When you consider the varieties of people who will in all probability populate the near future the irrepressible George Gannett of this utterly delightful excursion into the star-bright realms of unorthodox fantasy should not too greatly surprise an Evelyn-Smith-enchanted-reader. For the lady waves a Prospero wand here, with a whimsical magic all her own.
Henry Slesar is advertising executive who has rapidly become one of the better known writers in the field. Here is an off-trail story that is guaranteed to make some of you take a very searching second look at some of the young men you know.
We have said that there are many and strange shadows, memories surviving from dim pasts, in this FANTASTIC UNIVERSE of ours. Poul Anderson turns to a legend from the Northern countries, countries where even today the pagan past seems only like yesterday, and tells the story of Cappen Varra, who came to Norren a long, long time ago. “Let little Cappen go,” they shouted. “Maybe he can sing the trolls to sleep—”
A hayseed Martian among big-planet slickers . . . of course he would get into trouble. But that was nothing compared to the trouble he would be in if he did not get into trouble!
Bold and ruthless, he was famed throughout the System as a big-game hunter. From the firedrakes of Mercury to the ice-crawlers of Pluto, he’d slain them all. But his trophy-room lacked one item; and now Riordan swore he’d bag the forbidden game that roamed the red deserts . . . a Martian!
The golden guardians denied mankind the stars. They were irresistible in their might … and they were something more!
What more fitting place for the last man on Earth to live in than a museum? Now if only he could avoid becoming an exhibit himself!
Unfortunate castaway! Marooned far from home—with nothing to share his loneliness but humans!
Once they had been human—now they shared a remarkable destiny on an incredible new planet....
Have you found out about the Big Engine? It’s all around us, you know—can’t you hear it even now?