Cigarette Angel includes three short stories by Blake Pitcher. Cold, as I am A loner in a strange city overthinks an innocuous question. Cigarette Angel Teacher said smoking kills, so Cindy hides her daddy's cigarettes everyday. When Daddy finally quits, Cindy realizes more people must be saved. Now she's known village-wide as the cigarette angel--until a big tobacco executive attempts to correct a sales anomaly. Ice Cream for Smitty When Smitty is terrorized by two young boys, a tiny thought inspires meaningful action.
As he demonstrated in The Fox and Other Stories, (Turtle Press - 1996) and The Man Who Saw Himself (Xlibris -2002), Ed Robison continues to watch and listen closely to the world around him. This new collection reveals fresh poignancies and acutely observed quotidian mini-dramas that can easily burn into the consciousness of those willing to pause and listen. The River of Fire, the key story, is another unforgettable look at the horror of war. “It wouldn’t be entirely out of line to characterize Ed Robison as a Damon Runyon of the resorts, retirement communities, logging towns and ... porch swings of the Northwest.” —Jim Nisbet Author of Prelude to a Scream.
A young man envisions an open avenue to early career success only to see it closed by authority. A retiree discovers that, for reasons unclear, each of the key relationships in his life has soured. An early love reappears to a widower in an unexpected encounter. A betrayal has unexpected results. Despite talent, high energy, and commitment, a young man's plans for a long career in the classroom is derailed. In the desert, a businessman has a revelation. A good man is falsely accused and responds to humiliation. Twenty years after he disappeared, an old friend resurfaces with a story to tell. . This collection, undertaken in late life, attempts to examine some of life's mysteries: how early dreams and expectations may go awry; relationships may not be what they seem; evil appears at any time and in many guises; love is not easily defined, explained, or sustained.
Ten stories and a novella. Steampunk, Sci-Fi Dystopian, Fantasy, American Wild West, Horror, American Detective Noir -- Freelance, The Kid in the Cold, In the Eyes, Blanket of Crickets, Hunger, Invisible Chain, Le Morte d'Dupin, The Spring Stand, Three Ravens, The Case of the Glowing Scarabs, Mile High Cold
A delirious collection of short stories from the Latin American master of micro-fiction. A delirious collection of short stories from the Latin American master of microfiction, César Aira–the author of at least eighty novels, most of them barely one hundred pages long–The Musical Brain & Other Stories comprises twenty tales about oddballs, freaks, and loonies. Aira, with his fuga hacia adelante or "flight forward" into the unknown, gives us imponderables to ponder and bizarre and seemingly out-of-context plot lines, as well as thoughtful and passionate takes on everyday reality. The title story, first published in the New Yorker, is the creme de la creme of this exhilarating collection.
A collection of award-winning science fiction written by two-time Nebula award winner, Gardner Dozois. Here youll find Dozois short stories "Morning Child" and _The Peacemaker,Ó both winners of the Nebula for best science fiction short story. Also includes Dozois classics "A Dream at Noonday," "Chains of the Sea," "The Hanging Curve," "The Bride" (with Jack Dann), and "Ancestral Voices" (with Michael Swanwick). From the introduction: The stories in this collection were published between 1970 and 2003, and thus represent a considerable chunk, perhaps a majority share, of not only my career but my life. . .when some critic asks me what was in my mind when I came up with a certain trope in one of those stories, or what some bit of symbolism really means, why I chose some word or image instead of another, or sometimes even just what the specific inspiration for a story was, often I just cant tell him¾Im not that kid anymore. . .So, perhaps its an odd way to review your career, by the places where youve lived. Probably not very satisfactory to the critics. The most disgruntled among them will just have to get that time-machine and go back and ask that bright-eyed young twenty-year-old kid about his work. If you see him, say hi for me. Gardner Dozois is known for his beautiful evocation of setting and emotional intensity within a truly alien and often austere vision of the future. He is a science fiction master of the first order¾a fact fully on display in this outstanding collection. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). _Lyric, haunting, heartbreaking¾this is science fiction at its best.Ó¾George R.R. Martin Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductee Gardner Dozois is the winner of two Nebula awards for fiction. _My generation of writers has produced relatively few authentic masters of the short form. Gardner Dozois is one of them.Ó¾William Gibson
