Discover MESKLIN — Gravity: 3g at the equator, 700g at the poles! Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and the one most associated with the subgenre of hard SF. From his classic stories in Astounding in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life , he has made a lasting impression on SF readers, and on writers, too. For many of them, Clement’s work is the model of how to write hard SF, and this book contains the reasons why. Here are all the tales of bizarre, unforgettable Mesklin: the classic novel Mission of Gravity and its sequel, Star Light , as well as the short stories “Under” and “Lecture Demonstration.” Also included is “Whirligig World,” the famous essay Clement published in Astounding in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his intriguingly plausible high-gravity planet, with its odd flattened shape, its day less than eighteen minutes long, and its many-limbed, noble natives. Come to Mesklin and learn why The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction called Mission of Gravity “one of the best loved novels in SF.”

Mesklin is a vast, inhospitable, disc-shaped planet, so cold that its oceans are liquid methane and its snows are frozen ammonia. It is a world spinning dizzyingly, a world where gravity can be a crushing 700 times greater than Earth’s, a world too hostile for human explorers. But the planet holds secrets of inestimable value, and an unmanned probe that has crashed close to one of its poles must be recovered. Only the Mesklinites, the small creatures so bizarrely adapted to their harsh environment, can help. And so Barlennan, the resourceful and courageous captain of the Mesklinite ship Bree , sets out on an heroic and appalling journey into the terrible unknown. For him and his people, the prize to be gained is as great as that for mankind… Hal Clement’s Mission of Gravity is universally regarded as one of the most important and best loved novels in the genre. The remarkable and sympathetic depiction of an alien species and the plausible and scientifically based realization of the strange world they inhabit make it a major landmark in the history of hard SF.

Well known as the author of MISSION OF GRAVITY, CYCLE OF FIRE, CLOSE TO CRITICAL and for his many other extraordinarily realistic creations of extraterrestrials, it is remarkable that Hal Clement's novelettes have never appeared in book form before. — Here are three of the best — each dealing with a different aspect of communication with creatures so alien to mankind that the first thing to do is throw speech out the window!

Shrouded in eternal gloom by its own thick atmosphere, Tenebra was a hostile planet: a place of crushing gravity, 370-degree temperatures, a constantly shifting crust and giant drifting raindrops. Uncompromising—yet there was life, intelligent life on Tenebra. For more than twenty years, Earth scientists had studied the natives from an orbiting laboratory and had even found a way to train and educate a few of them.

Stranded on an alien planet, light years from home, wandering from blistering heat to searing cold, Nils Kruger was not a happy man. So when he met another being — even though it wasn’t human — things seemed to be looking up. The alien might be helpless, or it might be dangerous, but one thing was for sure — they stood a better chance for survival if they worked together. But as the two creatures overcame their mutual suspicion, as they worked together, as the language barrier was broken down, Nils came to a terrifying conclusion — this alien was more intelligent than a human. And to it, Nils was the alien…

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ... Enigma 88, a tiny planet in the orbit of Arc, is a world with so little mass that it should have no atmosphere. But it does—and to find out why is the final study assignment that will earn five students, each the best of their species, their prestigious Respected Opinion degrees. But from the moment they arrive on Enigma, none of their careful calculations seem to fit; on the surface, the riddle seems insoluble. And when one of their wind robots disappears under the surface, closely followed by the Human, Molly, they find the mystery is indeed inside Enigma. For the vast subterranean network of caves and tunnels Molly tumbles into supports a rich profusion of life-life that can’t possibly exist ...