The Halfling and Other Stories by Leigh Brackett

I quit thinking about John Damien Greene. Somebody said softly from behind me, “Mr. I was wondering where John Damien Greene had gone, taking his dreams with him because now I could hardly remember what they were. I was remembering John Damien Greene running barefoot on a wet beach, fishing for perch off the end of a jetty, and dreaming big dreams. But I wasn’t thinking about Jade Greene’s Interplanetary Carnival, The Wonders of the Seven Worlds Alive Before Your Eyes. The usual noises of a carnival around feeding time were being made behind me, and the hammer gang was pinning the last of the tents down tight. I was standing alone, off to one side of the grounds. I was born in a little dump at Venice, Cal., and I’ve never found any smell like the clean cold salt of the Pacific- not anywhere in the Solar System. The pitch was in the flatlands between Culver City and Venice, and I could smell the sea. It was something pretty special in the line of California sunsets, and it made me feel swell, being the first one I’d seen in about nine years. “The Truants” originally appeared in Startling Stories, copyright 1950 by Better Publications, Inc. “The Lake of the Gone Forever” originally appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, copyright 1949 by Standard Magazines, Inc. “Enchantress of Venus” originally appeared in Planet Stories, copyright 1949 by Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc. “The Shadows” originally appeared in Startling Stories, copyright 1952 by Better Publications, Inc. “All the Colors of the Rainbow” originally appeared in Venture Science Fiction, copyright 1957 by Mercury Press, Inc. “The Citadel of Lost Ages” originally appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, copyright 1950 by Standard Magazines, Inc.

“The Dancing Girl of Ganymede” originally appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, copyright 1950 by Standard Magazines, Inc. “The Halfling” originally appeared in Astonishing Stories, copyright 1943 by Popular Publications, Inc. For information address:Īce Science Fiction Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. An Ace Science Fiction Book/published by arrangement with the authorĪll rights reserved.

The Halfling and Other Stories by Leigh Brackett