The Planet Killers (Spaceways Omnibus [1-3])

This trio of early short novels by Grand Master Robert Silverberg is straight-up pulp science fiction at its finest

As a young man, Robert Silverberg was a science fiction prodigy, turning out top-flight stories in the blink of an eye. Though written quickly, Silverberg’s early prose already showed evidence of the literary and imaginative qualities that would make him a giant in the field. Here are three of his best early works.

In The Planet Killers , after Earth’s supercomputer calculates that the inhabitants of the planet Lurion will destroy Earth in sixty-seven years, Roy Gardner is sent to stop them—by any means necessary. In The Plot Against Earth , Special Investigator Lloyd Catton’s efforts to crack a ring of “hypnojewel” traffickers uncovers a galaxy-wide conspiracy. And in One of Our Asteroids Is Missing , when miner John Storm stakes claim to an asteroid with a king’s ransom of rare minerals, he’s set for life—or would be, if his discovery didn’t also mark him for death.