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Danger in the Stars!

The birth of a hero is never easy. Clumsy as an elephant in high heels, he is nothing like his legendary scout father.

But inside that bull-moose-of-a-body lies the heart of a hero whose moment has arrived! Next, a boy survives alien invasion - but must learn to think and act like his reptilian enemy to exact retribution for slaughter! These and two other tales of coming-of-age-through-peril from the writer who invented the genre. Includes The X Factor, Voorloper, The Eye of the Monster, and The Sioux Spaceman--all set in Norton's "Council/Confederation" universe!

Table of Contents:

• The Sioux Spaceman - (1960) - novel
• Eye of the Monster - (1962) - novel
• The X Factor - (1965) - novel
• Voorloper - (1980) - novel

Originally appeared in Ace Double D-437 (1960).

Redskin raiders on the galactic rim.

Kade Whitehawk had two strikes against him in the Space Service. First, he had bungled his assignment on the planet Lodi. Second, he believed all creatures had a right to freedom and dignity - and having such opinions was strictly against the rules.

But when he ws assigned to Khot, he found the Ikkinni there - tortured yet defiant slaves of a vicious tyrant race.

Right then Kade swung the last pitch. For rules or no rules, THE SIOUX SPACEMAN knew that he had to help these strange creatures gain freedom... and that he alone, because of his Indian blood, had the key to win it for them.

Originally appeared in Ace Double F-147 (1962), later editions may be expanded.

Rees Naper had never trusted the reptilian Ishkurians, in spite of the fact that many of the Terran colonists thought they had been wronged. His worst fears were realized when the Terran authorities decided to grant the Ishkurians self-government and withdrew their protective forces from the planet. It turned out that he was right - as soon as the last troops left the "crocs" went on a killing rampage.

Cut off from the remaining fortified outposts by miles of jungle and armies of crocs, Rees knew that his only chance for survival was to outwit the cunning reptiles. He had to learn to think like a croc, feel like a croc... and see through the eye of the monster!

Diskan Fentress, mutant son of an interstellar explorer, felt himself out of place on the luxury worlds of civilized space. It was not until he stole a spaceship and a travel key to the unexplored planet Mimir that he first felt his latent powers to be of some worth.

For Mimir was a world of strange relics, of beasts that were more than beasts, and of a ruined city whose shadows bespoke a higher and weirder civilization than any the galaxy had yet discovered. It was to fall to Diskan's lot to meet head-on that ancient world's "X Factor," and to settle the fate of a planet with his reaction.

An embittered wanderer, his son, and a young girl with healing gifts explore the wastelands of a new planet, risking their lives to learn its horrible secret.