"The Traveler in Black" is one of the very few five-star combinations of fantasy, parable, and philosophy in the entire Classics of Science Fiction List; Brunner was a prolific and interesting writer in both fields of fantasy and science fiction; "Traveler" combines both and is in his top five [NB: One should attempt to collect all five: "The Squares of the City"; "Players at the Game of People"; "Stand on Zanzibar"; and "The Sheep Look Up" are the other four). This edition contains the original four "Traveler" stories, those published before 1971: "Imprint of Chaos"; "Break the Door of Hell"; "The Wager Lost by Winning"; "Dread Empire".

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