Edward Blishen has always liked science fiction writing. At its best, he feels, it reveals marvelous imaginations at work in the telling of memorable tall tales. And sometimes it goes even further and presents you with an idea that changes your whole view of things. "There's a story in this collection, " says Blishen, "that will leave you aware for the rest of your life that you may have got everything right about a situation...except the one really imporant detail.

The boy, the dog, and the spaceship / Nicholas Fisk --
Invisible in London / H.G. Wells --
Dragon of Pendor / Ursula Le Guin --
Bobo's star / Glenn Chandler --
Yellow hands / T.H. White --
Specimen / Tim Stout --
Of Polymuf stock / John Christopher --
Hurled into space / Jules Verne --
Goodbye to the moon / Monica Hughes --
Shot from the moon / Arthur C. Clarke --
Fun they had / Isaac Asimov --
Fight between lizards at the center of the earth / Jules Verne --
Last man alive / M.P. Shiel --
How we were tracked by a tripod / John Christopher --
War of the worlds / H.G. Wells --
Homecoming / Stephen David --
All Summer in a day / Ray Bradbury --
Greenville's planet / Michael Shaara --
Fear Shouter / Jay Williams --
Wind from the sun / Arthur C. Clarke