About this Book

Nolan has written numerous award-winning short stories, ranging from the serious to totally off-the-wall zany stories, such as "Toe to Tip, Tip to Toe, Pip-Pop as You Go," where everyone is kept in a perpetual drugged state, and social deviates are those who are straight. His best-known story, "The Small World of Lewis Stillman," is from Nolan's "serious" side, where the last man in LA must hide in the storm sewers from the city's inhabitants, who are primitive and dangerous. "The Joy of Living," published in 1954, was one of the first stories to address the emotional attachments of a robot to humans, and to examine the complexities of such a relationship in a futuristic world. "Lone Star Traveler" is a mix of science fiction and the classic Wild West in 1910 Texas, and is one of the newest stories in this collection. "Jenny Among the Zeebs" mixes alien rock stars and human groupies in an insider look at the management of a celebrity group, and the extremes that such entities will go to promote themselves. In another example of zaniness, "The Grackel Question" addresses the passive absorption of all Earth life by aliens unbeknownst to the life forms being absorbed.