Twenty-eight variations, 1977-92, mostly shorter rather than longer, from the author of the splendid Paradise (1989). The best of the bunch: a couple of Resnick's intriguing ``Kirinyaga'' yarns about a Kenya-like planet set up to re-create traditional African lifestyles; and a poignant if rather thin Merlin variant. Elsewhere: the title piece, a rather routine irony on prejudice; a so-so yarn about memory erasure; a couple of fairly nondescript what-ifs centered on Teddy Roosevelt; interplanetary dickering; dogs, peeping Toms, immortality, souls, robots, and horses. Also, in a comic vein: Robin Hood's Jewish mother, fairies, computer simulations, pink elephants, hunting, football, interactive absurdism, and God. Lightweight entertainment, rather disappointing after Resnick's superior novels.