This new collection of stories by Christopher Anvil, the master of humorous science fiction adventure, includes: The full-length novel, The Day the Machines Stopped" - and what happens not just to civilization but to humanity and its chances of survival when all the machines stop working at once? A man is captured by aliens who are investigating the Earth as a possible target for colonization. The aliens have science and technology far in advance of humans - but unfortunately for them they have never developed the human art of bluffing. For the first time in book form Anvil"s stories of Richard Verner who is called in to solve apparently insoluble problems such as explaining why experimental missiles keep failing for no apparent reason or locating a kidnapped judge or even solving an inexplicable murder that"s interrupting his vacation."