The Gandalara Cycle by Randall Garret is good. A sci-fi story with a somewhat fantasy feel, a middle aged man on a Mediterranean cruise falls unconscious, and wakes up in a desert; in a young, not quite human body. The rest of the series has him finding out where he is, what he is, why he’s there, and what the hell is going on.
Baen Free Library is another source of older scfi.
Retief! by Keith Laumer is a collection of the Retief short stories. Retief works for the diplomatic corps representing Earth and he’s all action and sharp tongue. His bosses hate him and are typical politicians. I like all the stories and wish there were more.
Med Ship by Murray Leinster is a collection of stories about the Med Service which is basically a human and his tormal going from planet to planet in their Med Ship to help settled planets stay current with the latest medicines and fight off plagues. Tormals are monkey like aliens that can fight off almost any disease and make antibodies to it. The ship has the equipment to make any required medicines in the field. This is another collection I wish had more stories.
The Moon Pool by Abraham Merritt is excellent.
The Face In The Abyss by Abraham Merritt is excelent.
Dwellers in the Mirage by Abraham Merritt
The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt you will either like or hate.
I like your taste - Bester’s **Demolished Man **and **The Stars, My Destination **are both classics. And his writing style, which I believe emerged from years working on live-TV scripts back in the 50’s are terse and move along really well. Good writing craft, IMHO.
And Cordwainer - just fun, imaginitive stuff. **Scanners Live in Vain! **and **The Ballad of Lost C’mell **, amongst so many other great stories…