Book excerpt: Science fiction tales from “one of the genre's leading humorists” (The New York Times Book Review). In “Pilgrimage to Earth,” on a long-desired trip to the home planet, a young man finds a perfectly developed society and, finally, deep, true love—which, sadly, only lasts for a very limited time before the reset button removes all trace of it. The fourteen other stories in this collection are “All the Things You Are,” “Trap,” “The Body,” “Early Model,” “Disposal Service,” “Human Man’s Burden,” “Fear in the Night,” “Bad Medicine,” “Protection,” “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,” “Deadhead,” “The Academy,” “Milk Run,” and “The Lifeboat Mutiny.” From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was “a precursor to Douglas Adams.”