Mr. Silverberg does not provide much in the way of explanatory text (e.g., context for each story, relation to authors' previous work, etc.), and those used to Martin H. Greenberg's approach to anthologies will be a bit disappointed. However, this 1979 anthology of out-of-print stories beats the pants off many a 1990's 'anthology' of cookie-cutter stories around a similar theme. The stories themselves range from 'readable' to 'unforgetable' -- enjoy!

A good collection for hard sci-fi fans by some terrific authors. Includes the following stories: "Blood's A Rover" (Chad Oliver), "Noise" (Jack Vance), "Life Hutch" (Harlan Ellison), "Ticket To Anywhere" (Damon Knight), "The Sixth Palace" (Robert Silverberg), "Lulungomeena" (Gordon R. Dickson), "The Dance Of The Changer And The Three" (Terry Carr), and "Far Centaurus" (A.E. van Vogt). Suprisingly, the Ellison and Silverberg stories were among the weakest.

Short concise story of the third continent of Majipoor where dreams come and go.

These stories were written before the end of Silverberg's "first period" (i.e., before 1974), and represent some of the finest short work he did during that time. The title story is a fine exploration of both survivor's guilt and the healing power of religious ecstasy. "Trips" is an playful take on the now over-used cliche of the alternate universe; no real conclusion, but still a fun ride. The remaining stories all entertain as only Silverberg can.

The Greatest Horror Stories of the 20th Century is truly a classis collection of horror. While the first few stories start the collection off slowly, by the time you listen to THE VIADUCT you will be hooked! My favorites include STICKS (about strange wooden configurations found in the woods), THE WORDS OF GURU (about a child discovering the demons all around us), and especially Ray Bradbury's THE SMALL ASSASSIN (about a new mother who believes her baby is trying to kill her). Most of the stories are genuinely horrifying, and the audio production throughout is excellent. I would definitely reccomend this for those who like short horror stories like me.

The short novel or novella format is a favorite of Silverberg and this book showcases his skills. Novellas give the author enough scope to develop an idea without the detailed structure that a full book would require. So it is with the 4 stories in this book. First of is the title story, "In Another Country" a mark of tribute to C. L. Moore, whose works Silverberg has long admired. A time traveling tourist from the far future faces a classic dilemma. While he understands the need to be a passive bystander in the "past" lest he alter history by an inadvertent action, can he stand inactive when he knows an imminent tragedy will kill his lover? Written somewhat in parallel with Moore's classic "Vintage Season", "In Another Country" has some of Moore's Vintage Season characters playing minor roles in a nice touch. The second story, "The Way to Spook City" looks at an Earth that has been invaded by peculiar beings from space who have seized a wide swathe of the United States where they now live. The population of the earth, devastated by an ineffectual resistance to the invasion is totally ignored and left to its own devices. Shorn of the stage setting, this story is a nice probing look at emotions and relationships across species. The final two stories are very different in that they are set on distant worlds with little or no explicit link to earth. "They Hunt, We Seek" looks at a Universe with 6 races (one of them being humanity) in a balance of power, till a seventh one, vastly more powerful, is discovered by happenstance. Finally, "This is the Road" is an intriguing look at a future on a different world, where life forms of a single species have specialized to a point where each specialization is a different physical form as well as social caste; yet they all retain their species links. Faced by a common threat, 4 different life forms flee for sanctuary through a maze of perils, encountering major challenges on the way. Aside from the perils, the life forms have to settle their own inter-se quarrels which seemed to me to be a close metaphor for our own Earth, riven by differences of race, religion and economic power, yet fundamentally one people. An excellent read.

This anthology contains some wonderful stories by new writers who, I'm sure, will be seen more of in the future. There are a mixture of stories for all tastes, and only one or two I didn't like. My favorite story was "An Idiot Rode to Majra" by J. Simon. It's a fun, beautifully written story about a young man who outwits the system of the new, oppressive government. Other notible stories are "The Plague" by A.C. Bray (a pied piper story), "Time Out of Mind" by Everett Jacobs (a love story through time), "Hello and Goodbye" by Michele Letica (the far future controled by green peace), and "Market Place of Souls" by David Lowe (a young girl's journey through life and other's bodies). Worth the read.

Written in a fashion which recalls Clavell's Shogun, this is a tale of an English sailor's adventure in deepest Africa during the early years of European colonization. Lost on the shores of Portuguese Africa, our hero finds himself first impressed into the service of the European masters of this land -- later establishing himself in the local colonial community. But the real highlight of this book occurs when he finds himself trapped in the back country where he becomes a servant to a savage cannibal king whom the Europeans and other native peoples live in fear of. Sliding into the very savagery of the people who adopt him, he becomes one of them and lives, for a time, the life of barbarism & adventure their rough existence decrees -- leading their armies into grim and bloody battles and partaking in their bloody and gruesome feasts. In the end this man finds his European self again and manages to make his escape from his adopted kinsmen, returning to England with a mulatto wife to live in retirement and write his memoirs. It's not clear if this story was based on or elaborated from real events but it reads like it could have been. I read it years ago and so am a little cold on some of the details but thought, then as well as now, that it was a worthy contribution to the kind of literature which Shogun exemplified -- though it's not quite as compelling. --- Stuart W. Mirsk

Robert Silverberg may possibly be the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived. Silverberg has written more than 70 novels since 1954, and a good 25 of them are mind-blowing classics. If you're a fan of sf and haven't read Nightwings, Up the Line, Downward to the Earth, Tower of Glass, The Book of Skulls, and Dying Inside, not to mention Lord Valentine's Castle, Tom O'Bedlam, and At Winter's End, then you're in for a treat.

Chapman's excellent literary analysis of RS's career features some thoughtful and thought-provoking interpretations of these and many other fascinating Silverberg books. You may not agree with every interpretation, but you certainly will enjoy reading this well-written and entertaining study. If you're a die-hard Silverberg fan this book is a must have.

I read THE SEED OF EARTH and, being a huge fan of Robert Silverberg, much enjoyed it. Mind you, this is not a classic, nor is it deserving of any awards, nor is it extremely memorable. More so beyond anything, it leaves you with a sense of beauty, a grand feeling that calms you inside. The story centers around a military program in the near future and, because of mans prominent belief that we are alone in the universe with so much wasted space, the government sends out recruits chosen by a supercomputer to board a ship and fly to the destined planet to begin a brand new Earth colony. The novel centers around about 4 or 5 characters who are neatly written that are chosen to board the starship Gegenschein. Once at Osirus, their destination, the crew discovers a race of aliens that lead the 4 characters into a cave. I will let it take out from there. I do recommend this book, but not over say DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH or THE FACE OF THE WATERS by Silverberg. Nonetheless, a good read that takes you to the stars!