From: The Shaldron RaceTo: The Human RaceGreetings:Your presence on this planet has been noted and the reason for your visit analyzed by our instruments. We have, therefore, taken the liberty of selecting one of your party for our first contact, one whom we feel is best suited to grasp the motivations of both our races and arrange for future group contacts.Peter Collard stared at the message with a cold feeling of foreboding. He felt pity for the poor devil."Who is this selected contact?""Ah, now," Dyson became suddenly interested in the papers on the table. "Well, I''m sorry and all that but, as a matter of fact, they want you."

Power-Greedy.Men wished to rule the world, but one man stood in their way. Peter Duncan came from the planet Mattrain - but who was he? Was he human? If so, whence came his vastly superior intellect and technical knowledge? These were mysteries the Administration feared - because they could not find the answer to them. Too late they saw danger. For, by then, Peter Duncan had escaped and taken refuge in the Devastated Areas, from which he continued his fight to save the human race from final utter destruction. But then, he had a reason. Martha of the chestnut hair and striking beauty, who alone knew his secret and who taught him how to love.

Given: Earth 400 years from now - a rotten society which mankind is doomed to die out.A solution to the problem - an ultra-intelligent computer to govern humanity.One man of seemingly average intelligence, but with incredible I.Q. potential.And you have: A corrupt society turned into a world where there is no corruption, because Mother Machine knows what''s best for her human children and does it. Where that same all-powerful computer is rapidly turning men into zombies.And where the world''s only hope turns out to be one outlawed not-average man.

If wishes would only come true; how often has every human being thought that? How wonderful life would be if only we could have everything we ever dreamed of?But the man who invented the dream-machine turned out to be the worst enemy humanity ever encountered! The dream became as real as the reality - and yet remained a figment of the imagination. And thereby the very foundations of civilization were undermined. Why strive - when you could get it all without effort?Reality Forbidden is the unusual novel of what came afterwards. Of the world in which only the most rigid of terror kept cities standing, and of the man who dared to escape that world, to find the last place on Earth where dreaming was not prohibited, and where one could not only have one''s cake, but eat it as well!

Earth and Firma were twin planets - mirror worlds in a single time-track. Now Firma was halted in its rotation around the sun by the Aliens. Unless Denning and Liston, twin humans, could destroy the Aliens and get Firma moving again, Earth would some day repeat Firma''s tragedy and be burned to a cinder.The Aliens had an incredible array of weapons at their disposal.Denning and Liston had only their courage and their brains.

In the far future, the world has fallen to chaos with the criminal elements controlling the cities and vast police forces ruling the unknown wilderness beyond.Only one man, unknowingly, holds the key to the state in which society finds itself - a man named Craig.Craig, however, is an outcast, a pariah, feared by organised crime and despised by the police who, despite themselves, are compelled to use him.This is the tale of how Craig fights back - against forces unknown - and of his attempts to reinstate himself into a society that has rejected him.

Aggression is out of date.After one war scare too many the human has suppressed it aggressive instincts by genetic manipulation.Make love, not war.Now mankind is faced with an enemy so superior, so ruthless, that it is fight or be wiped out - and humans can no longer fight; they cannot even order their robots to fight.Violence is decadent.Only a museum exhibit from a thousand years ago - a Royal Navy submarine complete with commander and crew, their belligerent natures intact - can hope to save the planet from an enemy to whom living space is all-important and human life entirely superfluous.

Don''t think new thoughts, don''t improve anything, don''t wander over the next hill: these were the commandments for the men and women of the experimental village - one of those careful nurtured settlements established after the collapse of world civilization.The rules were made by the benevolent Masters of the Island - and they had to be obeyed. To disobey was to be destroyed. But Robert Ventnor, villager with a dangerously high quotient of curiosity, was the exception. He fled - and evaded liquidation.But he fled right into the hands of THESE SAVAGE FUTURIANS and thereby supplied the key that could blast apart civilization''s second chance and destroy the world once and for all.

Look down into the streets, the buildings, the parks.There is your battleground. Down there is the enemy - an enemy who wears no uniform.He walks behind you in the street, sits with you when you eat, and perhaps swims beside you in a public pool. He may ask you for a light, bow you into a hotel, sell you a flyer, or in another form, leave the smell of perfume on your pillow.The enemy is young and old, male and female, and he is everywhere. Could such a situation arise - or has it arisen? In this exciting story of the future, the author depicts a world at war. An undercover war, so skilfully manipulated that sixty per cent of the population is unaware of its existence. Yet, daily, the casualty figures climb higher and higher.Can you say that such a war is impossible? Can you say when you have this all-action novel, that it has not already begun?

If you''re a human, the deadliest game.You may consider yourselves experienced hunters. You have hunted on many planets. But here things are different.For there are no mindless monsters or charging carnivores, but a devious, intelligent and dangerous prey.A prey who is out to get you before you get him.Man!

