An anthology of science fiction short stories by some of today's top authors to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet. Filled to the brim with provocative tales of worlds where humans were never meant to go.MGM's sf thriller Forbidden Planet (1956), about the search for an expedition lost on a hazardous planet, has been the model for a cottage industry's worth of TV series and movies. Any show featuring a starship, a captain, and crew--particularly Star Trek and its many spin-offs--owes a debt to the Shakespeare-inspired motion picture. For the fiftieth anniversary of the movie's premiere, editor Crowther solicited 12 new stories set on other treacherous planets humans would have more wisely avoided. Ray Bradbury introduces the volume with the twin revelations that he declined writing FP's screenplay and would have exterminated its famous robot, Robby, if he hadn't. Jay Lake's story offers an alternate "forbidden" plotline based on King Lear instead of the movie's template, The Tempest, while Matthew Hughes' dissects a forbidden and deadly alien plant instead of a planet. Other notable contributions come from Ian McDonald, Michael Moorcock, and space-opera specialist Stephen Baxter, who gives a penetrating analysis of the film's enduring influence on his own work as well as his chosen genre. Carl HaysCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

"Crowther's collection opens with a magnificent homage to Ray Bradbury, 'Some Burial Place, vast and Dry' (the title is one of several references to Whitman), in which the last survivor of a lost colony remembers his home and is visited by it. Despite that tough first act, the quality of what follows remains consistent. These lovely and thoughtful stories are speculative fiction at pretty much its best, conjuring self-contained worlds that for all the stories' brevity, teem with life."—Booklist"The best of the 12 mostly SF stories in this collection from British author Crowther evoke a genuine sense of wonder and offer near miraculous restoration of hope. Like Ray Bradbury, who is intentionally invoked, Crowther enchants as he tells deceptively simple tales of eternal truths."—Publishers Weekly

On a windswept corner of Manhattan, just a stone's throw from the weathered facade of the legendary Chelsea Hotel, there's a small two-flight walkdown bar called The Land At The End Of The Working Day. Stop in and rest awhile... you'll meet the most fascinating people. And meet one-off visitors. Folks like Gandalph Cohen, the magical caretaker of the City's welfare; Front-Page McGuffin, who, it has to be said, has been in better health.

On a windswept corner of Manhattan, just a stone's throw from the weathered facade of the legendary Chelsea Hotel, there's a small two-flight walkdown bar called The Land At The End Of The Working Day. Stop in and rest awhile... you'll meet the most fascinating people. And meet one-off visitors. Folks like Bernard Boyce Bennington, who carries a torch for a woman who loved him and left him (with a bizzarely magical memento)

Fifteen original stories about our fear of and fascination with artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence has captured the imaginations of writers, readers, and scientists alike, from Karl Capek's R.U.R. to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, from Robby the Robot to The Terminator and The Bicentennial Man, and—of course—Arthur C. Clarke's Hal 9000.Now some of the most innovative thinkers in science fiction offer an intriguing variety of tales featuring the many forms of AI, from frightening to funny. These authors confront one of contemporary mankind's deepest concerns—what do we do when the machines we created evolve beyond us?

On a windswept corner of Manhattan, just a stone's throw from the weathered facade of the legendary Chelsea Hotel, there's a small two-flight walkdown bar called The Land At The End Of The Working Day. Stop in and rest awhile... you'll meet the most fascinating people. And meet one-off visitors. Folks like Gandalph Cohen, the magical caretaker of the City's welfare; Front-Page McGuffin, who, it has to be said, has been in better health.