Reviews and Comments

A better than average issue. Richard Chwedyk's story about bioengineered dinosaurs takes some time to get started but is a cracker of a tale full of interesting dinosaurs with fleshed-out personalities. Other good tales are by Robert Grossbach, Matthew Hughes, Arundhati Hazra and Eleanor Arnason.

• "The Man Who Put the Bomp" by Richard Chwedyk: another romp with the author's bio-engineered saurs (small dinosaurs) that live peacefully in an isolated home. But their isolation comes to an end when one of their designers comes to visit them along with a visitor that may have other intentions. Add to this mix a side-story about a toy-car that can somehow move (modified by their enigmatic genius of a saur, Geraldine?) and it promises to be an explosive ending.

• "Driverless" by Robert Grossbach: an interesting 'if this goes on' look at what happens when the competition between various driverless car companies causes the companies to make the cars more competitive and aggressive about picking up passengers; perhaps too aggressive.

• "Ten Half-Pennies" by Matthew Hughes: a light fantasy tale about a boy who initially pays for the services of a minder (with ten half-pennies) who works for a money collector. The minder is fascinated by the boy and takes him in as an assistant. Time passes as they get to know one another and trust each other. That trust will be tested when the minder asks him to steal a valuable and then sends him away for his own good. Only later does the boy learn what happened and resolves to help the minder and repay his debt.

• "The Avenger" by Albert E. Cowdrey: a story about a clash between two people over money that turns serious when the ruffian of the two goes too far and causes the death of the other. The widower goes to an unusual man for revenge. Through a series of induced visions, the ruffian is harassed and finally forced to capitulate.

• "The Toymaker's Daughter" by Arundhati Hazra: an interesting tale about a young girl with a gift for bringing toys to life. But her gift is misused by businessmen, making her withdraw into herself. By the poignant end of the tale, she is recovering and learning that she has to hide what she can do.

• "A Green Silk Dress and a Wedding Death" by Cat Hellisen: a fishing town by a river is suddenly seeing mutated fish. The source turns out to be a river spirit who has been waiting for the gift of a bride from the town, who now has to decide whether to give up her life in the town.

• "Miss Cruz" by James Sallis: a tale of a down-and-out man who discovers he has a gift for making people do what he wants them to do. Now the question is whether he will use the gift wisely.

• "Daisy" by Eleanor Arnason: an entertaining tale of a private detective hired by a known mobster to look for his pet octopus, presumed kidnapped. But the clues don't add up. If you know that octopuses are highly intelligent, you'll probably can give a good guess as to what happened, but the story still have surprises in store for the reader.

An average issue with a fun story by Sean McMullen to start things off and ending with Steve Rasnic Tem's story which feels more like a fragment from a longer tale. Tim Akers's tale sound intriguing and could be part of a book to flesh out the background more.

• "The Influence Machine" by Sean McMullen: an interesting piece set at the beginning of the 20th century in Victorian England. A police inspector with a scientific background is tasked to investigate a wagon filled with electrical equipment and a strange camera created by a woman. What he sees changes his world view and his opinion of the woman. But greater forces intervene when the masters of the land hear of the invention and attempt to intimidate the woman into giving her machine to them. What is a sympathetic inspector to do?

• "A Death in the Wayward Drift" by Tim Akers: an unusual story set in a place where people are divided in groups that take care of the water, trees, ground, etc. One group of water carers must navigate their treacherous lake to fix an underwater water pump. When one of them dies in the attempt, the partner has to take a journey to return his remains to the water; a journey that entangle the partner with a member of the tree people.

• "Still Life With Falling Man" by Richard E. Gropp: a tale about the mysterious appearances of points on Earth where time appears to almost stand-still for those caught in them. One man, who has the ability to 'see' and 'hear' events far away via a mental window, discovers the latest one to appear. But in the race between organizations to claim it, he gets caught in one.

