Blood On My Jets and Others — Algis Budrys

Four stories from a master of Science Fiction.

"Algis Budrys is that rarity, an intellectual genre writer" John Clute from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Blood on My Jets -- Ash had been working for the Earth agency in a covert way for a long time. If there was an area that was classified, that needed cleaning up, that operated in the gray areas even when those gray areas that went black -- Ash was their man. Ash had blood on his hands, but it was in the service of the good, he hoped. But then Pat McKay walked into his life again. A beautiful girl with cooper hair and brown eyes. She turned the head of every man she passed. And now she wanted Ash for a job, a dirty job -- but why had she chosen him?

Die, Shadow! -- After being asleep for many millenniums, Greaves is awakened. Worshipped and needed, he now must face the Shadow People.

The Burning World -- The government knew what was best for its citizens, didn't it? And it could go on doing what was best for it's people, if they wanted it or not.

Firegod -- Some are born to greatness, others achieve the rulership of system―but Merssu wanted to be a god. All he needed was a million years and a little luck!