Robert Sheckley, master of the science-fiction short-story form, created numerous tales of dark humor. He had an entertaining gift for looking at society with a warped mirror, enabling us to see ourselves in a clearer reflection.

"Keep Your Shape" is from the perspective of an alien race with the unseemly ability to change shape. In "The Seventh Victim", murder is legal and sanctioned by society, and the gunman's victim is a beautiful woman. And when a spaceship filled with diverse alien life forms is stranded without a star drive, they only have one chance of getting home again. That chance is with a "Specialist" from Earth.

These three works were originally published in Galaxy and The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1953.