Here are eight stories of science fiction and fantasy to stir your emotions, amuse you, or give you a night of uneasy sleep. There are fun-loving aliens on tour, a vision quest in the Badlands of North Dakots, a protocol hostess with a most unusual employer, and a cursed knife blade uncovered by children. A space traveler is seduced by a musical, cosmic voice, and a film critic discovers true realism. A warrior learns what valor really is, and a woman climbing a dangerous mountain is aided by a strange being from the past. Great reading from a master wordsmith!