Search Worlds Without End

Contents:

• Jay Score
• Mechanistria
• Symbiotica
• Mesmerica

Happiness, Guaranteed...

In the not-too-distant future, money truly can buy happiness, and Hedonics, Inc., is willing to sell it to you. They'll even offer you a money-back guarantee, if you're not "happy" with the product. But with their team of psychologists, life specialists, and self-improvement coaches, they don't have any "unhappy" customers.

What happens when a company grows too big, becomes too successful? It wants to guarantee its place in society and its future, and Hedonics is no exception. When your product is happiness, the way you guarantee your success is to pass laws mandating happiness.

But when universal happiness is required, does it really matter if you're getting what you want, or happy with what you have?

James Gunn has been a professional science fiction writer for more than 60 years, and in 2007, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named him a Grand Master.

A baboonery in Africa becomes a laboratory for terrifying extraterrestrial experiments.

Contents:

• vii - Retrieving the Lost - (1984) - essay by Isaac Asimov
• xi - Introduction (The Classic Philip José Farmer, 1952-1964) - essay by Martin H. Greenberg
• 1 - Sail On! Sail On! - (1952) - short story
• 12 - Mother - (1953) - novelette
• 43 - The God Business - (1954) - novella
• 110 - The Alley Man - (1959) - novella
• 158 - My Sister's Brother - (1960) - novella (variant of Open to Me, My Sister)
• 213 - The King of Beasts - (1964) - short story (variant of The King of the Beasts)

Contents:

• vii - Retrieving the Lost - (1984) - essay by Isaac Asimov
• xi - Introduction (The Classic Philip José Farmer, 1964-1973) - (1984) - essay by Martin H. Greenberg
• 1 - The Shadow of Space - (1967) - novelette
• 30 - Riders of the Purple Wage or the Great Gavage - (1967) - novella (variant of Riders of the Purple Wage)
• 104 - Don't Wash the Carats: A Polytropical Paramyth - short story (variant of Don't Wash the Carats 1968)
• 109 - The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod - (1970) - short story
• 115 - The Oögenesis of Bird City - (1970) - short story
• 130 - The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World - [Dayworld] - (1971) - short story
• 146 - Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind - (1973) - novelette
• 193 - After King Kong Fell - [Wold Newton] - (1973) - short story

Altar the thief, a man of mystery and secret master of a gaudily decadent world.... a gargantuan spaceship designed to span civilisations... a desperate plunge into the heart of the sun... just the basic ingredients of the volcanic recipe that produces Charles L. Harness's shattering masterpiece.

The anthropologist's dream...

Monte Stewart was an extremely intelligent, somewhat contentious anthropologist with a sense of humor and a nonconformist approach to life. As an expert in his field, he was chosen to approach the first apparently human-like form of life ever to be encountered on another planet.

Here was the chance he had been waiting for all his life --- an opportunity to make contact, to investigate, to ascertain the facts about an altogether new man-like species, with the added knowledge that the peace of the worlds depended upon the establishment of friendly relations.

But Stewart and his team of experts couldn't get to first base. They tried for weeks --- then vicious unreasoned tragedy struck their camp.

What had gone wrong?

Who were these 'people'?

Why had they attacked the humans?

Stewart had failed in his mission; but for his own peace of mind he had to discover the answers, and he had to do it alone.

Anthropologist Paul Ellery discovers that the small Texas town of Jefferson Springs is actually an imitation of small-town America created by the aliens who now offer him a chance to explore the universe.

Man loses control over the outcomes of a scientific experiment the only aim of which is to create a way for the greediest man on earth to become even richer. The experiment is conducted on Bermuda grass, a harmless plant in its initial form, but one that becomes murderous and powerful after the salesman protagonist of the novel applies a fertilizer spray called the Metamorphosizer created by a female chemist on it.

The metamorphosis of the grass is very quick - it starts growing with incredible speed and soon it turns out that nothing can destroy the new species of grass, it feeds on anything and grows over anything. In the beginning, the grass grows at the same pace as its owner rises to prominence and wealth, but things get out of control very soon and it takes a team of the bravest to stop the murderous plant.