They had slept in safety while destruction raged above them. When they awoke and emerged from their places of refuge, the world had changed - totally.For man soon discovered that he was no longer the dominant species on Earth. Now there were other creatures, not only ready to dispute the point but well prepared to prove it.It was later, much later, that the bulk of mankind discovered they had forfeited their birthright, traded their home, the planet Earth - for a spaceship.

Beyond Evolution.A certain gifted engineer accepted the Theory of Evolution until he wandered by chance into a museum. In that museum was the skeleton of a dinosaur, and the skeleton got him thinking and enquiring, with terrifying results.Attempts are made on his life and then, in a horrifying time-shift, he finds himself naked and unarmed in the distant past, facing one of the very creatures which had aroused his interest - a dinosaur!

He thought he knew himself, his strength, weaknesses and limitations.A frightening encounter with two muggers, however, changed everything.He had knowledge which he had no conscious memory of learning.He had faculties which he had never known he possessed.He had memories beyond those of normal life. A life in which he had a different name.He could not remember everything but he knew some dreadful alien creatures were hunting him. With his wakening memory, he knew also that the aliens would be able to detect him once more.There was nothing left but flight.In this fast-moving science fiction novel, follow the fugitive across the universe to final confrontation with the aliens.

The conquest of a galaxy is relatively easy providing the aggressor has the necessary technology and, more important, a safe method of overcoming possible opposition without bleeding to death in the process. The Asdrake employed mutated micro-organisms which directly attacked the brain of the planet''s intelligent life - they liked this method. They could fight if they had to but were inherently lazy. This method had worked successfully on twenty-two occasions - why should it fail on planet 5/6/9. Sector 88. Sun System 46. "Tseudec" (Native name: "Earth").Casualties from the epidemic were astronomical yet, in complete paradox, failed to kill a single human being - the side effects took care of that. And those side effects were beyond even the Asdrake''s imagination. The survivors on Earth found undreamed complications in rebuilding the world with the use of their new psychic powers - and perhaps more important, were they new powers at all, and if not who had removed them thousands of years ago?

The Best of Philip E. HighWelcome to the Bizarre Imagination of Philip E. High.-A world without laws where the basest criminal activity flourishes unchecked in a dog-eat-dog society;-When the crew of a submarine find themselves flung millions of years into the past the consequences are devastating;-The minds of the entire population of a city are infected by the thoughts of a madman, and become insane themselves - and the contagion is spreading;-Mankind is facing extinction by an alien race of mind-readers who can anticipate man''s every counter attack.Here is the first-ever collection of the greatest short stories of one of Britain''s finest-ever SF writers - Philip E. High! Already well know on both sides of the Atlantic as a writer of many exciting adventure novels, these twelve stories reveal High as a true literary craftsman. A major science fiction event that is not to be missed!

Waking Nightmare!He awoke, stretched and scratched the top of his head with his right hand. It hurt, must have a pimple there or something. Only a few seconds later his forehead tingled, and he brushed at it with his left hand.It came away smothered in blood.What the hell! Got to get a towel or handkerchief or something. He reached forward with his right hand to throw back the bedclothes and froze.It was not his hand.It was not even human blood.The hand was brown, thin and scaly. A membrane stretched from the palm upwards to the top knuckles of the fingers, holding them together.Long curved nails grew from the tops of the fingers and one of them was bloody.

Harcourt smiled his professional smile. “Now, you came to me because you felt something was wrong, some probably frightening aberration which we will deal with later. Were you under pressure at the time.”

“A policeman is always under pressure.” Nevinson sighed. “Unfortunately this happened three weeks ago while on a holiday in Europe. Before I left everyone told me I should visit the Spatza, you’ve heard of it no doubt, one of the show­pieces of the world.” He paused and shook his head. “Can’t quite recall what time of day I got there—was it evening?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Harcourt gently. He had been watching Nevinson closely for pupil-dilation and was relieved to see it had begun.

“Doesn’t it? No, I suppose it doesn’t, time isn’t all that—” A film seemed to descend over his eyes and he lost contact. He was still speaking but Harcourt and the consulting room had disappeared. He was living it again. He was back in the small European hotel which, although prohibitively expensive, was literally a museum piece.

Real glass in windows which opened outwards on metal rods, radiators, electric light, every piece of equipment in the hotel dated back five hundred years...

He had given up telling himself that the posting was important. He knew it wasn’t. Even with the increased tension and gradual advance of the aliens, the post was nothing more than an expendable speck in the vast perimeter of Earth’s defence. Its very position made it of less importance than similar posts elsewhere because the bulk of Jupiter almost wholly nullified the detector instruments with which the dome was equipped. At most, they would have less than three minutes warning if the aliens decided to attack...

