Way Station. Space travel has been abandoned in the twenty-second century. It is deemed too dangerous, expensive, and inconvenient&mdash;and now the all-powerful Fishhook company holds the monopoly on interstellar exploration for commercial gain. Their secret is the use of &ldquo;parries,&rdquo; human beings with the remarkable telepathic ability to expand their minds throughout the universe. On what should have been a routine assignment, however, loyal Fishhook employee Shepherd Blaine is inadvertently implanted with a copy of an alien consciousness, becoming something more than human. Now he&rsquo;s a company pariah, forced to flee the safe confines of the Fishhook complex. But the world he escapes into is not a safe sanctuary; Its people have been taught to hate and fear his parapsychological gift&mdash;and there is nowhere on Earth, or elsewhere, for Shepherd Blaine to hide. A Hugo Award nominee, Time Is the Simplest Thing showcases the enormous talents of one of the true greats of twentieth-century science fiction. This richly imagined tale of prejudice, corporate greed, oppression, and, ultimately, transcendence stands tall among Simak&rsquo;s most enduring works.</div>

Time Is the Simplest Thing

<div>Long before Under the Dome, this novel of a town trapped within an invisible force field earned a Nebula Award nomination for the author of Way Station. Nothing much ever happens in Millville, a small, secluded Middle-American community&mdash;until the day Brad Carter discovers he is unable to leave. And the nearly bankrupt real estate agent is not the only one being held prisoner; every resident is confined within the town&rsquo;s boundaries by an invisible force field that cannot be breached. As local tensions rapidly reach breaking point, a set of bizarre circumstances leads Brad to the source of their captivity, making him humanity&rsquo;s reluctant ambassador to an alien race of sentient flora, and privy to these jailers&rsquo; ultimate intentions. But some of Millville&rsquo;s most powerful citizens do not take kindly to Carter&rsquo;s &ldquo;collaboration with the enemy,&rdquo; even under the sudden threat of global apocalypse. Decades before Stephen King trapped an entire town in Under the Dome, science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak explored the shocking effects of communal captivity on an unsuspecting population. Nominated for the Nebula Award, All Flesh Is Grass is a riveting masterwork that brilliantly reinvents the alien invasion story.</div>

Overdrive

All Flesh Is Grass

<div>A human space traveler trapped on a remote planet must somehow unravel a confounding alien technology&mdash;or else surrender himself to a host of incomprehensible horrors For thousands of years, Carter Horton has been traveling across the galaxy toward a distant world capable of supporting human life. At journey&rsquo;s end, awakened from his millennia-long sleep by a curiously adaptive android, he is informed that his crewmates have all perished due to a system malfunction. But worse is yet to come: Horton&rsquo;s sentient ship is refusing to return him to Earth, and a strangely cordial predator is waiting for him on the planet&rsquo;s surface. The repulsive creature, Carnivore, arrived here via a tunnel across the universe, as did his late companion&mdash;a human dubbing himself William Shakespeare&mdash;whom Carnivore just recently devoured. But the tunnel moves in only one direction, and if Carter is unable to reverse it, he will find himself marooned forever in this incomprehensible world, at the mercy of monsters and a terrifying, mind-freezing alien anomaly that occurs every evening in the &ldquo;God-hour.&rdquo; With unparalleled verve, award-winning science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak performs a truly astonishing feat of world-creation in Shakespeare&rsquo;s Planet. Bursting with intelligence, imagination, and breathtaking invention, this is a gem of speculative fiction from one of the genre&rsquo;s most revered and innovative artists. </div>

Shakespeare's Planet

<div>Hugo Award Winner: In backwoods Wisconsin, an ageless hermit welcomes alien visitors&mdash;and foresees the end of humanity . . . Enoch Wallace is not like other humans. Living a secluded life in the backwoods of Wisconsin, he carries a nineteenth-century rifle and never seems to age&mdash;a fact that has recently caught the attention of prying government eyes. The truth is, Enoch is 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 are proving to be a nightmarish burden, for they have opened Enoch&rsquo;s eyes to humanity&rsquo;s impending destruction. Still, one final hope remains for the human race . . . though the cure could ultimately prove more terrible than the disease. Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Way Station is a magnificent example of the fine art of science fiction as practiced by a revered Grand Master. A cautionary tale that is at once ingenious, evocative, and compassionately human, it brilliantly supports the contention of the late, great Robert A. Heinlein that &ldquo;to read science-fiction is to read Simak.&rdquo; </div>

Way Station

<div>This award-winning science fiction classic explores a far-future world inhabited by intelligent canines who pass down the tales of their human forefathers. Thousands of years have passed since humankind abandoned the city&mdash;first for the countryside, then for the stars, and ultimately for oblivion&mdash;leaving their most loyal animal companions alone on Earth. Granted the power of speech centuries earlier by the revered Bruce Webster, the intelligent, pacifist dogs are the last keepers of human history, raising their pups with bedtime stories, passed down through generations, of the lost &ldquo;websters&rdquo; who gave them so much but will never return. With the aid of Jenkins, an ageless service robot, the dogs live in a world of harmony and peace. But they now face serious threats from their own and other dimensions, perhaps the most dangerous of all being the reawakened remnants of a warlike race called &ldquo;Man.&rdquo; In the Golden Age of Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s writing blazed as brightly as anyone&rsquo;s in the science fiction firmament. Winner of the International Fantasy Award, City is a magnificent literary metropolis filled with an astonishing array of interlinked stories and structures&mdash;at once dystopian, transcendent, compassionate, and visionary.</div>

