The planet Zarathustra is listed as uninhabited -- which means that the entire planet can be owned by a corporation. That owner is the Zarathustra Company, rich and happy -- until a prospector named Jack Holloway comes across undocumented species, a tiny, golden-furred little biped who he dubs "Little Fuzzy." Not only are the Little Fuzzies cute, they're bright too -- in fact they may be sapient as people are. . . and that means everything the Zarathustra company owns on this world is at stake. . . .

Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. When that kind of person discovers he's being cheated of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution.

"ZNIDD SUDDABIT!"

So the Ulleran challenge begins, with the rantings of a prophet and a seemingly incidental street riot. Only when a dose of poison lands in the governor-general's whiskey does it become clear that the "geeks" have had it up to their double-lidded eyeballs with the imperialist Terran Federation's Chartered Uller Company. Then, overnight, war is everywhere.

How it will end is in the (merely) two Terran hands of the new governor-general, a man shrewd enough to know that "it is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." The problem is, the particular piece of knowledge he needs hasn't been used in 450 years. . . .

"There are incredible things still undiscovered; most of the important installations were built in duplicate as a precaution against space attack. I know where all of them are.

"But I could find nothing, not one single word, about any giant strategic planning computer called Merlin! -- Is there really a Merlin?"

That's what Conn Maxwell asked, and the question irked those who heard it. Of course it did! Merlin meant everything to the folks on the planet Poictesme: power, pleasures, and profits unlimited.

But the leading men of the planet didn't believe him. They couldn't! The search for Merlin had become their abiding obsession.

Everybody believed that when this super-gigantic computer was located amid the mountains of surplus equipment that was the planet's sole source of revenue, it would mean Utopia for everyone.

Conn Maxwell knew different. He had studied the records on Earth and he thought he knew the true facts about this cosmic computer. To tell them would be to panic, so instead he set about a new search in his own way -- with startling results.

*

H. Beam Piper, author of "Space Viking" and "Little Fuzzy," was rather enigmatic where his personal statistics were concerned (or so the original blurb to this novel said). He lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, it said, and also that he was an expert on the history and use of hand weapons. When the book was published, he had been writing and selling science fiction for many years to the leading magazines, and that he was highly rated among readers for his skill and imagination. He had published several novels, mostly SF, but also including mysteries and juveniles. But that blurb was written just before he tookhis own life in the noise and nonsense that come out of divorce . . . sigh. Some things happen so large upon our lives that they seem to blot out all that goes before . . .

When his wife is murdered on his wedding day, Lucas Trask launches himself on a quest for revenge. Using his personal fortune, he buys a spaceship and becomes a Space Viking, raiding worlds while hunting for his wife's killer. But raiding is not his destiny, and he gradually becomes a trader, starting to build a galactic empire. Before he can achieve his new goals, however, he must still deal with his wife's killer. A thrilling intergalactic saga!

When they published the title story of this collection in April 1947, "Astounding Science Fiction" said, "To upset the stable, mighty stream of time would probably take an enormous concentration of energy. And it's not to be expected that a man would get a second chance at life. But an atomic might accomplish both --" John W. Campbell was a man who really knew what makes SF the appealing thing it is; it's no wonder that he published the story. Also included in this volume are "The Mercenaries" ("Astounding Science Fiction," March, 1950), "He Walked Around the Horses" ("Astounding Science Fiction," April 1948), "The Return" ("Astounding Science Fiction," January, 1954 -- a collaboration with John J. McGuire), and "Temple Trouble" ("Astounding Science Fiction," April, 1951).

New Texas: its citizens figure that name about says it all. The Solar League ambassador to the Lone Star Planet has the unenviable task of convincing New Texans that a s'Srauff attack is imminent, and dangerous. Unfortunately it's common knowledge that the s'Srauff are evolved from canine ancestors -- and not a Texan alive is about to be scared of a talking dog! But unless he can get them to act, and fast, there won't be a Texan alive, scared or otherwise!

Blurbs for books. Days are we write so many of them we could just . . . well. But it's clear we aren't the only ones who feel this way.

H. Beam Piper sold "Crossroads of Destiny" to "Fantastic Universe Science Fiction," which published it in their July 1959 issue. "No wonder he'd been so interested in the talk of whether our people accepted these theories!" they said of the story. We aren't at all certain what they meant by that, but you'll probably have a clue.

The blurb for "Hunter Patrol" ("Amazing Stories," May 1959 -- a collaboration with John J. McGuire) is equally oblique: "Readers who remember the Hon. Stephen Silk, diplomat extraordinary, in "Lone Star Planet (FU," March 1957), later published as "A Planet for Texans" (Ace Books), will find the present story a challenging departure -- this possibility that the history we know may not be absolute. . . ."

On the other hand, when "Dearest" appeared in "Weird Tales," in March, 1951, the folks at that magazine blurbed it, "Many men have dreamed of world peace, but none have been able to achieve it. If one man did have that power, could mankind afford to pay the price?" An interesting thought, we say. And it seems to us that they had a lot more to say about the story than the SF mags did (above).

On the other other hand (it makes us feel like such "Moties" to say that), when "True: The Man's Magazine," published "Rebel Raider" in December 1950 they said, "Jeb Stuart left John Singleton Mosby behind Northern lines 'to look after loyal Confederate people.' But before the war was over, Mosby did a lot more than that. . . ." (We think they actually read the piece before they published it, by golly!)

And on the lasthand of all, there's no evidence that anybody at the house that published "The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes," (1960 -- another collaboration with John J. McGuire) even read "The Return" -- they didn't say a word about it! Harrumph.

When the whole ornery state of Texas took off for a new planet more to their liking, New Texas was the result: a rough-and-tumble world where everyone packs a gun and it's legal to shoot politicians (if they deserve it)! But now these rugged and independent space pioneers are the targets of an expansive race of aliens. Is the Solar League's new ambassador tough enough to steer them back to Earth's embrace?