THE MARATHON PHOTOGRAPH

When Neville Piper finds a 4-inch cube at the side of a dead man, events take a curious turn for both him and his companion Andrew Thornton. On closer examination the cube reveals itself to be a complex photograph of an ancient battle scene = the Battle of Marathon frozen in a thousandth of a second. As Neville Piper sets out to discover more about the photograph, Andrew Thornton becomes distracted by the myths and legends of the hills, and so stumbles across the time-travellers from the future of a blasted Earth, capable of travelling to the stars, who are, nonetheless scavenging amid their past. For there is knowledge to be found, the knowledge of some vanished race from far across the galaxy, which has broadcast it as a last service before its extinction.

The Marathon Photograph is a collection of impressive stories - including the Hugo-award-winning The Grotto of the Dancing Deer - encompassing the vast spectrum that is Time, from the dawn of history far into a future that is beyond our knowing.

The contents are:

• Introduction
• The Birch Clump Cylinder (c) 1974
• The Whistling Well (c) 1980
• The Marathon Photograph (c) 1974
• The Grotto of the Dancing Deer (c) 1980