A collection of career-launching short fiction by #1 New York Times–bestselling author Timothy Zahn, including the Hugo Award–winning novella Cascade Point.   Timothy Zahn shows an unparalleled mastership of science fiction in the fifteen tales gathered here.   “The Price of Survival” features an alien ship that arrives in our solar system without hostile intentions but with a desperate need whose fulfillment could destroy humanity. “The Giftie Gie Us” tells the story of two lonely survivors who find love among the ruins of a post-apocalyptic United States. And in “Pawn’s Gambit,” a human and his alien opponent face off over a game that will decide which one of them will return home.   This collection also includes the Hugo Award–winning novella Cascade Point and nine other works of science fiction, post-apocalyptic drama, and humorous fantasy previously unpublished in book form.   Timothy Zahn is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Star Wars: Heir to the Empire and has won multiple awards for his work. With nonstop action, suspenseful plots, and high-tech twists, the stories in Pawn’s Gambit are science fiction at its best.