In a grim authoritarian future, Interrogator Conway Kroll performs his duty with cold certainty, greeting three accused traitors and defending torture as a necessary function of the State. Florence Horniman refuses to confess and is subjected to the merciless Inquisitor, while Chester Wengrove eventually breaks, is declared "exonerated," and then sent to quarantine in a cruel parody of mercy. The machinery of punishment is orderly, bureaucratic, and absolute, turning pain into policy. But ...

On the blood-red world of Markin, Colonel John Devall wears the stern mask of a Terran commander, though he is really an anthropologist struggling to balance science, diplomacy, and authority. His routine of careful administration is shattered when his nephew, Second Lieutenant Leonards, returns from a botanical expedition with a deadly problem: a native has been killed in what appears to be self-defense. But the death is only the beginning. The Markins reveal that the real offense is sacr...

On the bleak, wind-scoured surface of Mars, Ron and Val trudge across the desert after their sandcat breaks down, searching for uranium to keep Earth's industries alive. Exhausted and increasingly bitter, Val begins to question their mission, their pay, and even the choice that brought them to this hostile world. Yet beneath the hardship and resentment lies something steadier: a married team driven not by glory, but by loyalty, stubborn love, and the small comforts they have built together...

On the desert world of Carthule, First Priest Marik wrestles with a faith shaken by the revelation that humanity is not alone in the universe. When he spots a lone Earthman wandering the sands, he sends his young acolyte Kenra Sarg to bring the stranger under the protection of the sacred Guest Rite, a law of hospitality so absolute it overrides all other obligations. The rescued visitor is small, talkative, and eager to depart, but Marik senses unease beneath his gratitude. That unease bec...

Paul Hendriks thinks he has won a place at the event of the century when he secures two costly engraved invitations to Ultrarama, a secretive new form of entertainment so coveted that crowds line up for days to see it. His skeptical wife is less impressed, but Hendriks is dazzled by the promise of a spectacle "more real than life itself" and by the prestige of being among the first to witness it. Inside the vast Ultrarama Theater, the luxury is overwhelming: a futuristic foyer, striking us...

Barr Herndon is the kind of man who can turn a slave auction into a personal reckoning. In the crowded markets of Borlaam, he outbids a wealthy noble for a suffering proteus, then shocks the onlookers by shooting the shape-shifting creature and sending it into the harbor—an act of ruthless mercy that reveals both his hard edge and the buried anger beneath it. That same boldness draws the attention of Bollar Benjin, a sly jeweler who offers him a place in a secret starstone-smuggling syndic...

Hal Preston, a proud former Space Patrolman, is dumped into the Postal Service and sent on what feels like a humiliating backwater assignment: carrying mail to distant Ganymede. Bitter at the downgrade, he boards a mail ship escorted by two old Patrol comrades, only to learn that this new job is every bit as dangerous as the old one. Before the run is over, pirate ships strike in the asteroid belt, and his friends pay a deadly price to keep the mail moving. When Preston finally reaches Gan...

Rick Mason, a Solar System intelligence agent, is descending toward the hostile planet Mordarga when a desperate telepathic plea from his partner, Klon Darra, turns a routine reconnaissance mission into a race against time. Klon has been seized by the Mordargans and faces torture in the main palace, forcing Mason to abandon caution and mount an immediate rescue in a world where mental contact may be his only lifeline. Landing in a hidden valley, Mason begins the treacherous journey to Mord...

Fourteen brand-new stories of the macabre, plus two rare works inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's legendary novella AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS "One of the greatest short novels in American literature, and a key text in my own understanding of what literature can do." Michael Chabon With its terrifying account of a doomed scientific expedition, Lovecraft's masterpiece has influenced many of the finest authors in modern fiction. Inspired by his dark mythos of cosmic abominations clawing at the ed...

A writer with a publisher’s deadline and a friend’s strange invitation in his pocket goes hunting for a quiet country retreat where he can finish his long-overdue novel. What he finds instead is a sun-bleached nudist colony tucked into the woods, full of bronzed strangers who have left their clothes, and most of their inhibitions, at the gate.At first the experience feels harmless, even pure: square dances under the stars, lazy mornings at the mess hall, a beautiful blonde who smil...

WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY PATTON OSWALTDubbed “the most significant and controversial SF book” of its generation, Harlan Ellison’s groundbreaking collection launched an entire subgenre: New Wave science fiction. With contributions from legendary authors and multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Dangerous Visions returns to print in a stunning new edition perfect for new and returning fans alike.A landmark short-story collection that put th...

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author delivers a prescient tale that "explores the inanity of conformity with a hopelessly superficial future humankind" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).He was revived, somehow, and thrust into a brand-new world, one in which humans have evolved to breathe underwater, reproduction is quite uncommon, and everyone has standardized their appearance to conform to the presently favored model.He is a rarity, a thro...