ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Parts of this book were previously published:
"Rammer," Galaxy Magazine. Copyright (c) 1971 by UPD Publishing Corporation.
"The Alibi Machine," Vertex. Copyright (c) 1973 by Mankind Publishing company.
"A Kind of Murder," Analog. Copyright (c) 1974 by The CondО Nast Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
"All the Bridges Rusting," Vertex. Copyright (c) 1973 by Mankind Publishing Company.
"There is a Tide," Galaxy Magazine. Copyright (r) 1968 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation.
"Bigger Than Worlds," Analog. Copyright (c) 1974 by The CondО Nast Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
"$16,940.00," Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Copyright (c) H.S.D. Publications Inc., 1974. All rights reserved.
"The Hole Man," Analog. Copyright (c) 1973 by the CondО Nast Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
"The Fourth Profession," Quark. Copyright (c) 1971 by Coronet Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1974 by Larry Niven
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
SBN 345-24011-1-125
First Printing: June, 1974
Second Printing: November, 1974
Cover painting by Dean Ellis
Printed in the United States of America
BALLANTINE BOOKS
A Division of Random House, Inc.
201 East 50th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022
I started writing ten years ago. I wrote for a solid year and collected nothing but rejection slips.
Most beginning writers can't afford to do that. They take an honest job and write in their spare time, and it takes them five years to make their mistakes, instead of one. Me, I lived off a trust fund.
The trust fund was there because my great-grandfather once made a lot of money in oil. He left behind him a large family of nice people, and we all owe him.
To EDWARD LAWRENCE DOHENY
Contents
Rammer
The Alibi Machine
