Alan E. Norse was a leading science fiction author during the tail end of the Golden Age. His stories have stood the test of time and continue to entertain and enthrall generation after generation of readers. His thought provoking stories are just as pertinent today as they were in the Golden Age when he wrote them. Collected here in this omnibus edition are over 700 pages of wonderful fiction, including twenty three classics such as: 'Star Surgeon;' 'An Ounce of Cure;' 'Circus;' 'My Friend Bobby;' 'Consignment;' 'Second Sight;' 'Marley's Chain;' 'The Coffin Cure;' 'Letter of the Law;' 'Contamination Crew;' 'The Link;' 'Meeting of the Board;' 'Image of the Gods;' 'Peacemaker;' 'Derelict;' 'The Native Soil;' 'Brightside Crossing;' 'The Dark Door;' 'Infinite Intruder;' 'Bear Trap;' 'Martyr;' 'A Man Obsessed;' and 'Gold in the Sky.'

Neal "Storm" Cloud failed his Lensman exam, But life has a strange way of making heroes of even those who sometimes fail. Cloud's family is tragically killed when a misguided attempt to blow out a vortex lands one of the fragments right on his house. Devastated by the loss of his family, Cloud takes a leave of absence from the Radiation Lab where he works studying the vortices. As he drives he is struck with an idea for "blowing out" a vortex. It is slightly technical (Smith explains it so it can be easily followed), but the general idea is that Cloud's brain works so fast that he can calculate exactly where the center of the vortex will be at a moment in time and how big an explosive is needed, then hit it with a bomb that is set at the exact strength to actually extinguish the vortex instead of blowing it apart and making more vortices. As it continues the book tells of Cloud's new job as the universe's one and only vortex blaster. This job takes him from planet to planet where he blows out vortices, matches wits against drug dealers and gangsters, meets new life forms, and acquires a crew for his small scout ship. His adventures are many and varied, and the lifeforms he meets are strange and interesting.

Space Science Fiction' was launched in may of 1952. During it's impressive run it published many of Science Fiction's top writers. Collected here in this massive six hundred-plus page anthology are all of the most important stories that were published during its distinguished run. Included here are: 'Second Variety' by Philip K. Dick; 'Youth' by Isaac Asimov; 'To Each His Star' by Bryce Walton; 'Security' by Poul Anderson; 'Divinity' by William Morrison; 'The Hour of Battle' by Robert Sheckley; 'Instant of Decision' by Randall Garrett; 'Let 'em Breathe Space!' By Lester Del Rey; 'The Ultroom Error' by Jerry Sohl; 'Infinite Intruder' by Alan E. Nourse; 'Collectivum' by Mike Lewis; 'The Adventurer' by C. M. Kornbluth; 'Decision' by Frank M. Robinson; 'Pursuit' by Lester del Rey; 'Exile' by H. B. Fyfe; 'Stop Look and Dig' by George O. Smith; 'The Worshippers' by Damon Knight; 'The Hunters' by William Morrison; 'The Ego Machine' by Henry Kuttner; 'The Variable Man' by Philip K. Dick; and 'Ullr Uprising' by H. Beam Piper.

This volume assembles 12 classic tales by Alan E. Nourse: "Bear Trap" originally appeared in Fantastic Universe, December 1957. "Circus," "The Dark Door," "Image of the Gods," "The Link," "Meeting of the Board," "My Friend Bobby," and "An Ounce of Cure" originally appeared in The Counterfeit Man: More Science Fiction Stories by Alan E. Nourse, published in 1963. "The Coffin Cure" originally appeared in Galaxy, April 1957. "Letter of the Law" originally appeared in If Magazine, January 1954. "The Native Soil" originally appeared in Fantastic Universe, July 1957. "PRoblem" originally appeared in Galaxy, October 1956.

Wilderness Patrol fficer Pamela Tate, scouting in the mountains of Washington, sees and touches a ground squirrel in the dusty path, blood trickling from its mouth. Forty-eight hours later she lies dead at her campsite, covered in mysterious welts and bruises. Across the lake, a boisterous camping party falls silent as they watch each other sicken and die in agony. A killer is loose. It has a foreign name. Yersinia Pestis. Plague. An unknowing nation harbors the deadly evil in its midst. While a few embattled survivors race to save the country, perhaps the world, the grim invader hides in a mother’s sigh, a child’s laugh, a lover’s whisper. Nothing can stop the death ride of . . . The Fourth Horseman.