[AlexBell]

Mark Clifford was the winner (with Frank Riley) of the 1955 Hugo Award for They'd Rather Be Right, but is nearly unknown to today's science fiction readers. He was not a prolific writer, and had published only about twenty short stories before his death in 1963. But with those stories and his three novels he irrevocably altered the course of contemporary science fiction.

Almost single-handedly he introduced the full range of psychological insights and libertarian thought to the commonly occurring science fiction themes - alien invasion, expanding technology, revolution against political theocracy, and space exploration and colonization - to portray how humanity would react to a future that could be either mindless or intellectually stunning.

In his first published story, 'What Have I Done?' he initiated the theme of a
starkly realistic world in which, at its best, humanity is inalterably vile - a theme that became an part of all his subsequent works until his last story 'Hang Head, Vandal!' He particularly despised politicians, lawyers, bureaucrats, the news media, and warmongers.

Many of Mark Clifton's twenty or so short stories mention ESP or telepathy, and the persecution and suffering experienced by those who have these abilities or higher intelligence. And all his stories in one way or another stress the importance of challenging perceived wisdom, and adopting or at least trying out different ways of thinking. He had a marvellous ability to bring out new ideas; for example his story 'We're Civilized!' described 'Blowback' long before it got that name.

The six short stories in this ebook have versions on Project Gutenberg, and therefore meet the criteria for being in the Public Domain. Another four stories ('Star, Bright', 'Clerical Error', 'The Dread Tomato Addiction', and 'What Now, Little Man' are freely available on the internet in text form, but I have been unable to verify that they are in the Public Domain. When I can verify that they are in the Public Domain I'll add them to later versions of this ebook. Please let me know if you come across digital versions of his other short stories.