City

<div>A man hunts for lost knowledge in a future society that&rsquo;s reverted to a primitive tribal state in this novel by the author of Way Station. More than a thousand years have passed since humankind intentionally destroyed its treacherous technology, choosing to revert back to a primitive tribal state. In this society the rusting brain cases of long-inert robots are considered trophies, and the scant knowledge that has survived is doled out to an inquisitive few in monastery-like &ldquo;universities.&rdquo; It is at one such center of learning that young Tom Cushing first reads of the legendary &ldquo;Place of Going to the Stars,&rdquo; rumored to exist on a high butte somewhere in the western part of the land. Driven by enthusiasm and an insatiable need to track the myth to its source, Tom sets out on an amazing trek across what was once called &ldquo;America,&rdquo; teaming up with a witch, the world&rsquo;s last remaining robot, and other odd companions. But all the astonishing discoveries and dangers they encounter along the way will pale before the revelations that await them at journey&rsquo;s end. Clifford D. Simak, award-winning science fiction Grand Master, offers a breathtaking vision of the future that is both dystopian and hopeful in equal measure. In A Heritage of Stars, he boldly displays the heart, intelligence, and awesome imaginative powers that have established him as one of the all-time greatest authors of speculative fiction. </div>

A Heritage of Stars

<div>His body hosting a pair of strange alien presences, an amnesiac space traveler returns home to an unrecognizable Earth Many centuries in the future, a two-hundred-year-old man is discovered hibernating in a space capsule orbiting a distant star. Transported back to his home planet, Andrew Blake awakens to an Earth he does not recognize&mdash;a world of flying cars and sentient floating houses&mdash;with no memory whatsoever of his history or purpose. But he has not returned alone. The last survivor of a radical experiment abandoned more than a century earlier, Blake was genetically altered to be able to adapt to extreme alien environments, and now he can sense other presences inhabiting his mind and body. One is a biological computer of astonishing power; the other is a powerful creature akin to a large wolf. And Blake is definitely not the one in control. With his sanity hanging in the balance, Blake&rsquo;s only option is to set out in frantic pursuit of his past, the truth, his destiny&mdash;and quite possibly the fate of humankind. A bravura demonstration of unparalleled imagination, intelligence, and heart, The Werewolf Principle addresses weighty issues of genetic manipulation that are as relevant today as when the novel first appeared in print. One of the all-time best and brightest in speculative fiction, Grand Master Clifford D. Simak offers a moving, stunning, witty, and thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human. </div>

The Werewolf Principle

<div>A writer finds himself trapped in an isolated village where anything imagined becomes reality in this wildly inventive contemporary fantasy Hoping to write his book in quiet and seclusion, Horton Smith has returned home to Pilot Knob. Here, in the tiny village where he passed so many carefree childhood years, he is untroubled by the pressures of the big city and can freely answer the call of his muse. Of course, back in the city Horton didn&rsquo;t have to run from dinosaurs. There were no cartoon hillbillies offering him moonshine, Don Quixote was content to confine himself to the pages of a book, and the Devil himself was not on Horton&rsquo;s tail. Something very, very unusual is going on in Pilot Knob, and Horton Smith is determined to get to the bottom of it&mdash;if his own imagination doesn&rsquo;t kill him first! In Out of Their Minds, science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak changes gears, treating his readers to a delightfully satiric flight of fancy and fantasy. An award-winning author renowned for his remarkable visions of the future, Simak brings creatures and characters from humankind&rsquo;s collective imagination to breathtaking life in this fast-moving and unforgettable tale. </div>

Out of Their Minds

<div>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&mdash;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. </div>

Enchanted Pilgrimage

<div>A strange assortment of humans and otherworldly beings joins a young soldier of God on his perilous quest through an alternate, technology-free reality ruled by an all-powerful Evil In an alternate world where the Dark Ages never ended, &ldquo;the Evil&rdquo; that arises every five hundred years has prevented all manner of technological advancement, even well into the twentieth century. The son of a powerful English noble, young Duncan Standish has always longed to be a soldier of the Lord, and now he&rsquo;s been offered a rare opportunity to fulfill his dream. Entrusted with the delivery of an ancient manuscript&mdash;purported to be irrefutable evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ&mdash;to a noted Oxenford scholar, Duncan must journey many perilous miles in the company of a motley group of fellow travelers, including a goblin, a ghost, and other magical and non-magical companions. But the road they traverse together is fraught with terrible trials that would test even the most devout, for the Evil is strong in this place of dark wonders. Multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award&ndash;winner and SFWA Grand Master Clifford D. Simak moves easily from science fiction to quest fantasy in this enthralling tale of magic, peril, and discovery on an Earth that never was. Rich in color, thrills, and wild invention, and populated by a highly original and unforgettable cast of characters, Fellowship of the Talisman showcases the author&rsquo;s peerless storytelling skills, demonstrating once again that the great Simak had few equals in the realm of twentieth-century speculative fiction. </div>

