The Ocean and All Its Devices by William Browning Spencer

There are some stories that come across as inevitable. They feel obvious, not because you know exactly what is about Continue reading →

But Our Hero Was Not Dead by Manly Wade Wellman

There have been stories written about almost every period of Sherlock Holmes’ life, and his retirement is no exception. As Continue reading →

The Malaysian Mer by Jane Yolen

Characters are tricky things to get right in short stories. It’s all well and good for novels, who can afford 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 →

A Pair of Stockings by Kate Chopin

Little Mrs. Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. It seemed to her a very large Continue reading →

Scoring Off Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Jeeves and Wooster was an excellent TV show. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry not only embodied their parts but had Continue reading →

The Carpetmaker’s Son by Andreas Eschbach

The Carpet Makers is one of my favorite sf books of the last twenty years, and I do not say Continue reading →