Nebula and Hugo winner Brian W Aldiss begins a new series of stories, entirely different from anything he has written before, about the Golden land of Malachia. The first four stories complete in this volume are: 
Serpent Burning on Altar
Woman IN Sunlight with Mandolin
The Young Soldier's Horoscope and
Castle Scene with Penitents

In Shark and Burger Creature, Edward Bryant and Steve Chapman have invented two surprising and very different monsters; and Mel Gilden, author of "What About Us Girls??" gives us another intimate glimpse of the tentacle-and pseudopod set in "What's the Matter with Herbie?

Also included are stories by Ursula K Le Guin, Michael Bishop, Kate Wilhelm, Vonda M McIntyre, Steve Chapman, Doris Piserchia, and Gene Wolfe.

These stories are not reprints from magazines; they are new science fiction stories, appearing here for the first tome anywhere in the world.