The Fellowship of the Talisman

<div>A handful of humans and a multitude of robots create a new society on an abandoned Earth in this novel by the Nebula Award&ndash;winning author of Way Station. What if you woke up one morning on Earth . . . and no one else was there? That is the reality that greeted a handful of humans, including Jason Whitney, his wife Martha, and the remnants of a tribe of Native Americans in the year 2135. Their inexplicable abandonment had unexpected benefits: the eventual development of mental telepathy and other extrasensory powers, inner peace, and best of all, near-immortality. Now, five thousand years later, most of the remaining humans live a tranquil, pastoral life, leaving technological and religious exploration to the masses of robot servants who no longer have humans to serve. But the unexpected reappearance of Jason&rsquo;s brother, who had teleported to the stars many years before, threatens to change everything yet again&mdash;for John Whitney is the bearer of startling information about where Earth&rsquo;s population went and why&mdash;and the most disturbing news of all: They may finally be coming home again. Nominated for the Hugo Award when it first appeared in print more than forty years ago, Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s brilliant and thought-provoking A Choice of Gods has lost nothing of its power to astonish and intrigue. A masterwork of speculative fiction, intelligent and ingenious, it is classic Simak, standing tall among the very best science fiction that has ever been written. </div>

A Choice of Gods

<div>Two present-day investigators race across time to escape malevolent aliens from the future and their terrible &ldquo;gift&rdquo; of immortality in this novel by a Nebula Award&ndash;winning author. What is the price of eternal life? Secret agent Jay Corcoran is about to learn the answer when his investigation into an inexplicable disappearance carries him and journalist friend Tom Boone hundreds of years into the past. Corcoran and Boone&rsquo;s powerful extrasensory abilities lead them to an advanced transportation system through time, and back to the bucolic eighteenth-century English countryside. There, they discover a family from the distant future hiding from the Immortals&mdash;an alien race that, many centuries on, is seducing human subjects with the promise of eternal life. But at the cost of the corporeal self, there is no place in the aliens&rsquo; future for anyone unwilling to exist as mind alone. Now that the Evans family&rsquo;s sanctuary has been breached, escape is the only answer&mdash;for Boone and Corcoran as well&mdash;and the only way out is forward . . . far forward. But racing through space and time can be a hazardous occupation, especially with monstrous beasts, killer robots, and Immortal body-destroyers waiting at every juncture. The last novel from acclaimed science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and numerous other awards, Highway of Eternity combines breathtaking action with provocative ideas and unparalleled ingenuity, the hallmarks of Simak&rsquo;s exceptional art. It is a fitting finale for the man who stands alongside Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke as one of the true giants of speculative fiction&rsquo;s Golden Age.</div>

Highway of Eternity

<div>Fleeing a carnivorous race of alien monsters, the entire surviving human population from five hundred years in the future escapes into the present in this thrilling science fiction adventure from one of the Golden Age greats Our human descendants from five centuries in the future are coming to visit&mdash;all one billion of them&mdash;arriving via tunnels through time. Even though the present is merely a stopover and their ultimate destination is the age of the dinosaurs, their arrival has caused a worldwide uproar. Some folks want them gone and some want to go with them, as governments and powerful corporations alike scheme to get their hands on remarkable, potentially profitable time travel technology. There is a dark and terrifying reason, however, for the visitors&rsquo; abrupt arrival. Our frightened descendants are seeking sanctuary from carnivorous aliens who have descended upon the future Earth, a threat that could mean the rapid destruction of the entire human race. And the end could come sooner than anyone imagined&mdash;for some of the intelligent, rapidly breeding extraterrestrial monsters who have been devouring our children&rsquo;s children may well have followed their prey back to the now. A speculative fiction master who stands alongside Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein in the pantheon of Golden Age science fiction gods, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winner Clifford D. Simak delivers an alien invasion tale that is at once wildly imaginative, seriously thought-provoking, and just plain fun.</div>

Our Children's Children

<div>In rural Wisconsin, wonder clashes dangerously with corporate greed when an alien visitor opens up a gateway through time into a breathtaking prehistoric lost world On sabbatical from teaching at a small university, paleontologist Asa Steele is content to relax amidst the pastoral splendor of his Wisconsin farm. That is, until his dog starts bringing home unrecognizable artifacts and, strangest of all, fresh dinosaur bones. Since boyhood, Asa has heard the rumors of a UFO crash site nearby, and his encounter with a cat-faced alien life form proves the old story to be shockingly true. A gregarious immortal stranded on Earth for fifty thousand years, Catface has the power to create portals in time, and now he has opened a gateway into a prehistoric world of wonder and beauty, a place Asa calls &ldquo;Mastodonia.&rdquo; But keeping this idyllic realm a secret from a prying government and the greedy corporate entities it serves could prove impossible&mdash;and perilous&mdash;when there are resources to drain, land to despoil, and gargantuan vanished beasts from a distant age to hunt down and destroy in the name of profit. Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s glorious vision of a gateway to the past and of the tantalizing commercial potential of all things prehistoric predates Michael Crichton&rsquo;s Jurassic Park by many years, yet it remains as provocative, enthralling, and fun for twenty-first-century science fiction lovers as it was for its original readers. Breathtaking, thrilling, imaginative, and awe-inspiring, Mastodonia is a world that, once entered, can never be forgotten, such is the unique creative genius of legendary science fiction Grand Master Simak, one of the most revered writers ever to dream the future . . . and the past.</div>

