Drawn from the leading pulp magazines of the 1950s - Galaxy, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, and Fantastic Universe - these eight ground-breaking selections offer spellbinding science-fiction tales of encounters with Martians and other extraterrestrials. 'Youth,' by Isaac Asimov, recounts two friends' discovery of a pair of strange little animals the morning after a mysterious thunder without a storm. Philip Jose Farmer's 'Rastignac the Devil' tells of a fight against despotism 300 years in the future. In 'Year of the Big Thaw,' by Marion Zimmer Bradley, a Connecticut farmer explains why he doesn't know the actual birthplace of his phenomenally gifted son. Other selections include 'Warrior Race,' by Robert Sheckley, which focuses on breaking an enemy's spirit; 'Alien Offer,' by Al Sevcik, concerning a risky chance to save Earth's children; Clifford D. Simak's 'The World That Couldn't Be,' in which a farmer must hunt down the unusual creatures destroying his crops; 'Earthmen Bearing Gifts,' by Fredric Brown, telling of an attempted exchange by the red and blue planets; and Stanley G. Weinbaum's 'A Martian Odyssey,' a tale that changed the course of science fiction.