Winning Words [antikvár]

Foreword It was not a simple job, picking out these stories from a high pile. But I had a simple rule. I chose the ones that seemed to me to have given their authors most enjoyment. The whirl of action around the surprising two-petalled flower in Tirfrizzle and the Caterdragon' must have been great fun to write. I wonder if the shadow-nicker alarmed its author as much as it alarmed me. All these writers gave themselves a thrill or a laugh. They climb into spaceships, or grapple with robots, or fly off into the brains of computers or into future time, with the greatest zest. Or they meet the Swamp Child, or the escaped lion. Or they become an ant, a python, and look back at the human world with weird eyes. If they stick to the local park, it's as a lost explorer, a scientist coming out of his laboratory shaken and wiser. Even the four-year-old sleeper sends his wart to the top of Pendle Hill, where the witches danced. Some of these mind-games are complicated and skilful. Some are simple and artful. But all solve problems, greater or smaller. And all are worth playing. I am sure readers will enjoy playing them over again, as much as I have.