Hall of Mirrors appeared in the December 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.It is a tough decision to make—whether to give up your life so you can live it over again!

    These were her very own planets, with such fascinating features as the Sea of Morning Opals, the Mountains of White Cloud, wicked Canal cities, and lost lands full of magic and mystery.That girl's name is Leigh Brackett. And today, more than 35 years after selling her first science fiction story, she continues to thrill and excite all lovers of imaginative writing. Her haunting tales of ancient Mars, wind-swept Venus, and remote worlds beyond human technology have become almost instant classics in the genre; and now Edmond Hamilton, Leigh's husband and a great SF writer in his own right, has personally collected ten of her best stories into a beautiful hardcover anthology. Here's a preview of the amazing tales:THE JEWEL OF BAS. There's an ancient legend passed down among the people of the outermost planet. It tells of Bas the Immortal, possessor of the Stone of Destiny—a jewel of such power that owning it gives a man rule over the whole world. Ciaran and Mouse, two unscrupulous gypsies, only half-believed the story until they found themselves at the mercy of Bas's fierce android army ... pawns in a sinister plan to enslave the human race.THE VANISHING VENUSIANS. For years the space colonists had wandered the hellish eternal seas of Venus, seeking the home that was their birthright, death constantly stalking in their wake. And now they were making their final bid—three of their bravest fighting toward a promised land guarded by nightmare creatures. Who would emerge victorious? Close to 4000 desperate people waited anxiously for the answer...THE VEIL OF ASTELLAR. Tough, hardbitten Steve Vance ... once he was human! But three hundred years ago he betrayed his homeland for a race of alien vampires who fulfilled his every desire in return for a small "favor." All he had to do was lure innocent Earth spaceships to their doom on the vampires' world. He knew his soul was forever damned. But there was one way in which he might atone...THE QUEER ONES. Hank Temple was at the editor's desk when the hospital called him in to see the X-rays. They were of a hill girl's illegitimate baby, and they showed insides like no child ever had. That was the beginning ... and the end came on an enshrouded Ozark mountain, with deadly green lightning flickering and a sound in the sky that was not wind or thunder...

    Saberhagen's style is noteworthy for its detail, the depth and humor of his characterizations, and his ability to imbue even villains with wicked charm.--School Library Journal.

    

    This work offers both readers and scholars a collection of short fiction and short novels by Clark Ashton Smith.Contains the stories The Return of the Sorcerer The City of the Singing Flame The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis The Double Shadow The Monster of the Prophecy The Hunters from Beyond The Isle of the Torturers A Night in Malnéant The Chain of Aforgomon The Dark Eidolon The Seven Geases The Holiness of Azédarac The Beast of Averoigne The Empire of the Necromancers The Disinterment of Venus The Devotee of Evil The Enchantress of Sylaire

    It came from behind the five peaks. The beam drove up through a column of blue haze whose edges were marked as sharply as the rain that streams from the edges of a thunder cloud. It was like the flash of a searchlight through an azure mist. It cast no shadows.As it struck upward the summits were outlined hard and black and I saw that the whole mountain was shaped like a hand. As the light silhouetted it, the gigantic fingers stretched, the hand seemed to thrust itself forward. It was exactly as though it moved to push something back. The shining beam held steady for a moment; then broke into myriads of little luminous globes that swung to and fro and dropped gently. They seemed to be searching.

    From out of the deepest, most violent recesses of mankind's collective memory, Kothar the gigantic barbarian strides, the enchanted sword Frostfire glittering in his mighty hand. Lusty, hot-blooded, masterful, unafraid of things real or unreal, Kothar dominates the misty, bloody world before recorded time. Yet, though Kothar's world existed in another age--perhaps another dimension--it springs vividly to life. Mapped, charted, chronicled, Kothar's fantastic world suddenly becomes real--the sorcerers, dragons, witches, evil potions, unspeakable monsters. And Kothar, an epic hero for any age, overshadows everything.Includes the stories:"The Sword of the Sorcerer""The Treasure in the Labyrinth""The Woman in the Witch-Wood"with an introduction by Donald MacIvers, Ph.D.

