From one of the field's most entertaining writers, a fabulous retrospective collection.

From his first sale in 1950 to his work this year, Harry Harrison has been one of the science fiction world's creative dynamos, working in every sub genre of the field, always entertaining, provocative, and bursting with ideas. Parodic one moment, serious the next, Harrison has been called by Brian Aldiss "one of the few authors capable of carrying the vigor of earlier days forward into a new epoch."

Now, on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary as a professional writer, Harrison gathers together fifty of his best stories - one for each year - along with substantial notes and introductory material, for a whirlwind tour of his best work. 50 in 50 is at once a memoir, a compendium of one of science fiction's most engaging bodies of work by any author, and a look at the history of science fiction in the second half of the twentieth century.

This collection contains the following stories

• Introduction
• Alien Stories
  Aliens are the stock-in-trade of science fiction. Alien, the film, used the alien cliche as horror, always good for a chill thrill. But the theme of the alien as other, perhaps a warped image of mankind, provides a theme of much greater interest.
  • The Streets of Ashkelon
  • Rescue Operation
  • The Repair Man
  • Pressure
  • Welcoming Committee
  • Heavy Duty
• Make Room! Make Room!
  This was the title of my novel that was deeply concerned with the looming dangers of overpopulation. Long after I had finished writing the book, I was still concerned with these dangers. Through the years that followed I was pressed more than once to return to this theme as the world continues to stagger steadily towards the brink.
  • A Criminal Act
  • Roommates
  • The Pliable Animal
  • After the Storm
• Miraculous Inventions
  Well, yes, that's what it is all about, isn't it? The invention that keeps science fiction chuntering along for a great deal of the time. After all, SF is the only form of fiction where the idea - or the machine - can be the hero. And here are some unlikely heroes...
  • Down to Earth
  • Final Encounter
  • Speed of the Cheetah, Roar of the Lion
  • The Greatest Car in the World
  • Rock Diver
  • Toy Shop
  • I Always Do What Teddy Says
  • From Fanaticism, or For Reward
  • I See You
• Laugh - I Thought I Would Cry
  Humor is rare in the world - and even rarer in science fiction. But it belongs there - and I just wish there was more of it.
  • The Greening of the Green
  • the Day After the End of the World
  • The Man from P.I.G.
  • Space Rats of the CCC
  • Captain Honario Harpplayer R.N.
• Other Worlds
  Alien Landscapes and distant planets - all are part and parcel of the SF package. they are there to be explored.
  • Simulated Trainer
  • Survival Planet
  • How the Old World Died
  • the K-Factor
• R.U.R.
  Rossum's Universal Robots. No matter that Capek's robots were really humanoid and not metallic life forms. The name stuck and robots have been clanking and rattling through SF ever since.
  • Arm of the Law
  • The Robot Who wanted to Know
  • I Have My Vigil
  • The Velvet Glove
• One for the Shrinks
  Psychology, the use and misuse thereof, is a topic that has always fascinated me. How the brain works, what it can and cannot do - this is the stuff of inquiry - and of story.
  • Not Me, Not Amos Cabot!
  • The Gods Themselves Throw Incense
  • You Men of Violence
  • A Civil Service Servant
  • Captain Bedlam
• The Light Fantastic
  I have never been too much of a fan of fantasy. I find it too loose, too able to fly off in any direction without notice. But this doesn't mean that I shrink away from writing it when the Great Idea strikes.
  • At Last, the True Story of Frankenstein
  • Incident in the IND
• Square Pegs in Round Holes
  And then there are the head-scratchers, the unidentifiable, the stories that just do not fit into any category. they are the one-offs - and this difference makes them, many times, the best of the lot.
  • Portrait of the Artist
  • Mute Milton
  • An Artist's Life
  • The Ever-Branching Tree
  • By the Falls
  • American Dead
  • Dawn of the Endless Night
  • An Honest Day's Work
  • If
  • Brave Newer World
  • The Road to the Year 3000