Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
INTERVIEW: DAN SIMMONS, conducted by Darrell Schweitzer
THE SPIRES OF DENON, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
OVER THE TOP, by Lester del Rey
AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A HOUND DOG, by Brenda W. Clough
FOR I AM A JEALOUS PEOPLE! by Lester del Rey
LUVVER, by Mack Reynolds
FROG LEVEL, by Bud Webster
CAPTAINS CONSPIRING AT THEIR MUTINIES, by Jay Lake
SHIFTING SEAS, by Stanley G. Weinbaum
THROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: 8, by Grendel Briarton
ROCK GARDEN, by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr.
THE GENOA PASSAGE, by George Zebrowski
EIGHT O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING, by Ray Faraday Nelson
WHEN THEY COME FROM SPACE, by Mark Clifton
THE SEALED SKY, by Cynthia Ward
METEOR STRIKE! by Donald E. Westlake
WAITING FOR THE COIN TO DROP, by Dean Wesley Smith
BEYOND THE DARKNESS, by S. J. Byrne
THE SMALLEST GOD, by Lester del Rey
THE SCIENCE FICTION ALPHABET, by Allen Glasser
CANAL, by Carl Jacobi
THE LOCH MOOSE MONSTER, by Janet Kagan
MY FAIR PLANET, by Evelyn E. Smith
BEFORE EDEN, by Arthur C. Clarke
SEQUENCE, by Carl Jacobi
PREFERRED RISK, by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey
INTEVIEW: FREDERIK POHL, conducted by Darrell Schweitzer
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
COPYRIGHT INFO
The Ninth Science Fiction Megapack is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved. For more information, contact the publisher.
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Special thanks to Steven H. Silver for help scanning the Lester del Rey stories and to Michael Willis for proofreading.
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“Interview: Dan Simmons,” conducted by Darrell Schweitzer, originally appeared (in partial format) in Science Fiction Review #9, April 1992, and (partial) in Cemetery Dance #13, 1992. It appearsed complete for the first time in Speaking of the Fantastic. Copyright © 2002 by Darrell Schweitzer. Reprinted by permission of Darrell Schweitzer.
“The Spires of Denon,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, originally appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2009. Copyright © 2009 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Over the Top,” by Lester del Rey, originally appeared in Astounding, November 1949. Copyright © 1949 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed in 1977 by Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
“Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog,” by Brenda W. Clough, originally appeared in Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1988. Copyright © 1988 by B. W. Clough. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“For I Am a Jealous People!” by Lester del Rey, originally appeared in Star Short Novels. Copyright © 1952 by Lester del Rey. Edited version copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press LLC.
“Luvver,” by Mack Reynolds, originally appeared in Fantastic Adventures, June 1950. Copyright © 1950 by Mack Reynolds. This version, edited by John Betancourt, is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press LLC. Published by permission of the Estate of Mack Reynolds.
“Captains Conspiring at Their Mutinies, by Jay Lake, originally appeared, as “To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves” in The New Space Opera 2. Copyright © 2009 by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Shifting Seas,” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, originally appeared in Amazing Stories, April 1937. No record of copyright renewal.
“Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: 8,” by Grendel Briarton, is taken from The Collected Feghoot. Copyright © 1992 by Reginald Bretnor. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
“Rock Garden,” by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr., originally appeared in Omni magazine, July 1986. Copyright © 1986 by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
“The Genoa Passage,” by George Zebrowski, originally appeared in Interzone, January-February 1913. Copyright © 2013 by George Zebrowski. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Smallest God,” by Lester del Rey, originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, January 1940. Copyright © 1940 by Street & Smith publications; copyright renewed (renewal #R400175) by Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
“Eight O’clock in the Morning,” by Ray Faraday Nelson, originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1963. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“When They Come from Space,” by Mark Clifton, originally appeared in 1962. Copyright © 1962 by Mark Clifton. No record of copyright renewal found.
“The Sealed Sky,” by Cynthia Ward, originally appeared in The Age of Wonders. Copyright © 2000 by Cynthia Ward. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Meteor Strike!” by Donald E. Westlake, originally appeared in Amazing Stories, November 1961. Copyright ©1961 by Ziff-David Publishing Co. No record of copyright renewal found.
“Waiting for the Coin to Drop,” by Dean Wesley Smith, originally appeared in Fiction River: Timestreams. Copyright © 2013 by Dean Wesley Smith. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Beyond the Darkness,” by S. J. Byrne, originally appeared in Other Worlds #12, June-July 1951.
“The Science Fiction Alphabet,” by Allen Glasser, originally appeared in The Fantasy Fan, Sept. and Oct. 1933.
“The Loch Moose Monster,” by Janet Kagan, originally appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1989.
“My Fair Planet,” by Evelyn E. Smith, originally appeared in Galaxy magazine, March 1958.
Preferred Risk, by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey, originally appeared as a 4-part serial in Galaxy magazine, June through September, 1955. Copyright © 1955 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Lester del Rey.
