Once upon a time people described Ray Bradbury as a particularly gifted writer of science fiction. Today he seems more like a magical realist, a small-town American cousin to Borges and Garcia Marquez. A writer whose vision of the world is so intense that the objects in it sometimes levitate or glow with otherworldly auras. Who but Bradbury could imagine the playroom in which children's fantasies become real enough to kill? The beautiful white suit...

"Foundation"--The fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. "Foundation and Empire"--The Foundation and the Galactic Empire civilizations are battling for mastery of the Universe. No one could have predicted the birth of the creature called the Mule, a power that could turn the strongest-willed human into an obedient slave. "Second Foundation"--After years of struggle, the Foundation...