(Excerpt): "Spaceship crews should be selected on the basis of their non-irritating qualities as individuals. No chronic complainers, no hypochondriacs, no bugs on cleanliness—particularly no one-man parties. I speak from bitter experience. Because on the first expedition to Mars, Hugh Allenby damned near drove us nuts with his puns. We finally got so we just ignored them." This collection of science fiction stories by Jerome Bixby includes The Holes Around Mars, Where There's Hope, Zen, The Draw, The Slizzers and The God-Plllnk.