The Robert Sheckley Megapack. Robert Sheckley
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COPYRIGHT INFO
The Robert Sheckley Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved. Cover art copyright © 2013 by Peter Hires Images / Fotolia. For more information, contact the publisher.
This is version 1.2 (correcting minor typos).
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“Watchbird” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, Feb. 1953.
The Status Civilization originally appeared in 1960.
“Ask a Foolish Question” originally appeared in Science Fiction Stories (1953).
“Bad Medicine” originally appeared in Pilgrimage to Earth (1956).
“Diplomatic Immunity” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953.
“Warrior Race” originally appeared in Galaxy, Nov. 1952.
“The Hour of Battle” originally appeared in Space Science Fiction, Sept. 1953.
“Keep Your Shape” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1953.
“Warm” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1953.
“Death Wish” originally appeared in Galaxy, June 1956 (as by “Ned Lang”).
“Beside Still Waters” originally appeared in Amazing Stories, Oct.-Nov. 1953.
“Forever” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1959.
“The Leech” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1952.
“One Man’s Poison” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1953.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
I only met Robert Sheckley once, in 1980, when he was a guest at Philcon, a science fiction convention held in Philadelphia. Along with Ben Bova (who was the convention’s principle speaker), Sheckley had an off-site autographing at a local bookstore, and I dutifully carted several books there to get them signed. In the bookstore, they were sitting and chatting with each other…because no one else was there. I was the only who had yet arrived to meet them and get my books signed. (This is not unusual—many bookstore autographing sessions are sparsely attended. I’ve had several myself where only a couple of people showed up over the course of an hour.)
At that time, Sheckley was the fiction editor at Omni magazine, and Bova was the general editor. Both were quite cordial, took time to speak with me and answer some questions, and both signed an issue of Omni and a few books I had acquired at the convention. I’ll never forget it, since I was only 16 years old at the time, an aspiring writer myself (I made my first professional sale a few months later), and they were both approachable, friendly, and welcoming—exactly what professional writers should be.
At the time, I mostly knew Ben Bova from his editorship of Analog magazine (he succeeded legendary editor John W. Campbell, Jr.), and I had never read anything of Sheckley’s, though I recognized the name from Omni (which I also read).
So here is a collection of 14 of Robert Sheckley’s short stories and one novel (The Status Civilization). Sadly, I never ran into him again so I could tell him how much I enjoyed the books I acquired that day: the novel Immortality, Inc. and the collection Untouched by Human Hands, which contains some terrific short stories. Great works by an under-appreciated writer.
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE MEGAPACK SERIES
Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has proved to be one of our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!).
A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS
The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
MYSTERY
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Charlie Chan Megapack
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack
The Detective Megapack
The Father Brown Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack
The First Mystery Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Raffles Megapack
The Victorian Mystery Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure Megapack
The Baseball Megapack
The Christmas Megapack
The Second Christmas Megapack
The Classic American Short Stories Megapack
The Classic Humor Megapack
The Military Megapack
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Martian Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The First Science Fiction Megapack
The Second Science Fiction Megapack
The Third Science Fiction Megapack
The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack
The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack
The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack
The