Set in the future or in an imaginary present, on Terra or on distant planets, this collection of classic short stories is about war, aliens, governments, space and time travel, reality and the imagination, industrialization, human ambition and intelligent robots. From moral dilemmas in "Beyond Lies the Wub" to mysterious investigations in "Piper in the Woods" and post-apocalyptic revelations in "The Defenders," these stories are both a vision of the modern era and timeless science fiction stories. Most of the stories in this collection are from Philip Dick's earlier publications in magazines such as , and other popular science fiction magazines of his day.