Mastodonia

<div>After two decades in space, a man returns to Earth as something new and not completely human, in this &ldquo;enormously inventive&rdquo; novel by a Nebula Award winner (Galaxy Science Fiction). Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished somewhere in the star system 61 Cygni, an inaccessible corner of the universe that humankind has thus far been unable to explore. Now Asher has returned to Earth, having impossibly survived catastrophic damage to his spacecraft. But the star-traveler is not the same man he was when he began his journey two decades earlier. He is, in fact, no longer completely human. And he is not alone. But he has a message to convey that could have reality-altering consequences for the human galaxy-conquerors who consider themselves almost gods, and for the nearly human androids they create, enslave, and oppress. It is Asher&rsquo;s destiny to change everything. His mission has made him a hero to some, a pariah to others&mdash;and a target for determined time-traveling assassins from the future whose mission it is to silence him at all costs before everything they cherish is obliterated. A true science fiction visionary, SFWA Grand Master Clifford D. Simak infused thrilling stories of time travel, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and alien contact with powerful, thought-provoking ideas. An enthralling masterwork of speculative fiction that astonishes while exploring humanity in all its disparate aspects, Time and Again can be counted among the prolific, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning author&rsquo;s most brilliantly imagined and successfully realized creations.</div>

Time and Again

<div>Tales of the unknown in which a fix-it man crosses into another dimension&mdash;and more Hiram Taine is a handyman who can fix anything. When he isn&rsquo;t fiddling with his tools, he is roaming through the woods with his dog, Towser, as he has done for as long as he can remember. He likes things that he can understand. But when a new ceiling appears in his basement&mdash;a ceiling that appears to have the ability to repair television sets so they&rsquo;re better than before&mdash;he knows he has come up against a mystery that no man can solve. Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, &ldquo;The Big Front Yard&rdquo; is a powerful story about what happens when an ordinary man finds reality coming apart around him. Along with the other stories in this collection, it is some of the most lyrical science fiction ever published. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.</div>

The Big Front Yard

<div>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&rsquo;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&mdash;without a driver. Before he knows what&rsquo;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 &ldquo;City,&rdquo; 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.</div>

The Ghost of a Model T

<div>Ten stories of wonder and imagination by an author named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In the collection&rsquo;s title story, Frederick Gray is closing in on seventy and has outlived his usefulness as a professor of law. He has no family; his best friend, fellow faculty member Ben Lovell, has recently died. Before Gray moves into a retirement home, he takes a final canoe trip to a favorite fishing spot he and Lovell had visited many times, only to find that someone has built a house on the remote riverside. When an accident leaves Gray stranded and in pain, he returns to the shelter seeking aid and instead finds a new reason for living. Nine additional tales showcase Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s talent for spinning stories that allow us to glimpse the possibilities of life beyond Earth as well as expand our wisdom of what it means to be human. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.</div>

New Folks' Home

<div>Ten tales of wonder, danger, and the future&mdash;including the Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning title story&mdash;from the science fiction Grand Master. This volume contains ten stellar short stories by Clifford D. Simak, &ldquo;the most underrated great science fiction writer alive&rdquo; (Theodore Sturgeon). In &ldquo;Grotto of the Dancing Deer,&rdquo; a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia. In &ldquo;Over the River,&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;Day of Truce,&rdquo; 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.</div>

Grotto of the Dancing Deer

<div>From science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, an interstellar adventure of aliens, fairies, and time travel. Until the day he was murdered, Professor Peter Maxwell was a respected faculty member of the College of Supernatural Phenomena. Imagine his chagrin when he turns up at a Wisconsin matter transmission station several weeks later and discovers he&rsquo;s not only dead but unemployed. During an interstellar mission to investigate rumors of dragon activity, this alternate Maxwell was intercepted by a strange alien race that wanted him to carry knowledge of a remarkable technology back to Earth, and it seems someone does not want the information shared. Suddenly, it&rsquo;s essential for Maxwell to find his own killer. He enlists the aid of Carol Hampton of the Time College, along with her pet saber-tooth tiger, a ghost with memory issues, and the intelligent Neanderthal Man recently rescued from a prehistoric cooking pot. But the search is pointing them toward the goblins, fairies, and assorted Little Folk living in reservations on campus, and into the dangerous heart of an interspecies blood feud that has been raging for millions of years. Ingeniously inventive and unabashedly tongue-in-cheek, this novel demonstrates multi-award-winning fantasy and science fiction favorite Clifford D. Simak operating at the imaginative peak of his considerable powers. </div>

The Goblin Reservation

<div>Twelve classic tales of the unknown from the Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning author of Way Station. 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 &ldquo;The Contraption,&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;Spaceship in a Flask.&rdquo; In &ldquo;Huddling Place,&rdquo; a man with paralyzing agoraphobia is the only one who can save the life of a dear friend on Mars&mdash;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.</div>

No Life of Their Own

<div>From a Nebula and Hugo award winner, &ldquo;one the best-loved authors in SF&rdquo;: A tale of humans and one robot navigating an alien puzzle-world (Publishers Weekly). Following a conversation with a talking slot machine, Professor Edward Lansing finds himself mysteriously transported to a tavern on a long and empty road. It is immediately obvious to the educator that he is no longer on campus&mdash;or even Earth&mdash;and that he is not alone. Lansing&rsquo;s new companions&mdash;a female engineer, a military officer, a humorless priest, a poetess, and a robot named Jurgens&mdash;all hail from separate alternate realities and share Lansing&rsquo;s confusion. What is clear, however, is that they must continue down the road together, encountering a series of bizarre sights, dangerous obstacles, and perplexing puzzles along the way: an abandoned, decaying city; a set of doorways; a large blue cube; a tower that sings. Soon it is apparent they are all being tested for some eerie, inexplicable reason, and the choices each must make will determine his or her future. For those who fail, the alien trail will never be seen again. A provocative science fiction allegory, Special Deliverance is Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winner Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s Pilgrim&rsquo;s Progress&mdash;a tale of great trials and hidden agendas that expose the foibles of humanity and a fantastic exploration of the human condition. A science fiction classic brimming with intelligence, invention, and wonder, it is yet another extraordinary creation from one of the genre&rsquo;s most revered grandmasters.</div>

