They both felt that it needed some reworking and asked my permission, which, needless to say, I immediately and ecstatically gave. “Lady” is the story I prefer to acknowledge as my first it appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1959, in the distinguished company of Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon.” Algis Budrys was a reader for Bob Mills at the time and he brought the story to Bob’s notice. They both predate Dai op Owen and the Eastern Parapsychic Center.
“Lady in the Tower” and “A Meeting of Minds” are really logical extensions of the concept found in “To Ride Pegasus,” in which parapsychic powers are combined with machines in a gestalt that gives the mind enough power to reach the stars. There are also several coupled yarns of ideas that did not ever generate enough impetus to make a novel. But those rather short stories I have managed to write are included in this volume. Sometimes it is extremely difficult for me to write short or concise. I tend to write in broad tapestries and get caught up in the lives of my heroines and heroes, not to mention the fantastical creatures, and go on, and on, and on. (The working title had been Get Of the Unicorn, provocative enough originally.) So, Judy-Lynn asked me what I could do about that theme.Īs an author I have been extremely fortunate in finding several themes and characters that have been well received: the Dragons of Pern, Helva, my Ship who Sings, the Parapsychic and the Crystal Singer yarns. Someone kept asking my long-suffering editor, Judy-Lynn del Rey, what was this book called Get Off the Unicorn. The title of this collection, although it fits most of the stories if you know the old tale about unicorn-bait, comes from a misprint in the Ballantine roster of unfilled contracts. I say this with due modesty because, Gentle Reader, you would certainly not choose to buy a book of short stories unless you liked other work by the author. MOST OF YOU kind people who are buying this volume will have done so because of the author’s name on the cover. Weasel, Mary Pitz, Penny, Kim and Eamonn (Gary), To Derval, Anto, Ann, Orla & Lian, Hilary, To learn more about other great Ballantine Books. Author’s Preface to Lady in the Tower and A Meeting of MindsĪuthor’s Preface to Daughter, Dull Drums and ChangelingĪuthor’s Preface to The Thorns of Barevi, Horse from a Different Sea and The Great Canine ChorusĪuthor’s Preface to Finder’s Keeper, A Proper Santa Claus and The Smallest Dragonboy
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