The title story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long, soon to be a major film directed by Steven Spielberg, tells of a young boy who, whatever he does, cannot please his mother. He is puzzled by this, not realising that he is an android, a cunning construct of artificial intelligence - as is his one ally, his teddy bear.

It was a story that hugely affected Stanley Kubrick (director of 2001) and Steven Spielberg (who perhaps saw in his forthcoming movie AI (Artificial Intelligence) a complement to his ET!). This collection contains three SUPERTOYS stories, and they are the fabric of Spielberg's movie.

The other stories in the collection, whether SF, utopian fantasy or dark fable show a master writer at the peak of his considerable powers.