“Interview: Frederik Pohl,” conducted by Darrell Schweitzer, originally appeared in Science Fiction Chronicle #210, March 2001. Copyright © 2001 by DNA Publications. Reprinted by permission of Darrell Schweitzer.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
Welcome to The Ninth Science Fiction Megapack #9! When we started, I never dreamed we would make it this far—and the Megapack series now extends well beyond science fiction, into Mystery, Horror, Westerns, Young Adult, and many other genres.
This volume has been especially fun to work on. I have been a sucker for generation-ship stories since reading Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky as a teenager, and I’m pleased to include one here: S.J. Byrne’s “Beyond the Darkness”—a hefty novella at 30,000 words. But that’s not the longest story—Kris Rush also has a 30,000-word tale. And included is the magazine version of Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey’s novel, Preferred Risk, which easily tops both!
Darrell Schweitzer provides two more interviews this time: Fred Pohl and Dan Simmons.
*
On a sadder note, I must mention the passing of one of our authors: Jay Lake died June 1, 2014 from cancer. He was a great writer and an even better guy, and we will all miss him. We still have several of his short stories in inventory, and I am including one in this volume.
Wildside Press continues to add the estates of old-time authors to our stable. We now own the copyrights to all works by Lester del Rey, Mack Reynolds, H
.B. Fyfe, Carl Jacobi, Arthur Leo Zagat, Reginald Bretnor, Janet Fox, George H. Scithers, and several others. Horace B. Fyfe (1918-1997) left behind about 50 unpublished short stories (!) and a lot of poems, which we have yet to read and catalog. (Long-time SF readers may recall his “Bureau of Slick Tricks” series from Astounding in the 1940s and 1950s.) And we have recently picked up Everil Worrell’s unpublished fantasy and science fiction stories—she published quite a few short stories in Weird Tales during its original run. Lots of fun stuff! Keep watching for new Wildside Press Megapacks.
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS
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, Mary Wickizer Burgess, Sam Cooper, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, Robert Reginald. 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 wildsidepress@yahoo.com or use the message boards above.
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
MYSTERY
The First Mystery Megapack
The Second Mystery Megapack
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Bulldog Drummond Megapack*
The Carolyn Wells Mystery Megapack
The Charlie Chan Megapack*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack
The Detective Megapack
The Father Brown Megapack
The Girl Detective Megapack
The Second Girl Detective Megapack
The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack
The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Philo Vance Megapack*
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Raffles Megapack
The Red Finger Pulp Mystery Megapack, by Arthur Leo Zagat*
The Sherlock Holmes Megapack
The Victorian Mystery Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure Megapack
The Baseball Megapack
The Cat Story Megapack
The Second Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Christmas Megapack
The Second Christmas Megapack
The Classic American Short Stories Megapack, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor Megapack
The Dog Story Megapack
The Doll Story Megapack
The Horse Story Megapack
The Military Megapack
The Pirate Story Megapack
The Sea-Story Megapack
THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION MEGAPACKS
1. Winston K. Marks
2. Mark Clifton
3. Poul Anderson
4. Clifford D. Simak
5. Lester del Rey
6. Charles L. Fontenay
7. H.B. Fyfe
8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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 Seventh Science Fiction Megapack
The Eighth Science Fiction Megapack
The Ninth Science Fiction Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The First Theodore Cogswell Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Dragon Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Jack London Science Fiction Megapack
The Martian Megapack
The A. Merritt Megapack*
The E. Nesbit Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Science-Fantasy Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
The Space Opera Megapack
The Steampunk Megapack
The Time Travel Megapack
The Second Time Travel Megapack
The William Hope Hodgson Megapack
The First Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction Megapack
The Second Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction Megapack
The Willam P. McGivern Fantasy Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
HORROR
The Horror Megapack
The Second Horror Megapack
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Second Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The Ghost Story Megapack
The Second Ghost Story Megapack
The Third Ghost Story Megapack
The Haunts & Horrors Megapack
The Lon Williams Weird Western Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Macabre Megapack
The Second Macabre Megapack
The Third Macabre Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The Mummy Megapack
The Occult Detective Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Vampire Megapack
The Weird Fiction Megapack
The Werewolf Megapack
The William Hope Hodgson Megapack
WESTERNS
The Western Megapack
The Second Western Megapack
The Third Western Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The Buffalo Bill Megapack
The Cowboy Megapack
The Zane G
rey Megapack
The Lon Williams Weird Western Megapack
YOUNG ADULT
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack
The Boys’ Adventure Megapack
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack
The Dare Boys Megapack
The Doll Story Megapack
The G.A. Henty Megapack
The Girl Detectives Megapack
The E. Nesbit Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pinocchio Megapack
The Rover Boys Megapack
The Second Carolyn Wells Megapack
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack
The Tom Swift Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
AUTHOR MEGAPACKS
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Henri Bergson Megapack
The Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Megapack
The Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Second Fredric Brown Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Stephen Crane Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Guy de Maupassant Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Frederick Douglass Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Megapack
The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack
The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The Dashiell Hammett Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Selma Lagerlof Megapack
The Harold Lamb Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Jonas Lie Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The Katherine Mansfield Megapack
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack
The William P. McGivern Fantasy Megapack