From: The Shaldron RaceTo: The Human RaceGreetings:Your presence on this planet has been noted and the reason for your visit analyzed by our instruments. We have, therefore, taken the liberty of selecting one of your party for our first contact, one whom we feel is best suited to grasp the motivations of both our races and arrange for future group contacts.Peter Collard stared at the message with a cold feeling of foreboding. He felt pity for the poor devil."Who is this selected contact?""Ah, now," Dyson became suddenly interested in the papers on the table. "Well, I''m sorry and all that but, as a matter of fact, they want you."

Power-Greedy.Men wished to rule the world, but one man stood in their way. Peter Duncan came from the planet Mattrain - but who was he? Was he human? If so, whence came his vastly superior intellect and technical knowledge? These were mysteries the Administration feared - because they could not find the answer to them. Too late they saw danger. For, by then, Peter Duncan had escaped and taken refuge in the Devastated Areas, from which he continued his fight to save the human race from final utter destruction. But then, he had a reason. Martha of the chestnut hair and striking beauty, who alone knew his secret and who taught him how to love.

Given: Earth 400 years from now - a rotten society which mankind is doomed to die out.A solution to the problem - an ultra-intelligent computer to govern humanity.One man of seemingly average intelligence, but with incredible I.Q. potential.And you have: A corrupt society turned into a world where there is no corruption, because Mother Machine knows what''s best for her human children and does it. Where that same all-powerful computer is rapidly turning men into zombies.And where the world''s only hope turns out to be one outlawed not-average man.

If wishes would only come true; how often has every human being thought that? How wonderful life would be if only we could have everything we ever dreamed of?But the man who invented the dream-machine turned out to be the worst enemy humanity ever encountered! The dream became as real as the reality - and yet remained a figment of the imagination. And thereby the very foundations of civilization were undermined. Why strive - when you could get it all without effort?Reality Forbidden is the unusual novel of what came afterwards. Of the world in which only the most rigid of terror kept cities standing, and of the man who dared to escape that world, to find the last place on Earth where dreaming was not prohibited, and where one could not only have one''s cake, but eat it as well!

Earth and Firma were twin planets - mirror worlds in a single time-track. Now Firma was halted in its rotation around the sun by the Aliens. Unless Denning and Liston, twin humans, could destroy the Aliens and get Firma moving again, Earth would some day repeat Firma''s tragedy and be burned to a cinder.The Aliens had an incredible array of weapons at their disposal.Denning and Liston had only their courage and their brains.

In the far future, the world has fallen to chaos with the criminal elements controlling the cities and vast police forces ruling the unknown wilderness beyond.Only one man, unknowingly, holds the key to the state in which society finds itself - a man named Craig.Craig, however, is an outcast, a pariah, feared by organised crime and despised by the police who, despite themselves, are compelled to use him.This is the tale of how Craig fights back - against forces unknown - and of his attempts to reinstate himself into a society that has rejected him.

Aggression is out of date.After one war scare too many the human has suppressed it aggressive instincts by genetic manipulation.Make love, not war.Now mankind is faced with an enemy so superior, so ruthless, that it is fight or be wiped out - and humans can no longer fight; they cannot even order their robots to fight.Violence is decadent.Only a museum exhibit from a thousand years ago - a Royal Navy submarine complete with commander and crew, their belligerent natures intact - can hope to save the planet from an enemy to whom living space is all-important and human life entirely superfluous.

Don''t think new thoughts, don''t improve anything, don''t wander over the next hill: these were the commandments for the men and women of the experimental village - one of those careful nurtured settlements established after the collapse of world civilization.The rules were made by the benevolent Masters of the Island - and they had to be obeyed. To disobey was to be destroyed. But Robert Ventnor, villager with a dangerously high quotient of curiosity, was the exception. He fled - and evaded liquidation.But he fled right into the hands of THESE SAVAGE FUTURIANS and thereby supplied the key that could blast apart civilization''s second chance and destroy the world once and for all.

Look down into the streets, the buildings, the parks.There is your battleground. Down there is the enemy - an enemy who wears no uniform.He walks behind you in the street, sits with you when you eat, and perhaps swims beside you in a public pool. He may ask you for a light, bow you into a hotel, sell you a flyer, or in another form, leave the smell of perfume on your pillow.The enemy is young and old, male and female, and he is everywhere. Could such a situation arise - or has it arisen? In this exciting story of the future, the author depicts a world at war. An undercover war, so skilfully manipulated that sixty per cent of the population is unaware of its existence. Yet, daily, the casualty figures climb higher and higher.Can you say that such a war is impossible? Can you say when you have this all-action novel, that it has not already begun?

If you''re a human, the deadliest game.You may consider yourselves experienced hunters. You have hunted on many planets. But here things are different.For there are no mindless monsters or charging carnivores, but a devious, intelligent and dangerous prey.A prey who is out to get you before you get him.Man!

