A collection of Vance's early short stories, including Phalid's Fate (1945), Chateau d'If (1949), Crusade to Maxus (1950), Shape-Up (1952), The Gift of Gab (1954), The Augmented Agent (1956), Milton Hack from Zodiac (1957), Nopalgarth (1964) and The Narrow Land (1966).