Special Deliverance

<div>Robot believers at the far end of the galaxy endeavor to create a true religion, but their efforts could be shattered by a shocking revelation Far in the future, on the remote planet End of Nothing, sentient robots are engaged in a remarkable enterprise. They call their project Vatican-17: an endeavor to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, whose extreme godliness and infallible artificial intelligence are fed by telepathic human Listeners who psychically delve into the mysteries of the universe. But the great and holy mission could be compromised by one shocking revelation that threatens to inspire serious crises of faith among the spiritual, truth-seeking robotic acolytes while tearing them into warring religious factions. For the Listener Mary is claiming that she has just discovered Heaven. There are those among the Clifford D. Simak faithful who consider Project Pope his masterpiece. But whether the crowning literary achievement of a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning science fiction Grand Master or merely another brilliant novel of speculative fiction to stand among his many, Simak&rsquo;s breathtaking search for God in the machine ingeniously blends science and spirituality in a truly miraculous way that few science fiction writers, if any, have been able to accomplish.</div>

Project Pope

<div>From tales of alien invasions and intergalactic war to visions of dystopian tomorrows, an astonishing collection from one of literary science fiction&rsquo;s all-time greats, Hugo Award winner Clifford D. Simak. The twentieth century&rsquo;s so-called golden age of science fiction produced many great writers&mdash;including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein&mdash;yet none is greater than Clifford D. Simak, named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. His bold visions of and ingenious speculations about humankind&rsquo;s future, always enriched with empathy and a deep understanding of human strengths, foibles, and failings, have stood the test of time, remaining powerful, affecting, and relevant. This sterling collection of fantastic stories by the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash; winning master showcases some of Simak&rsquo;s finest short fiction, from his earliest published tales to his later masterworks. In the wry and wonderful title story, a science fiction writer of the far future returns to a nearly abandoned Earth in search of inspiration&mdash;and finds that the dying planet holds more wonder than he bargained for. The interdimensional invasion Simak imagines in &ldquo;Hellhounds of the Cosmos&rdquo; displays a conceptual ingenuity not typically seen in speculative fiction prior to World War II. And other tales in this marvelous compendium offer a wide range of wonders, from the surrender terms dictated by a cute and cuddly alien enemy and a get-rich-quick real-estate scam originating from another galaxy to the truth behind a series of strange disappearances on Jupiter and an explosion of ladybugs in a salesman&rsquo;s suburban home&mdash;an infestation quite possibly not of this Earth. Whether he&rsquo;s rocketing us to another galaxy, leading us through the otherworldly shadows of small-town America, or preparing us for a Wild West shootout, every literary outing with Simak is an excursion to remember.</div>

Earth for Inspiration

<div>Ten thrilling and intriguing tales of space travel, war, and alien encounters from the multiple Hugo Award&ndash;winning Grand Master of Science Fiction. From Frank Herbert&rsquo;s Dune to Isaac Asimov&rsquo;s Foundation series to Philip K. Dick&rsquo;s stories of bizarre visions of a dystopian future, the latter half of the twentieth century produced some of the finest examples of speculative fiction ever published. Yet no science fiction author was more highly regarded than Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, winner of numerous honors, including the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. This magnificent compendium of stories, written during science fiction&rsquo;s golden age, highlights Simak at his very best, combining ingenious concepts with his trademark humanism and exploring strange visitations, remarkable technologies, and humankind&rsquo;s destiny in the possible worlds of tomorrow. Whether it&rsquo;s an irascible old man&rsquo;s discovery of a very unusual skunk that puts him at odds with the US Air Force, a county agent&rsquo;s strange bond with the sentient alien flora he discovers growing in his garden, the problems a small town faces when its children mature too rapidly thanks to babysitters from another galaxy, or the gift a lonely farmer receives in exchange for aiding a dying visitor from another world, the events detailed in Simak&rsquo;s poignant and beautiful tales will thrill, shock, amuse, and astonish in equal measure. One of the genre&rsquo;s premier literary artists, Simak explores time travel and time engines; examines the rituals and superstitions of galactic travelers who have long forgotten their ultimate purpose; and even takes fascinating detours through World War II and the wild American West in a wondrous anthology that no science fiction fan should be without.</div>

A Death in the House

<div>Strange, poignant tales of life in outer space and on tomorrow&rsquo;s Earth from the multiple Hugo Award&ndash;winning Grand Master of Science Fiction. Virtually every major author from science fiction&rsquo;s fabled golden age&mdash;including Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein&mdash;agreed that Clifford D. Simak was one of the greatest among them. Named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, the award-winning author created enduring visions of future worlds, perilous space explorations, and weird alien encounters as rich in emotion and humanity as they are in ingenious invention. This is an essential collection of short fiction from the remarkable mind and heart of a true giant of twentieth-century speculative fiction, featuring powerful examples of literary science fiction at its very best. Beginning with the unforgettable title story&mdash;a wry and chilling horror tale about cloning and alien invasion that inspired the classic teleplay &ldquo;The Duplicate Man&rdquo; from the television series The Outer Limits&mdash;Simak propels the reader on a breathtaking journey across the galaxies and into the future. He then enthralls us with the strange chronicle of twin siblings, one tied to the Earth, the other drawn to the stars; imaginings of a volatile reunion of two former enemies who must join forces on Jupiter&rsquo;s moon or face extinction; and the story of a house in the middle of nowhere that serves as a gateway back to prehistoric times. With his wondrous tales of a journalist&rsquo;s miraculous discovery of fairies and sprites in the world, a census three centuries in the making that uncovers an unknown leap forward in human evolution, and the nightmare realities of future elder care, Simak demonstrates once again that he is not only one of the greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth century, but also one of the greatest of all time.</div>

