An Ace Double with early short novels from Philip K Dick and Andre Norton. The Dick is by far the more worthwhile entry.

The first 2/3 of The Cosmic Puppets (published in 1957, Wikipedia says first draft was 1953) is classic Dick. Ted Barton drags his reluctant wife to visit Millgate, the small town he grew up in, where he discovers everything he remembers is not only not there, but never was. In a newspaper archive he discovers he died as a child. His wife leaves him when he stays to explore. Peter, a young boy, keeps spiders in his pocket, molds small living golems out of clay, can stop time, and knows what is going on but is clearly hostile. Mary, a 13-year old girl, also seems to know what's going on, may be an enemy of Peter's, and talks to bees. And then there are the two giant figures, visible only through Peter's magnifying class, whose bodies appear to form the hills that surround Millgate. Though the characters are a bit less Dickian than later novels, the fragility of reality is very much in line with his work. Then there's one horrific scene and we enter Stephen King land, especially King's Under the Dome and The Langoliers. For King, those works were more SFnal than usual. For Dick, The Cosmic Puppets is more fantasy than usual.

Despite this turn of style, the novel works quite well. Dick could do horror when he needed to -- see his short story The Father Thing -- and he has a pretty sure hand throughout.

Recommended.

In contrast, Sargasso of Space is disappointing for Norton. It starts out like those ghost-written young adult adaptations of 1950 YA SF, such as Tom Corbett. Names sound like characters in 1940 comics - Dane Thorson, Rip Shannon, etc. There is some diversity of nationalities, but it's all male, all the time. The ship, the Solar Queen, is one of those sleek silver pointy vessels so beloved of the pulps. Despite FTL travel to another planet and remnants of the Forerunners, an ancient race who recur in later Norton books, the plot, like most Space Patrol (American not British) episodes, is just good guys being chased by criminals.

There's better Norton to be found. For nostalgic readers only.

Typical ACE DOUBLE book. It includes two novellas by SF authors. Pretty good way to get published in the 1950s.

The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick (1957)
This was a really interesting story. I was vary much a Ray Bradbury type of tale about god-like beings who are impacting a small town for decades. Good story.

Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton (Andrew North) (1955)
Typical 1950s adolescent SF space story. Not that good. ( )