Now, at last, To Reign in Hell returns to print in a paperback edition, with an introduction by Roger Zelazny.

Speaking of vehicles: the coolest part of the movie--and likely, thankfully, the only part most people remember--turns out to be even cooler in the book: the flame-spewing, .50-caliber-bullet-belching, grenade-throwing, gigantic all-terrain vehicle that's responsible for getting a crucial antiserum shipment from Los Angeles to Boston to stop a deadly plague. The driver, a despicable lowlife named Hell Tanner, has been given a not-so-difficult choice. He can either get the drugs to the East Coast intact, save humanity, and receive a full pardon for his crimes, or he can refuse and spend the rest of his life in a "zebra suit." So what's the catch? Thanks to World War III, Middle America is now an electrical-storm-torn, heavily irradiated playground for dino-sized Gila monsters, "freak spiders," humongous bats "that eat off the mutie fruit trees down Mexico way," and 120-foot-long snakes as big around as garbage cans. And the native humans still scrambling around the wasteland aren't much less dangerous.

Damnation Alley might not be Zelazny's best, but for reading on, say, a road trip, you can't do much better. Throw in some '60s-style, freak-out closing riffs, and a trip down the Alley becomes pretty hard to pass up. --Paul Hughes

The collection has some minor but frustrating flaws. There are no contributor biographies, which is bad enough when the author is a giant; but it's especially sad for contributors who have become unjustly obscure. Each story's original publication date is in small print at the bottom of the first page. And neither this fine print nor the copyright page identifies the magazines in which the stories first appeared.

Prefaced by editor Robert Silverberg's introduction, which describes SFWA and details the selection process, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 is a wonderful book for the budding SF fan. Experienced SF readers should compare the table of contents to their library before making a purchase decision. Fans who contemplate giving this book to non-SF readers should bear in mind that, while several of the collected stories can measure up to classic mainstream literary stories, the less literarily-acceptable stories are weighted toward the front of the collection; adult mainstream-literature fans may not get very far into The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964. --Cynthia Ward

· Introduction · Robert Silverberg · in
· A Martian Odyssey [Tweel] · Stanley G. Weinbaum · nv Wonder Stories Jul ’34
· Twilight [as by Don A. Stuart; Dying Earth] · John W. Campbell, Jr. · ss Astounding Nov ’34
· Helen O’Loy · Lester del Rey · ss Astounding Dec ’38
· The Roads Must Roll · Robert A. Heinlein · nv Astounding Jun ’40
· Microcosmic God · Theodore Sturgeon · nv Astounding Apr ’41
· Nightfall · Isaac Asimov · nv Astounding Sep ’41
· The Weapon Shop [Isher] · A. E. van Vogt · nv Astounding Dec ’42
· Mimsy Were the Borogoves · Lewis Padgett · nv Astounding Feb ’43
· Huddling Place [City (Websters)] · Clifford D. Simak · ss Astounding Jul ’44
· Arena · Fredric Brown · nv Astounding Jun ’44
· First Contact · Murray Leinster · nv Astounding May ’45
· That Only a Mother · Judith Merril · ss Astounding Jun ’48
· Scanners Live in Vain · Cordwainer Smith · nv Fantasy Book #6 ’50
· Mars Is Heaven! · Ray Bradbury · ss Planet Stories Fll ’48
· The Little Black Bag · C. M. Kornbluth · nv Astounding Jul ’50
· Born of Man and Woman · Richard Matheson · vi F&SF Sum ’50
· Coming Attraction · Fritz Leiber · ss Galaxy Nov ’50
· The Quest for Saint Aquin · Anthony Boucher · ss New Tales of Space and Time, ed. Raymond J. Healy, Holt, 1951; F&SF Jan ’59
· Surface Tension [Lavon] · James Blish · nv Galaxy Aug ’52
· The Nine Billion Names of God · Arthur C. Clarke · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #1, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953
· It’s a Good Life · Jerome Bixby · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #2, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953
· The Cold Equations · Tom Godwin · nv Astounding Aug ’54
· Fondly Fahrenheit · Alfred Bester · nv F&SF Aug ’54
· The Country of the Kind · Damon Knight · ss F&SF Feb ’56
· Flowers for Algernon · Daniel Keyes · nv F&SF Apr ’59
· A Rose for Ecclesiastes · Roger Zelazny · nv F&SF Nov ’63

Her name is Eileen Shallot, a resident in psychiatry. She wants desperately to become a Shaper, though she has been blind from birth.

Together, they will explore the depths of the human mind -- and the terrors that lurk therein.

Bester's use of the word girl and the occasional female as manipulating schemer are not in line with current sensibilities and may give readers pause, especially those accustomed to feminist improvements in modern SF. Nevertheless, these stories are a frenetic and delightful confection of SF from the mid-20th century.--Bonnie Bouman

Lord Demon is vintage Zelazny: a "scientific" fantasy built on favorite themes (the necessity of knowing oneself, of taking risks, and of accepting the vulnerability that comes with feeling passionately), drawing on East Asian, Irish, and hero's quest myths, and featuring his signature protagonist: erudite, smart-mouthed, detached, homicidal when roused but more often immersed in art, poetry, and the creation of alternate realities; unexpectedly kind to the weak and deeply romantic in his approach to women. The bad puns and wildly whimsical turns the story takes are also characteristic.

Fans will hear echoes of Amber: Kai Wren and his demon colleagues represent Chaos; the gods live in Origin, imposing their will to order the planes of existence; the powerful demon He of the Towers of Light has sculpted his home to resemble Origin, and approaching it is much like walking the Pattern; and so on. What's unique is what Kai Wren learns in Lord Demon. The immortal doesn't fail, nor does he return triumphant to marry and rule his folk. This hero and the author finally accept the limits of superpower and the pleasures in being "only human." ---Nona Vero

Eye of Cat
A retired hunter of alien zoo specimens, William Blackhorse Singer, the last Najavo on a future Earth, is called upon by the World Government to aid in protecting an alien diplomat from a powerful and hostile member of his own species. Singer, in turn, seeks the aid of a shape-shifting alien known as "Cat" in carrying out the mission. Cat accepts, with one condition: when the mission is over, he wants a return bout with the man who captured him -- a chase with Singer as the hunted instead of the hunter....

Dworkin takes Oberon on a desperate journey, pressing deeper into Shadow than ever before. Here, Oberon discovers more of the true nature of his father...and of his real mother. But they have been followed, and a horde of hell-creatures attacks. Ultimately, Dworkin must create a new Pattern with his own blood to save himself, his family, and the future.