Protagonist Jack Holloway lives a solitary life in a wilderness of planet Zarathustra, itself "owned" by the Chartered Zarathustra Corporation (under Victor Grego), which installed basic services and colonial outposts initially, and now reaps the benefits of new discoveries, such as the valuable 'sunstones' mined by Holloway until he befriends a tiny, feline-like humanoid, nicknamed 'Little Fuzzy', and its traveling-companions. Upon discovery that the 'Fuzzies' intelligence may qualify them as a sapient species, the Company intervenes against them, on grounds that such a discovery would...

The planet Zarathustra is listed as uninhabited -- which means that the entire planet can be owned by a corporation. That owner is the rich and happy Zarathustra Company -- rich and happy, that is, until a prospector named Jack Holloway comes across undocumented species -- a tiny, golden-furred little biped that he dubs "Little Fuzzy." Not only are the Little Fuzzies cute, they're bright too -- in fact, they may be sapient as people are . . . and that means everything the Zarathustra company owns on this world is at stake. . . .

The Lane Fleming collection of early pistols and revolvers was one of the best in the country. When Fleming was found dead on the floor of his locked gunroom, a Confederate-made Colt-type percussion .36 revolver in his hand, the coroner's verdict was "death by accident." But Gladys Fleming had her doubts. Enough at any rate to engage Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand--better known just as Jeff--private detective and a pistol-collector himself, to catalogue, appraise, and negotiate the sale of her late husband's collection.

There were a number of people who had wanted the collection. The...

John W. Campbell was a man who really knew what makes SF the appealing thing it is; it's no wonder that he published the story. Also included in this volume are "The Mercenaries" (Astounding Science Fiction, March, 1950), "He Walked Around the Horses" (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1948), "The Return" (Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1954 -- a collaboration with John J. McGuire), and "Temple Trouble" (Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1951).

Also included are "A Slave is a Slave," from the April 1962 issue of Analog ("There has always been strong sympathy for the poor," said JWC, "meek, downtrodden slave -- the kindly little man, oppressed by cruel and overbearing masters. Could it possibly have been misplaced. . . ?"); "Oomphel in the Sky," from Analog, November 1960 ("Since Logic derives from postulates, it never has, and never will, change a postulate. And a religious belief is a system of postulates . . . so how can a man fight a native superstition with logic? Or anything else. . . ?"); "Omnilingual" from the February...

H. Beam Piper, author of Space Viking and Little Fuzzy, was rather enigmatic where his personal statistics were concerned (or so the original blurb to this novel said). He lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, it said, and also that he was an expert on the history and use of hand weapons. When the book was published, he had been writing and selling science fiction for many years to the leading magazines, and that he was highly rated among readers for his skill and imagination. He had published several novels, mostly SF, but also including mysteries and juveniles. But that blurb was written...

When the book was published, he had been writing and selling science fiction for many years to the leading magazines, and that he was highly rated among readers for his skill and imagination. He had published several novels, mostly SF, but also including mysteries and juveniles. But that blurb was written just before he took his own life in the noise and nonsense that comes out of divorce . . . sigh. Some things happen so large upon our lives that they seem to blot out all that goes before. "There are incredible things still undiscovered; most of the important installations were built in...

H. Beam Piper sold "Crossroads of Destiny" to "Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, " which published it in their July 1959 issue. "No wonder he'd been so interested in the talk of whether our people accepted these theories " they said of the story. We aren't at all certain what they meant by that, but you'll probably have a clue.

The blurb for "Hunter Patrol" ("Amazing Stories, " May 1959 -- a collaboration with John J. McGuire) is equally oblique:...