Robert Franklin Young (1915-1986) was an American science fiction writer born in Silver Creek, New York. Except for the three and a half years he served in the Pacific during World War II, he spent most of his life in New York State. Although his career spanned more than thirty years, and he wrote fiction until he died, he remained little known by the public, in the United States as well as abroad. He started publishing in 1953 in Startling Stories, then Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's. His work had a poetic and romantic style that many compared to Ray Bradbury and Theodore Sturgeon. This volume collects 20 of his science fiction and fantasy stories: THE BLACK DEEP THOU WINGEST THE GARDEN IN THE FOREST AUDIENCE REACTION BEAUTY AND THE BEAST STOP-OVER A PATTERN FOR PENELOPE SAINT JULIE AND THE VISGI THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET ONE LOVE HAVE I THE QUALITY OF MERCY THE GROWN-UP PEOPLE'S FEET PRISONERS OF EARTH THE FIRST SWEET SLEEP OF NIGHT PROMISED PLANET THE QUETENESTEL TOWERS AN APPLE FOR THE TEACHER JUNGLE DOCTOR MORE STATELY MANSIONS LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE THE OTHER KIDS