• "A Strange Kind of Beauty" by Christien Gholson: in a desert area, an old woman who acts to interpret written prophesies decides that it is time to enter a forbidden area. What they find there causes a group of travellers to question the prophecies. But danger lies in wait for the woman, for her skill also lets her converse with ghosts from the pasts - and one ghost may want her for his own plans.

• "The Common Sea" by Steve Rasnic Tem: a day in the life of a family in a future Florida slowly vanishing beneath the waves due to global warming. The father struggles to keep the family safe, get supplies -- and also to distinguish between reality and visions of another world perhaps nearby, perhaps faraway.

A set of interesting stories set around the characters of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. Sir Hereward is the only male born from an order of witches, and Mister Fitz is a sorcerous puppet who was once Hereward's nurse. Both are sworn Agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World, pursuing and ridding the world of malicious godlets using Hereward's skill and Fitz's sourcery. Recalling Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, they journey in a fantasy world full of magic and the more than occasional damsel, which are never in distress.

• "Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again": Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz journey to a city of plenty sitting in the middle of desolation. Once there, they discover a god which is draining the surrounding land of life as it grows more powerful. It is by chance that the barrier protecting the god does not stop Mister Fitz, but in defending the puppet, Sir Hereward gets injured and we learn some of the background of the pair.

• "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe": the pair make a deal with a pirate ship to go after the treasure hidden by a barrier left by the Scholar-Pirates. But what they don't tell the pirates, led by a cannibalistic captain, is that a rather deadly proscribed god also lies behind the barrier.

• "A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet": while recovering from an injury, Hereward reads about a possible birthdate for Mister Fitz and sets out to find a suitable gift. But the gift turns out to be more than just a gift when sorcery is involved.

• "Losing Her Divinity": told from a viewpoint of a person being 'interviewed' by Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, it tells the story of two goddesses who want the pleasures that come with being mortal, but forgot about what being mortal really means.

• "A Cargo of Ivories": the two become robbers to penetrate a house holding small pieces of ivories that could summon unwanted godlets. Unfortunately, they arrive too late and are off to chase the godlet before it does more damage.

• "Home Is the Haunter": while hauling a large cannon, the two encounter a watery oasis in the middle of a large field of grass, created from a conflict between two warring godlets. Unexpectedly, they also find a fortified house and are treated as houseguests. But a closer examination reveals a chilling secret that would require all their skill, and Hereward's running speed, to handle the situation.

• "A Long, Cold Trail": the two are on the trail of a malevolent godlet who is draining life from others to grow stronger and waiting for more help to arrive from their Order. But help, wanted or not, comes in the form of another god slayer, whom Hereward considers to be a pretender. But any help is needed if they are to prevent this godlet from taking more lives, including theirs.

• "Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz": both are hunting for a dragon and its hoard in a city. Hereward gives up on making a list of the wealthiest inhabitants of the city, which finally leads them to the dragon. But the dragon may not be the one they are seeking for.

• "The Field of Fallen Foe": a godlet lays hidden in a toxic field full of the bones of pasts monsters. But Hereward and Fitz are reluctant to banish it, for it is not proscribed and being hunted for causing the death of one of Hereward's relatives. But a solution may be possible, if the execution of the plan doesn't blow up in their faces, literally.

Another interesting Hard SF read by Egan. It's not as mind-bending or physics-bending as his "Orthogonal" series but contains intriguing ideas and characters. In contrast to his previous books where the characters slowly learn (and educate the reader about) the physics of their environment, here they are already well versed in the strange (to us) geometry of their universe and its consequences.

In this book, Egan posits a world that has two space dimensions and two time-like dimensions. The resulting geometry is a hyperboloid world orbited by a sun that is slowly wandering south. The inhabitants of various cities are thus forced to migrate to remain in the habitable zone of their world.

The story starts with two characters, a 'walker' named Seth, who can only face eastwards or westwards, and his parasitic companion Theo, who lives in his head and apparently uses echo location to see what is north or south. In the course of the story, they become surveyors who survey the landscape that their city would migrate to.

