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This first major retrospective collects Kelly's finest short fiction from a 20-year career and includes a dazzling array of work from hard science fiction, to Twilight Zone-ish fantasies, to stark, futuristic horror. These stories all show the frightening power of science to transform our lives while asking deep and searching questions about the future of humanity.

Many SF readers will be familiar with Kelly's work from his novel Wildfire (1994), but more will know him from the frequent appearance of his short stories in genre magazines. Here are 14 of those tales. Kelly puts his best foot forward with the Hugo Award-winning novelette, "Think Like a Dinosaur," the double-edged title of which speaks to the foolishness of romanticizing technology as well as to the challenge of adopting "alien" mores. Kelly is exceptional when exploring the dark side of otherwise marvelous technologies, as in the cyberpunkish "Big Guy" and "Mr. Boy," the wry "Standing in Line With Mister Jimmy" and the sharp contemporary fantasy "The First Law of Thermodynamics." Less acute but still thoughtful are "Pogrom," in which the economic gap between aging baby boomers and the young incites civil war, and "Dancing With the Chairs," in which a philandering husband learns the error of his ways. Offbeat relationships are the focus in "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Monsters" and the sentimental "Faith." Those familiar with Kelly's work will appreciate having his finest stories gathered together in one place, while new readers will be pleased to discover a writer of uncommon subtlety and imagination. (Aug.) FYI: This volume launches Golden Gryphon Press, whose editor, Jim Turner, was for 21 years and until recently the editor of Arkham House. Copyright 1998 Publishers Weekly Reviews

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YA?A unique collection of short stories that explore what it is to be human in the technological age, new scientific discoveries, and the dawn of space travel. The selections, representing a 20-year writing career, are easy to read and enjoyable even for non-science-fiction readers. The title story is set on a planet inhabited by intelligent dinosaurs who have discovered the secret of instantaneous space travel and who teach the protagonist to think like a reptile. Some stories are futuristic; in "Pogrom," the generation gap has swelled to violent proportions. Other stories appear, at first, to be contemporary fiction, but there is always a little twist to make readers shudder and realize this is NOT normal. "Big Guy" explores the implications of a future high technology world where people rarely meet face to face and everything is done via virtual reality.?Susan McFaden, Fairfax County Public Library, VA