A Word Shaped Like Bones by Kris Millering

There is a recurring setting in short SF fiction – frequent enough to be noticeable, but rare enough that I Continue reading →

Senator Bilbo by Andy Duncan

It’s a common parlor game (if parlor games still exist) in fannish circles to imagine what character X would do Continue reading →

Nicholas Was by Neil Gaiman

For once I have nothing to say about a story. It’s only a hundred words long, it’s on Neil Gaiman’s Continue reading →

The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth by Lord Dunsany

When looking for the origins of the sword and sorcery subgenre of fantasy, today’s story is not a bad possibility. Continue reading →

The Moon Moth by Jack Vance

A couple of years ago I was at the Readercon convention listening to a panel on fantasy, where one of Continue reading →

The Bolt Tightener by Sarena Ulibarri

One of the anthologies I’m enjoying at the moment is The Weird, edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, an overview Continue reading →

The Adventure of the Field Theorems by Vonda N. McIntyre

There must be other stories in which Sherlock Holmes meets Arthur Conan Doyle. But I doubt there are many that Continue reading →

Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

The characters really sell this story. The protagonist in particular is quite charming: he’s ‘the old-fashioned one in the family Continue reading →