Fool’s Mate by Stanley Ellin

George is resigned to his unhappy marriage with Louise. She controls his life, never letting him out to make new Continue reading →

The Adder by Fred Chappell

In most Lovecraftian fiction the cosmic horror is either played straight – and therefore horrific – or played for laughs, Continue reading →

Aristotle and the Gun by L. Sprague de Camp

Most time travellers, when they decide to change history for the better, opt to kill Hitler or tweak the American Continue reading →

The Green Arches by Joan Aiken

It’s highly subjective whether a story feels magical, as opposed to merely containing magic. This story succeeds at both, and Continue reading →

Two Sadnesses by George Alec Effinger

This comprises two thematically similar stories: one with a thinly disguised version of Winnie the Pooh (here called ‘The Bear’), Continue reading →

93990 by George Saunders

This is written in the style of a lab report. A toxicity study looks at the effects of Borazadine on Continue reading →

Yellow Card Man by Paolo Bacigalupi

If you’re not familiar with Bacigalupi’s first novel, The Windup Girl (which won just about every award under the sun), Continue reading →

The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories by Neil Gaiman

Following on from yesterday, here’s an equally disastrous look at a writer’s encounter with Hollywood. While fictional, the main thread Continue reading →