The Instrumentality of Mankind

Introduction by Frederik Pohl.

The Instrumentality of Mankind completes the publication of the science fiction of Cordwainer Smith by Del Rey Books with fourteen stories set in his star-spanning future universe of scanners, planoforming ships that whisper among the stars, the animal-derived Underpeople... perhaps the most outstanding and haunting feat of creative imagination the field has ever known.

Here is the account of the strange origin of the Vomact family and its role in founding the Instrumentality, of how one man's love broke the secret of Space-Three, of what happens to people too long between the stars – even of a shape-changing Martian with a passion for gadgets – in a collection that presents some of the strongest work of an unforgettable writer.