Search Worlds Without End

Anguished by hyper-lucidity, a disemboded science fiction writer taps out the letters "LENA THOMAS" and instantly finds himself "warped" to the female astronaut's domane of the 40th century. Lena and the writer's subconscious then develop a strange intimacy while they attempt to explore a mysterious "black galaxy." But theirs is a fleeting and rarified relationship, constantly hounded by greedy, homicidal bureaucrats committed to the expansion of bureaus and tormented by the idea of fragmentation.

A two-man mission to Venus fails and is aborted. When it returns, the Captain is missing and the other astronaut, Harry M. Evans, is unable to explain what has happened. Or, conversely, he has too many explications. His journal of the expedition -- compiled in the mental institution to which NASA has embarrassedly committed him -- offers contradictory stories: he murdered the Captain, mad Venusian invaders murdered the Captain, the Captain vanished, no one was murdered and the Captain has returned in Evans' guise....

As the explanations pyramid and as the supervising psychiatrist's increasingly desperate efforts to get a straight story fail, it becomes apparent that Evans's madness and his inability to explain what happened are expressions of humanity's incompetence at the enormity of space exploration.

Contents:

• 9 - The Moon Is Hell! - novel by John W. Campbell, Jr.
• 147 - The Elder Gods - (1973) - novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. and Arthur J. Burks

What would intelligent life-forms on another planet look like? Would they walk upright? Would they wear clothes? Or would they be hulking creatures on six legs that wallow in their own excrement?

Upon first contact with the Utod -- intelligent, pacifist beings who feel no pain -- mankind instantly views these aliens as animals because of their unhygienic customs. This leads to the slaughter, capture and dissection of the Utod. But when one explorer recognizes the intelligence behind their habits, he must reevaluate what it actually means to be "intelligent."

With a New Introduction from the Author!

The god Ptath is flung into the far future by a deadly rival and given the mind of a 20th century man. Stranded in this alien world, he must fight to regain his powers before the rival goddess sends the world spinning into chaos and darkness.

In less than a century, 50 percent of the human race fled the aged and autocratic Terra, settling wherever they could establish a world of their own choosing. The following centuries result in hundreds of independent new civilizations--too independent for an ambitious Terran government out to conquer an empire.

After several years' absence and the loss of his memory, Andrew Blake returns to earth only to find himself accused of being a werewolf.