The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith

Includes 33 stories that represent Cordwainer Smiths entire SF works except for the novel Norstrilia. These stories are "classics" of the field such as "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," "The Game of Rat and Dragon," "Scanners Live in Vain," and "A Planet Named Shayol." Appearing for the first time in print are "Himself in Anachron" and the completely rewritten adult version of his high school story "War No. 81-Q." Introduction by John J. Pierce.

Cordwainer Smith was a pseudonym for Dr. Paul Linebarger. Linebarger was born in Milwaukee in 1913 but grew up in Japan, China, France, and Germany. He was the godson of Sun Yat-sen. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins when he was 23. His first professional science fiction story, "Scanners Live in Vain," was published in Fantasy Book in 1950. It wasn't until the mid-fifties, though, that Frederik Pohl encouraged "Smith" to write more. Most of his science fiction was written between 1955 and 1966. He died in 1966. In addition to the stories included in this book, Linebarger wrote one SF novel, Norstrilia, and (under other pen names) three mainstream novels—Ria, Corola, and Atomsk. He was also the author of Psychological Warfare, which is still regarded as the authoritative book in its field.