DUSTJACKET BLURB: As an SF writer, Keith Roberts has long been
as fascinated with the past as with the future. In his stories, several of
which are printed in this new collection, he explores parallel worlds, where,
but for a quirk of history, we might all be living today. 'The Grain Kings',
the title story, charts the course of two massive and rival combine harvesters,
whole eco-systems in themselves, on a collision path in a vast sea of wheat.
'The White Boat' is a disturbing atmospheric story of a girl's awakening from a
kind of Celtic twilight, and her abduction by Corsairs from the Continent.
'Weihnachtsabend' explores the eerie parallel world of a German England. There
are also barge stories, dragon stories and a few set on other planets. All
testify to the tremendous range of Keith Roberts's imagination and even
more to his evocative descriptive power.
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