A good collection containing eighteen stories from 1963 through 1970.
Favorites: “Carcinoma Angels” (1967) – Harrison Wintergreen made himself the wealthies man in the world. Now he has terminal cancer. He spends multi-millions on a clinic for himself to find a cure. As a fan of irony I really liked this one.
“Outward Bound” (1964 novelette) – A scientist is close to inventing an Overdrive to take man to the stars. He’s currently on the trading ship Outward Bound. Earth orders a ship to chase him down and get rid of him.
“A Child Of Mind” (1965) – Three men are checking out a planet for colonization. They discover a process that lets them grow their own idea of the perfect woman.
“The Rules Of The Road” (1964) – Soldiers who have been sent inside a silver dome that landed from space have disappeared. One man who never turned down a challenge says he’ll go in…for a quarter million dollars. What he finds changes everything.
“It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane!” (1967) – There’s an epidemic across the country of men who are convinced they’re Clark Kent and of course Superman. Looks like a job for Supershrink.
“Subjectivity” (1964) – Every ship sent to the stars causes their crews to go insane. Finally instead of sending highly trained people it’s decided to get a crew together of the dregs of society. The Captain had a choice…the ship or jail. Right at the line of intersteller space the crew all at once takes the provided super hallucinogens.
“The Last Hurrah Of The Golden Horde” (1969) – A group of fighters from Mongolia take one last ride to burn and pillage. Waiting for them is a combination Disneyland/Las Vegas in China. Also on hand are Mafia hitmen and the People’s Republic of China army. Playing his violin with songs from “Light My Fire” to “Wipeout” is assassin Jerry Cornelius. This Jerry Cornelius is not to be confused with the character of the same name created by Michael Moorcock.
Vintage45's Blog 