Meet Mayhem — man of a thousand faces. He is loved and hated, honest and corrupt, good and evil. He is the mysterious juggler of cosmic politics; he can out- think and out-fight any enemy. He is immortal — yet in constant fear of death.
► On almost every inhabited world of the galaxy there is some thread of the Johnny Mayhem legend. Because Mayhem is both culture hero and culture villain — here a latter-day Hercules or Thor, and there a Loki summoning Ragnarök to some morally delinquent world — the Mayhem legend is clouded with exaggerations and falsehoods. This much we know: it was Johnny Mayhem more than any other man in the early days of galactic expansion who made the peaceful spread of human civilization from Earth across the distant star-trails to Ophiuchus and beyond a possibility. It was Mayhem alone, brave, unrewarded, misunderstood, who often stood between the frail new colonies and the spectre of interstellar war.
Mayhem's real name, his early life, the motwation behind his strange dedication — all are clouded in enigma. He came to be called Johnny Mayhem because mayhem is a word signifying violence and death in the old English language of the planet Earth. Often, however, he was called Mayhem’s Brother because he constantly made his appearance in a different guise. There is no doubt, though, that Johnny Mayhem was one man. ◄ from THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNIVERSE, 3rd edition, 3104 A.D.
CONTENTS
1. My Name Is Mayhem (Amazing Stories, September 1955) • novelette
2. They Sent a Boy (Amazing Stories, November 1955) • novelette
3. The Burning Man (Amazing Stories, January 1956) • novelette
4. Magellan Was a Piker (Amazing Stories, June 1956) • novelette
5. This Planet Is Mine (Amazing Stories, July 1956) • novelette
6. A Place in the Sun (Amazing Stories, October 1956) • novelette
7. Think Yourself to Death (Amazing Stories, March 1957) • novelette
8. Get Out of My World (Amazing Stories, June 1957) • novelette
9. A Coward Named Mayhem (Amazing Stories, January 1958) • short story
10. Mayhem Enslaved (Amazing Science Fiction Stories, June 1958) • novelette
11. World Beyond Pluto (Amazing Science Fiction Stories, November 1958) • short story
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All stories published originally as by C. H. Thames
Cover art by Ed Valigursky
Giants of Sci-Fi Collection #5
Publisher according to ISFDB:
Publishing date: ISFDB (no pd in the book, copyright only)
No title page