The collection includes the early stories of the Great Master of SF, but already in them Simak creates his own - extraordinary and yet surprisingly similar to the real - world and poses the problems that will worry the writer for many subsequent decades: the consequences of the uncontrolled development of civilization and the loss of its enduring values, the responsibility of each person not only to himself and those who live nearby, but also to future generations, the fate of the Universe and humanity as a whole. This volume of complete works, only seven stories from which were previously published in Russian , can rightfully be called a collectible. It will undoubtedly be an unexpected gift to all admirers of the Master’s work. When compiling the collection, truly colossal work was done in archives and libraries in the United States in order to find those works that, even in the West, were not included in any of the book publications and were only published once in periodicals .