Good Night, Mr. James

<div>Nine tales of imagination and wonder from one of the formative voices of science fiction and fantasy, the author of Way Station and City. Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Clifford D. Simak was a preeminent voice during the decades that established sci-fi as a genre to be reckoned with. Held in the same esteem as fellow luminaries Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, his novels continue to enthrall today&rsquo;s readers. And his short fiction is still as gripping and surprising now as when it first entertained an entire generation of fans. The title story is just one example of this. Cheviot Sherwood doesn&rsquo;t believe in miracles. They never seem to pay off. So when he&rsquo;s marooned on a planet with no plan for escape and no working radio, he takes it in stride and prepares for a long stay gathering food, making shelter, and collecting all the diamonds the world has to offer. But when a ship like none he&rsquo;s ever encountered lands, he sees his salvation&mdash;and an opportunity to take the priceless craft for himself. Unfortunately, his &ldquo;rescuer&rdquo; has the same idea . . . This volume also includes the celebrated short works &ldquo;Eternity Lost,&rdquo; &ldquo;Shotgun Cure,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Paradise,&rdquo; among others. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook. </div>

The Shipshape Miracle

<div>Tales of science fiction and adventure from the Hugo Award&ndash;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&rsquo;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 &ldquo;Dusty Zebra,&rdquo; 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&rsquo;s treasure may be another dimension&rsquo;s trash. In &ldquo;Retrograde Evolution,&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;Project Mastodon,&rdquo; an unusual ambassador from an unheard-of country offers amazing opportunities in a place the modern world can never compete with: the past. Simak&rsquo;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. </div>

Dusty Zebra

<div>A mind-opening collection of short science fiction from one of the genre&rsquo;s most revered Grand Masters. Legendary author Robert A. Heinlein proclaimed, &ldquo;To read science fiction is to read Simak. A reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science fiction at all.&rdquo; 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&rsquo;s newfound ability to walk in the past allows him to dwell among dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers . . . and something even more timeless. In &ldquo;Construction Shack,&rdquo; the first manned expedition to Pluto reveals that no matter how advanced aliens may be, even they don&rsquo;t always get everything right. And in &ldquo;Univac 2200,&rdquo; the thin line between humans creating technology and humans becoming technology is about to be crossed&mdash;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. </div>

The Thing in the Stone

<div>Multiple masterpieces of science fiction from a Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;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&mdash;a fact that has caught the attention of prying government eyes. The truth is Enoch&rsquo;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&rsquo;s eyes to humanity&rsquo;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&mdash;and he has a message to convey that could have reality-altering consequences for the human galaxy. It&rsquo;s Asher&rsquo;s destiny to change everything, but it could make him a target for time-traveling assassins whose mission it is to silence him at all costs. Good Night, Mr. James: Beginning with the title story&mdash;a wry and chilling horror tale about cloning and alien invasion that inspired The Outer Limits episode &ldquo;The Duplicate Man&rdquo;&mdash;Clifford D. Simak&rsquo;s essential collection of strange, poignant tales of life on tomorrow&rsquo;s Earth and in outer space invites readers into worlds of wonder and imagination that represent literary science fiction at its very best, and prove the author a genre master.</div>

The Works of Clifford D. Simak Volume Two

<div>Two classic novels and a short story collection from the legendary Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning author in one volume. This volume from an icon of the Golden Age of science fiction includes: City: In this International Fantasy Award&ndash;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&rsquo;re threatened by the reawakened remnants of a warlike race called &ldquo;Man.&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;universities&rdquo; where Tom Cushing learns of the legendary &ldquo;Place of Going to the Stars.&rdquo; 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&ndash;winning &ldquo;Grotto of the Dancing Deer,&rdquo; in which a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia; &ldquo;Over the River,&rdquo; where children from an embattled future are sent back for safekeeping to their ancestors in the peaceful past; &ldquo;Day of Truce,&rdquo; 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.</div>

The Works of Clifford D. Simak Volume One

<div>A collection of masterpieces from a Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning Grand Master of Science Fiction who &ldquo;has never written a bad book&rdquo; (Theodore Sturgeon). The Big Front Yard and Other Stories: Handyman Hiram likes things he can understand and fix. But he has a true mystery on his hands when a new ceiling appears in his basement&mdash;a ceiling with the ability to repair televisions so they&rsquo;re better than before. Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, &ldquo;The Big Front Yard&rdquo; is a powerful story about what happens when an ordinary man finds reality coming apart around him. Along with the other stories in this collection, it is some of the most lyrical science fiction ever published. &ldquo;To read science fiction is to read Simak. A reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science fiction at all.&rdquo; &mdash;Robert A. Heinlein Time Is the Simplest Thing: Space travel has been deemed too dangerous and expensive, and now the Fishhook company holds a monopoly on interstellar exploration, using telepaths who can expand their minds throughout the universe. But when Fishhook employee Shepherd Blaine is implanted with a copy of an alien consciousness, he becomes something more than human&mdash;and soon there is no safe place for him to hide. This Hugo Award finalist is a richly imagined tale of prejudice, corporate greed, oppression, and, ultimately, transcendence. &ldquo;Simak is the most underrated great science fiction writer alive, and has never written a bad book.&rdquo; &mdash;Theodore Sturgeon The Goblin Reservation: In this unabashedly tongue-in-cheek novel, Professor Peter Maxwell of the College of Supernatural Phenomena is murdered&mdash;but he&rsquo;s even more dismayed when he turns up at a matter transmission station several weeks later and discovers he&rsquo;s not only dead, but also unemployed. This &ldquo;alternate&rdquo; Maxwell soon learns he&rsquo;s being used as a vessel by a strange alien race to carry knowledge of remarkable technology back to Earth&mdash;and it seems someone does not want the information shared . . . &ldquo;The finest novel in a merry mood that Simak has yet given us.&rdquo; &mdash;Fritz Leiber This brilliant volume represents the genre at its very best, reaffirming that &ldquo;without Simak, science fiction would have been without its most humane element, its most humane spokesman for the wisdom of the ordinary person and the value of life lived close to the land&rdquo; (James Gunn).</div>

