Deep time: the ultimate frontier, tomorrow's most romantic landscape. Our sun is a vast, sullen wheel hanging at the horizon. Beings walk the dying world in its red light, but few are human. Robots return from the edges of the galaxy to mourn their lost ancestors. Mages weave plots, their science so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic. In the vastness of eternity, Earth is but a star. Only science fiction knows the paths into this wonderous realm. A remarkable blend of myth, science and pure dark imagination, science fantasy is a genre still little known to science fiction critics. Here for the first time, many of its key tales are gathered, together with new essays that illuminate their strange power - and provide a treasury of superb, unusual entertainment.