Clifford Donald Simak is one of the “godchildren” of the famous John Campbell, editor of the magazine “Astounding Science Fiction”, where many stars of the “golden age of science fiction” lit up. At the beginning of his literary career, Simak wrote “hard” science fiction and adventure works, as well as Westerns, but then he pushed the boundaries of the SF genre and created his own style, which critics called soft, humanistic and even pastoral, comparing Simak’s prose with the prose of Ray Bradbury. Over fifty-five years, Simak wrote about thirty novels and more than one hundred and twenty novels and short stories. He has been awarded the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and other awards. He was awarded the title “Grandmaster of the Nebula Award.” The novels collected in this volume about life and its wonders, about ancient mysteries and fairy-tale worlds, about mysterious peoples and magical manuscripts, about the incredible adventures of extraordinary heroes are the Master’s tribute to the fantasy genre.