They had slept in safety while destruction raged above them. When they awoke and emerged from their places of refuge, the world had changed - totally.For man soon discovered that he was no longer the dominant species on Earth. Now there were other creatures, not only ready to dispute the point but well prepared to prove it.It was later, much later, that the bulk of mankind discovered they had forfeited their birthright, traded their home, the planet Earth - for a spaceship.

Beyond Evolution.A certain gifted engineer accepted the Theory of Evolution until he wandered by chance into a museum. In that museum was the skeleton of a dinosaur, and the skeleton got him thinking and enquiring, with terrifying results.Attempts are made on his life and then, in a horrifying time-shift, he finds himself naked and unarmed in the distant past, facing one of the very creatures which had aroused his interest - a dinosaur!

He thought he knew himself, his strength, weaknesses and limitations.A frightening encounter with two muggers, however, changed everything.He had knowledge which he had no conscious memory of learning.He had faculties which he had never known he possessed.He had memories beyond those of normal life. A life in which he had a different name.He could not remember everything but he knew some dreadful alien creatures were hunting him. With his wakening memory, he knew also that the aliens would be able to detect him once more.There was nothing left but flight.In this fast-moving science fiction novel, follow the fugitive across the universe to final confrontation with the aliens.

The conquest of a galaxy is relatively easy providing the aggressor has the necessary technology and, more important, a safe method of overcoming possible opposition without bleeding to death in the process. The Asdrake employed mutated micro-organisms which directly attacked the brain of the planet''s intelligent life - they liked this method. They could fight if they had to but were inherently lazy. This method had worked successfully on twenty-two occasions - why should it fail on planet 5/6/9. Sector 88. Sun System 46. "Tseudec" (Native name: "Earth").Casualties from the epidemic were astronomical yet, in complete paradox, failed to kill a single human being - the side effects took care of that. And those side effects were beyond even the Asdrake''s imagination. The survivors on Earth found undreamed complications in rebuilding the world with the use of their new psychic powers - and perhaps more important, were they new powers at all, and if not who had removed them thousands of years ago?

The Best of Philip E. HighWelcome to the Bizarre Imagination of Philip E. High.-A world without laws where the basest criminal activity flourishes unchecked in a dog-eat-dog society;-When the crew of a submarine find themselves flung millions of years into the past the consequences are devastating;-The minds of the entire population of a city are infected by the thoughts of a madman, and become insane themselves - and the contagion is spreading;-Mankind is facing extinction by an alien race of mind-readers who can anticipate man''s every counter attack.Here is the first-ever collection of the greatest short stories of one of Britain''s finest-ever SF writers - Philip E. High! Already well know on both sides of the Atlantic as a writer of many exciting adventure novels, these twelve stories reveal High as a true literary craftsman. A major science fiction event that is not to be missed!

Waking Nightmare!He awoke, stretched and scratched the top of his head with his right hand. It hurt, must have a pimple there or something. Only a few seconds later his forehead tingled, and he brushed at it with his left hand.It came away smothered in blood.What the hell! Got to get a towel or handkerchief or something. He reached forward with his right hand to throw back the bedclothes and froze.It was not his hand.It was not even human blood.The hand was brown, thin and scaly. A membrane stretched from the palm upwards to the top knuckles of the fingers, holding them together.Long curved nails grew from the tops of the fingers and one of them was bloody.

Harcourt smiled his professional smile. “Now, you came to me because you felt something was wrong, some probably frightening aberration which we will deal with later. Were you under pressure at the time.”

“A policeman is always under pressure.” Nevinson sighed. “Unfortunately this happened three weeks ago while on a holiday in Europe. Before I left everyone told me I should visit the Spatza, you’ve heard of it no doubt, one of the show­pieces of the world.” He paused and shook his head. “Can’t quite recall what time of day I got there—was it evening?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Harcourt gently. He had been watching Nevinson closely for pupil-dilation and was relieved to see it had begun.

“Doesn’t it? No, I suppose it doesn’t, time isn’t all that—” A film seemed to descend over his eyes and he lost contact. He was still speaking but Harcourt and the consulting room had disappeared. He was living it again. He was back in the small European hotel which, although prohibitively expensive, was literally a museum piece.

Real glass in windows which opened outwards on metal rods, radiators, electric light, every piece of equipment in the hotel dated back five hundred years...

He had given up telling himself that the posting was important. He knew it wasn’t. Even with the increased tension and gradual advance of the aliens, the post was nothing more than an expendable speck in the vast perimeter of Earth’s defence. Its very position made it of less importance than similar posts elsewhere because the bulk of Jupiter almost wholly nullified the detector instruments with which the dome was equipped. At most, they would have less than three minutes warning if the aliens decided to attack...