But, for all that, I went on writing short fiction all through the seventh and eighth decades of my life, and though I’m not very active these days, I would still pay attention if someone were to approach me with an interesting and challenging short-story project, or if some absolutely irresistible story idea were to come into my mind. I will not, at this point, try to claim that the stories that are collected here are the last short stories I will ever write. Surely some editor, in the years ahead, will tickle my imagination with a proposal I can’t resist. But I doubt that will be happening very often; and, meanwhile, here’s the harvest of the fourteen years that began in 1995—not an enormous number of stories, no, but stories nevertheless that I think are worth reading and reprinting.—Robert Silverberg, from his IntroductionDiana of the Hundred Breasts-Beauty in the Night-Call Me Titan-The Tree That Grew From the Sky-The Church at Monte Saturno-Hanosz Prime Goes to Old Earth-The Millennium Express-Travelers-The Colonel Returns to the Stars-The Eater of Dreams-A Piece of the Great World-Against the Current-The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale-Defenders of the Frontier-The Prisoner-Smithers and the Ghost of the Thar