    Tolkien--from which almost all fantasylands have devolved--also took shape and flower from Dunsany's example." --The Encyclopedia of Fantasy Most fantasy enthusiasts consider Lord Dunsany one of the most significant forces in modern fantasy; his influences have been observed in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and many other modern writers. The Book of Wonder is Dunsany at his peak of his talent. The stories here are a lush tapestry of language, conjuring images of people, places, and things which cannot possibly exist, yet somehow ring true. They are, in short, full of wonder. Together with Dunsany's other major collections, A Dreamer's Tales and Tales of Three Hemispheres, they are a necessary part of any fantasy collection.

    Quag Keep was the first novel based on the world of Dungeons & Dragons by the legendary grand mistress of SF/Fantasy, Andre Norton.Once, they were role-playing gamers in our world.They came from different places and different backgrounds.Now they're summoned together by some magical force...to a land that mirrors the games they used to play.Quag KeepCan they band together to unlock the secret of their summoning--and rescue from the legendary Quag Keep the person who may be able to return them home?

    In Amtor, cities of immortal beings flourish in giant trees reaching thousands of feet into the sky; ferocious beasts stalk the wilderness below; rare flashes of sunlight precipitate devastating storms; and the inhabitants believe their world is saucer-shaped with a fiery center and an icy rim. Stranded on Amtor after his spaceship crashes, astronaut Carson Napier is swept into a world where revolution is ripe, the love of a princess carries a dear price, and death can come as easily from the blade of a sword as from the ray of a futuristic gun.Illustrations by Thomas Floyd, the original frontispiece by J. Allen St. John, an afterword by Phillip Burger, a glossary of Amtor terms by Scott Tracy Griffin, a map of Amtor drawn by Edgar Rice Burroughs that appeared in the first edition, and an introduction by acclaimed science fiction and horror novelist F. Paul Wilson.

    Together with his great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on an extraordinary mission. For this was five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death. Now the evil Brotherhood of the Unclean was waging all-out war against the few remnants of normal humanity, determined to wipe out all traces of its emerging civilization. Hiero's task was to bring back a lost secret of the ancients that might save the humans. But his path lay through the very heart of the territory ruled by the Unclean and their hordes of mutated, intelligent, savage beast followers. And the Unclean were waiting for him!

    A tall, skinny misfit of a wizard named Prospero lives in the Southern Kingdom a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Both he and an improbable adventurer named Roger Bacon look in mirrors to see different times and places, which greatly affects their personalities and mannerisms and leads them into a myriad of situations that are sometimes frightening and often hilarious. Hailed by critics as an extraordinary work, combining the thrills of a horror novel with the inventiveness of fantasy, The Face in the Frost is the debut novel that launched John Bellairs' reputation as one of the most individual voices in young adult fiction.

    Offutt.Contents:7 · Foreword · Andrew J. Offutt · fw 12 · Nekht Semerkeht · Robert E. Howard & Andrew J. Offutt · nv * 49 · The Tale of Hauk · Poul Anderson · nv * 80 · The Smile of Oisia · George W. Proctor · nv * 118 · Pride of the Fleet · Bruce Jones · ss * 135 · Straggler from Atlantis · Manly Wade Wellman · nv * 170 · The Ring of Set [Simon of Gitta] · Richard L. Tierney · nv * 206 · Largarut’s Bane · Raul Garcia Capella · ss * 220 · Dragons’ Teeth [Dama (& Vettius)] · David Drake · nv Midnight Sun #2 ’75 250 · The Sustenance of Hoak [Ryre] · Ramsey Campbell · nv *

    Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century—he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn’t the first archetypal adventurer to spring from Howard’s fertile imagination. “He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect—he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.”Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling saga of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteenth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wielded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic’s faith and a warrior’s savage heart. This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and “In Memoriam,” H. P. Lovecraft’s moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius. Skulls in the stars --The right hand of doom --Red shadows --Rattle of bones --The castle of the devil --Death's black riders --The moon of skulls --The one black stain --The blue flame of vengance --The hills of the dead --Hawk of Basti --The return of Sir Richard Grenville --Wings in the night --The footfalls within --The children of Asshur --Solomon Kane's homecoming --Solomon Kane's homecoming (variant).

    The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid, the Last Redoubt, under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a Circle of energy, known as the "air clog," powered from the Earth's internal energy. For millennia, vast living shapes - the Watchers - have waited in the darkness near the pyramid: it is thought they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness beyond, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human.To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death, or worse, but as the story commences, the narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of another, forgotten, Redoubt, and sets off into the darkness to find her.