This book consists of three stories which are not linked to each other or to any of Anderson's series, as far as I know. The first, "Planet of No Return" is an encounter between Terran explorers and aliens called the Rorvans, which turns out to be a situation in which one of the Terrans sides with the Rorvans against his own people, possibly for valid reasons. The issue is left open. The second, "War of Two Worlds" takes place on Earth which has been occupied by Martians (humanoids with antennae, rather like "My Favorite Martian." One of the Martians sides with humans resisting the occupation. The third, "World without Stars" involves a human ship sent to contact aliens who live on a planet circling a sun out between two galaxies. The ship crashes on another planet of the system, which is inhabited by two different races, one of which has been tamed by the original aliens and the other of which is "wild." The most notable point in this story is the character Hugh Valland, an adventurer/troubador who has been wandering space for a very long time, as humans have developed an "anti-death" medication that prevents death from conventional diseases (though not from accidents, as the death of a young man in the crash graphically demonstrates). People live so long they have their memories edited to prevent information overload. Hugh does tremendous heroics in order to get back to earth to see his beloved Mary O'Meara. (The song he sings about her in this tale has been set to music and has become a popular filksong in sf fan circles, or was when I was young.) However the memory editing sets up a plot twist at the end. ( )