Book excerpt: In the year 2126, scientists Arcot and Morey chase a sky pirate—and invent the technology to travel through space. In the second story, the heroes travel to Venus and make first contact with an alien species. Finally, they must defend the solar system from invaders whose own star has long since gone dark. Originally published separately as “Piracy Preferred” in Amazing Stories June 1930 edition, “Solarite” in Amazing Stories November 1930, and “The Black Star Passes” in Amazing Stories Quarterly Fall 1930, these three novellas were edited and collected into this volume in 1953. This is the first book in John W. Campbell’s Arcot, Morey, and Wade trilogy. Most famous for editing Astounding Science Fiction and Fact magazine and introducing Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and many other great science fiction authors to the world, Campbell’s other notable works include the novella “Who Goes There?”, which was adapted to film as The Thing by John Carpenter in 1982. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.