Author: Brad A. Silverberg

1Starman's Quest

By Robert Silverberg

Travelling at speeds close to that of light, spacemen lived at an accelerated pace. When one of the twin boys left the starship, he grew older while his twin in space barely aged. So the starship twin left the ship to find what happened to his brother who was aging away on earth.

2Judas Valley

By Randall Garrett and Robert Silverberg

Why did everybody step off the ship in this strange valley and promptly drop dead? How could a well-equipped corps of tough spacemen become a field of rotting skeletons in this quiet world of peace and contentment? It was a mystery Peter and Sherri had to solve. If they could live long enough! [from the Judas Valley] Originally published in Amazing Stories October 1956.

3Happy Unfortunate

By Robert Silverberg

Here are two early stories by the well known SF Author Robert Silverberg. <br /><br /> The Happy Unfortunate was published first in Amazing Stories in 1957 and explores the angst caused when the human race reaches into space but at the cost of needing to breed a new species; specialized 'spacers' who can withstand the tremendous rigors of acceleration. <br /><br /> The Hunted Heroes was published in Amazing stories a year earlier, in 1956. It is a futuristic story that holds great hope for the resilience of the human race after the war destroys most of the world.

4Master of Life and Death

By Robert Silverberg

When Roy Walton becomes the new director of the UN division of population control, after the director is assassinated, he becomes the most hated man in the world. Being Director involved him in not only population control, but a terra-forming project on Venus, and negotiations with aliens. Not only that, but some people were trying to kill him. To stay alive, he had to become The Master of Life and Death. Summary by Dale Grothman.

5Recalled to Life

By Robert Silverberg

It was the greatest scientific breakthrough of all time: reanimation after death. The trouble was, it created more problems than it solved. - Summary by Original Gutenberg text

Science fiction is more often a reflection of existing societal trends than a prediction of trends to come. The upsurge in drug use is precisely mirrored by the upsurge in the use of such themes in science fiction. Science fiction is as much a guide to where we are as it is a vision of where we are going. A literature so popular with the young, commanding so intense and devoted a following, can be of significant value in revealing the patterns contemporary society is taking and will take in the years just ahead. - Summary by Robert Silverberg, from Introduction