When the medical mind takes off on a flight of fancy (or fantasy), watch out! The results, as these eighteen tales show, can be chillingly plausible or tantalizingly irrational. Represented in this anthology are a number of practicing physicians -- including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (M.D.!) -- as well as such well-known science fictioneers as Arthur C. Clarke, C.M. Kornbluth, and Murray Leinster, and such classical writers as Poe and Hawthorne.

Some of the stories ("The Man Without an Appetite" and "Family Resemblance") are lighthearted. Some ("The Little Black Bag" and "A Matter of Ethics") are biting. Some ("Rappacini's Daughter" and "The Brothers") are ghoulish. All are compelling, and all project a sometimes titillating, sometimes macabre, but always incisive view of the far-out worlds of medicine.

The editors prescribe this collection for the fun of it: to relax tensions and expand the imagination. But if you come across some provacative, serious ideas, don't be startled -- science fiction is full of such intriguing surprises.
--back cover