The Big Front Yard and Other Stories (37 page)

“Yes, I am. I'm looking for an alien, too. All of us, I think, are looking for your alien.”

He reached out an arm and swept her roughly to him, held her close against him.

“Thank you, Angela,” he said.

Hand in hand they headed for the spaceport, looking for a ship that would take them to the stars.

About the Author

CLIFFORD D. SIMAK, during his fifty-five year career, produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune,
 writing fiction in his spare time.

Simak was best known for the book
City
, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel 
Way Station. 
In 1953 
City
 was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

About the Editor

DAVID W. WIXON was a close friend of Clifford D. Simak's. As Simak's health declined, Wixon, already familiar with science fiction publishing, began more and more to handle such things as his friend's business correspondence and contract matters. Named literary executor of the estate after Simak's death, Wixon began a long-term project to secure the rights to all of Simak's stories and find a way to make them available to readers who, given the fifty-five-year span of Simak's writing career, might never have gotten the chance to enjoy all of his short fiction. Along the way, Wixon also read the author's surviving journals and rejected manuscripts, which made him uniquely able to provide Simak's readers with interesting and thought-provoking commentary that sheds new light on the work and thought of a great writer.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

“The Big Front Yard” © 1958 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. © 1986 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
Astounding Science Fiction,
v. 62, no. 2, Oct., 1958. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“The Observer” © 1972 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. © 2000 by the Estate of Clifford D. Simak. Original appearance in
Analog,
v. 89, no. 4, May, 1972. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“Trail City's Hot-Lead Crusaders” © 1944 by Fictioneers, Inc. © 1972 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
New Western Magazine,
v. 8, no. 2, Sept., 1944. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“Junkyard” © 1953 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. © 1981 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
Galaxy Science Fiction,
v. 6, no. 2, May, 1953. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“Mr. Meek – Musketeer” © 1944 by Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc. © 1972 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
Planet Stories,
v. 2, no. 7, Summer, 1944. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“Neighbor” © 1954 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. © 1982 by Clifford D. Simak. Original appearance in
Astounding Science Fiction,
v. 53, no. 4, June, 1954. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“Shadow World” © 1957 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. © 1985 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
Galaxy Science Fiction,
v. 14, no. 5, Sept., 1957. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

“So Bright the Vision” © 1956 by King-Size Publications, Inc. © 1984 by Clifford D. Simak. Originally published in
Fantastic Universe,
v. 6, no. 1, Aug., 1956. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Clifford D. Simak.

Copyright © 2015 by the Estate of Clifford D. Simak

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

978-1-5040-1283-6

Published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

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