Sandkings
George R. R. Martin
Baen Books
<span>When Simon Kress returned
 to his home planet of Baldur from an offworld business trip, he was 
amused to find that his tank of Earth piranhas had cannibalized 
themselves into extinction, and of the two exotic animals that roamed 
his estate, only one remained. Now, in search of some new pets to 
satisfy his cruel pursuit of amusement, Simon finds a new shop in the 
city where he is intrigued by a new lifeform he has never heard of 
before... a collection of multi-colored sandkings. The curator explains 
that the insect-like animals, no larger than Simon's fingernails, are 
not insects, but animals with a highly-evolved hive intelligence capable
 of staging wars between the different colors, and even religion - in 
the form of worship of their owner. The curator's warning to Simon about
 the regularity of their feeding, unfortunately, was not taken 
seriously...<br><br>Contents:<br>- <i>The Way of Cross and Dragon</i> (1979)<br>- <i>Bitterblooms</i> (1977)<br>- <i>In the House of the Worm</i> (1976)<br>- <i>Fast-Friend</i> (1976)<br>- <i>The Stone City</i> (1977)<br>- <i>Starlady</i> (1976)<br>- <i>Sandkings</i> (1979)<br><br>Cover illustration by Michael Whelan</span>