Aliens! What will they look like? How will they think? Most important, what will they do to us ... or for us ... or with us? In this brilliant and provocative anthology science fiction's most gifted writers explore the field's most fascinating subject -- aliens.

In Robert Silverberg's The Reality Trip alien and earthling are caught in the most complicated of modern developments in a tender tale of intergalactic seduction ... Larry Niven takes us to The Draco Tavern, the famous space saloon and watering hole for the bizarre rulers of the universe ... Kindness has a deadly consequence in Guesting Time, R.A. Lafferty's episode of cosmic terror ... Damon Knight's shocker Rule Golden unveils a strange aspect of humanity in a classic tale of alien confrontation.

The most exciting imaginations of our time traverse the universe to tantalize us with who -- or what -- might be out there.

Contents:

• Four Vignettes by Larry Niven
• We Purchased People by Frederik Pohl
• Guesting Time R. A. Lafferty
• And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side by James Tiptree, Jr.
• Angel's Egg by Edgar Pangborn
• Oh, To Be a Blobel! by Philip K. Dick
• Be Merry Algis Budrys
• Pattern by Fredric Brown
• An Honorable Death by Gordon R. Dickson
• The Reality Trip by Robert Silverberg
• Rule Golden by Damon Knight