The Works of Clifford D. Simak Volume Four

<div>Three stunning works of science fiction from the Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning grandmaster and author of Way Station. I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories: Ten stories of mystery and imagination in a world that cannot be, full of plant-based intelligence, robots, aliens, and time-travelers. Includes &ldquo;I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air,&rdquo; originally written for Harlan Ellison&rsquo;s The Last Dangerous Visions.&trade; Highway of Eternity: The Evans family is hiding in eighteenth-century England from dangerous aliens from the future when they&rsquo;re discovered by secret agent Jay Corcoran. Now they all must race for survival through space and time&mdash;but it&rsquo;s easier said than done when monstrous beasts, killer robots, and immortal body-destroyers are waiting at every juncture. Project Pope: Sentient robots on the remote planet End of Nothing are working to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, a supercomputer fed knowledge by telepathic humans. But everything could be compromised when one of the humans claims she&rsquo;s found Heaven . . .</div>

The Works of Clifford D. Simak Volume Three

<div>A corporation promising immortality hides a sinister secret in this &ldquo;extremely provocative&rdquo; sci-fi novel (Judith Merril, author and editor). Since the dawn of mankind, immortality has been the ultimate reward. But by the year 2148, it requires no act of faith to believe in an afterlife. Forever Center promises to bring people back to a life beyond death. Now everyone spends their lives in poverty, giving all their money to Forever Center to ensure their happiness and comfort in the next eternal life. Daniel Frost is a key man at Forever Center, but when he accidentally stumbles onto some classified documents, Dan incurs the wrath of an unseen enemy and is framed for a terrible crime. Now, his right to immortality has been revoked and he is a social outcast, condemned to the desperate life of a hunted animal. As a renegade lawyer and a brilliant mathematician attempt to help him, they reveal some shattering information about Forever Center . . . and the essence of life itself. </div>

Why Call Them Back from Heaven?

<div>The renowned Science Fiction Grand Master makes a foray into fantasy, with this tale of perilous adventure in a land of trolls, wizards, and terrifying malevolence. In an alternate Europe where the Roman Empire never fell, the expansive Empty Lands are inhabited by forces known collectively as the Evil. Yet Charles Harcourt is honor-bound to venture into that dangerous area to find his long-lost fiance&eacute;. He is joined on his trek by an abbot who hopes to locate a crystal prism that hold the soul of a saint; the non-human Knurly Man, who craves release from his pitiful existence; and the beautiful Yolanda, who seeks the answer to a secret mystery. But their arrival and their purpose had been foretold. The denizens of the Empty Lands are girding for war. And beyond the Evil lurk ancient dark powers waiting patiently for the humans whose souls will set them free. </div>

Where the Evil Dwells

<div>In this classic novel by the Science Fiction Grand Master, a writer searching for explanations uncovers the existence of mutants and multiple Earths: &ldquo;First-rate Simak&rdquo; (The New York Times). Author Jay Vickers would like nothing more than to be left alone so he can finish his next book. But &ldquo;there&rsquo;s something strange going on,&rdquo; as his peculiar neighbor, Horton Flanders, says. For instance, the market is filling with new inventions that supposedly last forever&mdash;cars, razors, cigarette lighters, and more. Individuals and whole families are disappearing. Soon, even Mr. Flanders vanishes&mdash;but not before leaving Vickers a note. Following Flanders&rsquo;s advice, Vickers travels to his childhood home, where he makes a fantastic discovery. It is a mere child&rsquo;s toy, a brightly colored whistling top. But for Jay Vickers, it leads to other worlds and answers all his questions. What happened to all the vanished people? Who is behind these helpful inventions? And what sort of being would want to stop them. . . ? &ldquo;Unforgettable.&rdquo; &mdash;New York Herald Tribune &ldquo;Solid entertainment, with plenty of startling plot twists.&rdquo; &mdash;The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction &ldquo;Some of the most ingenious plot twists in recent science-fiction.&rdquo; &mdash;Galaxy</div>

