COPYRIGHT INFO

      The Robert Sheckley Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved. Cover art copyright © 2013 by Peter Hires Images / Fotolia. For more information, contact the publisher.

      This is version 1.2 (correcting minor typos).

      * * * *

      “Watchbird” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, Feb. 1953.

      The Status Civilization originally appeared in 1960.

      “Ask a Foolish Question” originally appeared in Science Fiction Stories (1953).

      “Bad Medicine” originally appeared in Pilgrimage to Earth (1956).

      “Diplomatic Immunity” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953.

      “Warrior Race” originally appeared in Galaxy, Nov. 1952.

      “The Hour of Battle” originally appeared in Space Science Fiction, Sept. 1953.

      “Keep Your Shape” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1953.

      “Warm” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1953.

      “Death Wish” originally appeared in Galaxy, June 1956 (as by “Ned Lang”).

      “Beside Still Waters” originally appeared in Amazing Stories, Oct.-Nov. 1953.

      “Forever” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1959.

      “The Leech” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1952.

      “One Man’s Poison” originally appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1953.

      A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

      I only met Robert Sheckley once, in 1980, when he was a guest at Philcon, a science fiction convention held in Philadelphia. Along with Ben Bova (who was the convention’s principle speaker), Sheckley had an off-site autographing at a local bookstore, and I dutifully carted several books there to get them signed. In the bookstore, they were sitting and chatting with each other…because no one else was there. I was the only who had yet arrived to meet them and get my books signed. (This is not unusual—many bookstore autographing sessions are sparsely attended. I’ve had several myself where only a couple of people showed up over the course of an hour.)

      At that time, Sheckley was the fiction editor at Omni magazine, and Bova was the general editor. Both were quite cordial, took time to speak with me and answer some questions, and both signed an issue of Omni and a few books I had acquired at the convention. I’ll never forget it, since I was only 16 years old at the time, an aspiring writer myself (I made my first professional sale a few months later), and they were both approachable, friendly, and welcoming—exactly what professional writers should be.

      At the time, I mostly knew Ben Bova from his editorship of Analog magazine (he succeeded legendary editor John W. Campbell, Jr.), and I had never read anything of Sheckley’s, though I recognized the name from Omni (which I also read).

      So here is a collection of 14 of Robert Sheckley’s short stories and one novel (The Status Civilization). Sadly, I never ran into him again so I could tell him how much I enjoyed the books I acquired that day: the novel Immortality, Inc. and the collection Untouched by Human Hands, which contains some terrific short stories. Great works by an under-appreciated writer.

      —John Betancourt

      Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

      www.wildsidepress.com

      ABOUT THE MEGAPACK SERIES

      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, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, 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 [email protected] or use the message boards above.

      THE MEGAPACK SERIES

      MYSTERY

      The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

      The Charlie Chan Megapack

      The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack

      The Detective Megapack

      The Father Brown Megapack

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

      The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack

      The First Mystery Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Pulp Fiction Megapack

      The Raffles Megapack

      The Victorian Mystery Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      GENERAL INTEREST

      The Adventure Megapack

      The Baseball Megapack

      The Christmas Megapack

      The Second Christmas Megapack

      The Classic American Short Stories Megapack

      The Classic Humor Megapack

      The Military Megapack

      SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

      The Edward Bellamy Megapack

      The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack

      The Philip K. Dick Megapack

      The Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Martian Megapack

      The Andre Norton Megapack

      The H. Beam Piper Megapack

      The Pulp Fiction Megapack

      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