The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy, eight stories by Katherine MacLean

Here, for the first time, is a collection of those marvelous MacLean stories. Aficionados of science-fiction already know that such a collection is like having a winning horse in every race.

To those readers unfamiliar with her work, we can only say that we envy them the thrill of reading Katherine MacLean for the first time.

These are not stories to read on the run. They are thought-provoking exercises in imagination and ingenuity, laced with humor and an intangible, fey quality.

One of the few women writing science-fiction, Katherine MacLean ranks with such S-F giants as Bradbury, Simak, Serling and Asimov. She is currently working on a full-length novel—science-fiction, of course!

Contents

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1- The Diploids
2- Defense Mechanism
3- The Pyramid in the Desert
4- The Snowball Effect
5- Incommunicado
6- Feedback
7- Games
8- Pictures Don't Lie

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SIX FINGERS (THE DIPLOIDS), from Thrilling Wonder, April, 1963. Copyright, ©, 1953 by Standard Magazines. GAMES, from Galaxy, March, 1953. Copyright, ©, 1953, by Galaxy Publishing Corp. FEEDBACK, from Astounding, July, 1951. Copyright, ©, 1951, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. PICTURES DON’T LIE, from Galaxy, August, 1951. Copyright, ©, 1951, by Galaxy Publishing Corp. INCOMMUNICADO, from Astounding, June, 1950. Copyright, ©, 1950, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. THE SNOWBALL EFFECT, from Galaxy, September, 1952. Copyright, ©, 1952, by Galaxy Publishing Corp. DEFENSE MECHANISM, from Astounding, October, 1949. Copyright, ©, 1949, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. THE PYRAMID IN THE DESERT (AND BE MERRY), from Astounding, February, 1950. Copyright, ©, 1950, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Copyright, ©, 1962, by Katherine MacLean.

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