Ring Around the Sun

<div>A reporter uncovers a terrifying conspiracy, in this thrilling classic from a Science Fiction Grand Master. After a night out on the town, Parker Graves returns home to life-threatening danger. The science reporter for the local newspaper barely misses a bear trap sitting on his doorstep. Then, the object transforms into what looks like a bowling ball and rolls off into the night all by itself. He begins to obsess over the question&mdash;Who put the trap there? And why? The following day, there is strange news floating around at the newspaper office. Someone with limitless funds is buying up hundreds of homes and businesses, only to close them up and tear them down. People are running out of places to live and to work. Suddenly, Parker finds himself in the middle of a story nobody will believe . . . Aliens? Dolls that walk like people? Talking dogs? With a little help from a fellow reporter and an unusual visitor, Parker just might be able to put a stop to this mess&mdash;if he survives. &ldquo;Some surprising jolts of violence and mayhem and a goodly dollop of cosmic paranoia.&rdquo; &mdash;Fantasy Literature</div>

They Walked Like Men

<div>An enormous, mysterious box descends upon smalltown Minnesota, spelling trouble for the world, in this classic adventure from a Science Fiction Grand Master. Forestry student Jerry Conklin is fly-fishing when something huge lands on his car, crushing it into the earth. It looks like a big black box&mdash;about fifty feet high and two hundred feet long&mdash;and the object stirs up quite a commotion among the townspeople of Lone Pine, Minnesota. One of them even shoots at it&mdash;and quickly pays for it with his life. Around the country, people scramble to determine what exactly the box is. Is it a machine? Or maybe a sentient being? What does it want? They have no way of knowing. Jerry, meanwhile, has firsthand knowledge after the visitor abducts him. Then, just as he discovers it is a living, intelligent creature, it releases him into the darkness of night. As Jerry searches for a way back to civilization, more visitors descend upon Earth. They seem harmless enough. Then they begin eating trees, and that&rsquo;s only the beginning . . . Praise for The Visitors &ldquo;One of the most engaging novels of alien invasion ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Library Journal</div>

The Visitors

<div>Brave explorers encounter a dangerous new world and a terrifying future Earth in these two classic novels by the pioneering SFWA Grand Master. Cemetery World After a disastrous planet-wide war, Earth is nothing more than an elite graveyard&mdash;but Fletcher Carson is venturing back in search of a vital bounty. Fletcher, a former artist, is joined by a sentient machine, an ancient, powerful robot, and a treasure-seeking beauty. They soon discover that Earth harbors more than the carefully groomed tombstones. In the wild land beyond the cemetery there are dangerous machines, mutant creatures, and even humans who never left their home planet. Destiny Doll When a team of explorers is beckoned to a strange planet, it closes around them like a Venus flytrap. Assailed by strange perils and even stranger temptations, the small group struggles to survive as, surrounded by creatures of myth and mystery, they are stalked by a deadly nemesis. Even more peculiar is the little wooden painted doll that offers them salvation . . . or damnation. </div>

Cemetery World and Destiny Doll

<div>Adventurers journey into the foreboding unknown regions of outer space in these two classic science fiction tales from the Hugo and Nebula Award&ndash;winning author. The Trouble with Tycho Prospecting on the moon is grim, dangerous, and usually unrewarding. Most greenhorns don&rsquo;t know that until after they arrive, and Chris Jackson is no exception. He put everything he owns, and then some, into this venture, and he&rsquo;ll be ruined if he fails. Jackson&rsquo;s last chance at success is hidden in the uncharted crater Tycho&mdash;where three expeditions have already disappeared. Jackson, a beautiful immigrant, and a visiting doctor set out to find their fortunes . . . and discover whether the terrifying rumors of what lurks within Tycho are true. Cosmic Engineers &ldquo;Upon you and you alone must rest the fate of the universe. You are the only ones to save it.&rdquo; Thus spoke the mysterious Cosmic Engineers to a small group of human beings on the rim of the Solar System. Courageously journeying beyond uncharted stars, somewhere in the vastness of the galaxy, they will meet the greatest challenge of their lives&mdash;the catastrophic fury of the Hellhounds of Space. </div>

The Trouble with Tycho and Cosmic Engineers

<div>This collection of stories from the Hugo Award&ndash;winning science fiction author ranges from alien planets to the more peculiar corners of the American landscape. A pioneering voice in twentieth-century science fiction, Clifford D. Simak earned his place alongside such luminaries as Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. While some of his stories imagined interplanetary space travel, many others depicted strange events in otherwise ordinary American towns&mdash;in what some readers would come to think of as &ldquo;Simak Country.&rdquo; This volume contains examples of each. In &ldquo;Horrible Example,&rdquo; a small-town drunk reveals the extraordinary but essential role he plays in the community that shuns him. A space crew attempts to find substances on Jupiter that might help cure ailing humans back on Earth, in &ldquo;Clerical Error.&rdquo; And in the title story, a seemingly miraculous pile of treasure is scorned by a mysterious man of God. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.</div>

Buckets of Diamonds

<div>A volume of eleven stories from the Hugo Award&ndash;winning science fiction author that explore inner space, future worlds, and the peculiar lives of robots. One of the twentieth century&rsquo;s most pioneering science fiction authors, Clifford D. Simak had a special fondness for robots. Not only did these thinking machines represent the boundless possibilities of technology, they also had the potential to bring&mdash;in his words&mdash;&ldquo;the kindness and the courage that I thought were needed in the world.&rdquo; The stories in this volume offer a variety of Simak&rsquo;s unique robot visions. In &ldquo;Lulu,&rdquo; a robot built for planetary exploration takes on a female identity, causing unforeseen challenges for her three-man crew. An examination of an unknown planet reveals the celestial body to be a single, gigantic computer whose origins and purpose are a mystery, in &ldquo;Limiting Factor.&rdquo; And in the title story, Simak returns to his longest-running robot character, Jenkins, who reflects on all that has come and gone one last time. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.</div>

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