“Book Descriptions: Blish is one of many neglected science fiction writers of the '50s and '60s. His short stories have been particularly hard to come by, so this collection of eighteen tales and a poem should be especially welcome. Editor Lyall has selected a wide range of stories, which explicates some of the higher aesthetic principles of that underappreciated art form. Blish maintained a tightly wrought but highly readable prose style, whether venturing onto the surface of a distant frozen moon ("How Beautiful with Banners") or to the farthest reaches of galactic empire ("This Earth of Hours"). .This collection includes a number of Blish's greatest stories, including several from his "Cities in Flight" sequence, the original novella of "A Case of Conscience", "Surface Tension", (voted as one of the best stories ever by the Science Fiction Writers of America) and his great werewolf story, "There Shall Be No Darkness". It also features an essay in which he dissects the New Wave-from the point of view of someone who understood and appreciated modernist literature--and two poems. Content: James Blish and the Beginning of Interpretation • essay by Gregory Feeley A Work of Art (1956) / novelette by James Blish Surface Tension [Pantropy] (1952) / novelette by James Blish The Bridge [Cities in Flight] (1952) / novelette by James Blish (variant of Bridge) Tomb Tapper (1956) / novelette by James Blish The Box (1949) / short story by James Blish The Oath (1960) / novelette by James Blish Beep (1954) / novelette by James Blish F Y I (1953) / short story by James Blish Common Time (1953) / short story by James Blish There Shall Be No Darkness (1950) / novelette by James Blish A Dusk of Idols (1961) / novelette by James Blish Earthman, Come Home (1953) / novelette by James Blish How Beautiful With Banners (1966) / short story by James Blish This Earth of Hours (1959) / novelette by James Blish Testament of Andros (1953) / novelette by James Blish A Style in Treason (1970) / novelette by James Blish A Case of Conscience (1953) / novella by James Blish Making Waves / short story by James Blish Two Poems • poem by James Blish