On a particularly long survey journey, they encounter a city which, to them, has committed a species wide crime. But that is small compared to what they ultimately encounter; the apparent edge of their world, whose depths they would have to survey to discover whether it can be bypassed when their city eventually encounters the edge.

In this adventure into the depths, their knowledge of the geometry of their world would be tested as they encounter strange new lifeforms and then perform some personal sacrifices to be able to return to their city with knowledge that will be vital to their survival.

As usual, Greg Egan provides a supplementary website that explains the geometry of the world [ www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html ]. While not strictly necessary, I found it to be very helpful in understanding the challenges the characters have in living in this kind of universe and how things work.

Yet another interesting book by Egan for those who are more interested in strange world-building.

An interesting little book about the letters Father Christmas would write to J. R. R. Tolkien's children. The true author is not mentioned but a look at the script of the letters, included in the book, hint at who actually wrote them.

The letters tell of the various adventures and misadventures of Father Christmas and other folk at the North Pole, mainly involving the Polar Bear with occasional bouts of fighting with goblins who are mainly after Father Christmas' mechanical toys.

Polar Bear would occasionally write a letter, but he is more usually interjecting comments into the letters, leading to some humorous back-and-forth commentary between Polar Bear and Father Christmas as they both give their sides of the story.

The letters reproduced in the book are excellent, showing the colourful script used as well as the sketches and drawings that accompany the letters. Hobbits do get a mention in one letter.

A nice look at the fatherly side of JRR Tolkien.

An average issue, with interesting stories by Suzanne Palmer, David Goodman, Amal Singh and a humorous story by Michael Swanwick.

• "Possibly Just About A Couch" by Suzanne Palmer: in the beginning, a couch emerged. We follow its journey through space and time, until it ends up on the Earth, and then far into the future, when an intelligence 'sits' on it for the last time.

• "The Blaumilch" by Lavie Tidhar: on the Mars that we know, a settler pines for the Mars that Might Be, only to find peace by digging for a Mars that could be.

• "Down To The Root" by Lisa Papademetriou: two people find themselves working together in space, servicing satellites and other objects, at a time when open conflict is breaking-out between two warring parties. They find companionship with each other and learn about each other's reasons for leaving their home worlds for where they are. But when disaster strikes, one person is determined to bring another one home to complete the circle of belief.

• "Such Is My Idea Of Happiness" by David Goodman: a story set in a future when an elite few controls the country and can live without sleeping. But they still depend on 'normal' people who can still dream and use intuition for work, but now worked to the point of sleepless fatigue. But one day, one man is offered a chance to get away and bring down that world with his intuitive skill and earn a well deserved rest.

• "De Profundis, a Space Love Letter" by Bella Han: a story of a space traveller who, one day, discovers a treasure that has been lost to mankind since the day machines took over the job of telling stories. But the telling of the story would involve the reader.

• "Post Hacking for the Uninitiated" by Grace Chan: as the story begins, a hacker has just pulled off a massive hack to release secret information. But now, she is being subject to a hack herself, revealing her own secrets.

• "Rafi" by Amal Singh: a daughter finds an unusual seed, which sprouts with a strange ability. Unfortunately, that ability is forbidden in the community which the daughter grows up in, a community that constantly monitors its inhabitants for rebellious behaviour. But perhaps it would all end with one final act of rebellion when the seed has grown up.

• "Timothy: An Oral History" by Michael Swanwick: a hilarious story set in a future where a Professor of Genomic Obstetrics does an act of genetic manipulation that sets off a social chain reaction in a society that has developed without a certain genetic personality.

A better than average issue, with pretty good stories featured in general. Stand-outs would be R.S. Benedict's tale of a strange creature living in our midst and Leah Cypess's tale of a kid who likes to paint cats being involved in a war because the drawings can come to life.

• "A Thousand Deaths Through Flesh and Stone" by Brian Trent: set in the future after a devastating war, a soldier is sent to execute war criminals. But things get dicey when the target has copied herself into more than one body, and the soldier himself has copies. And all the soldier wants is to stop fighting.

• "Witch's Hour" by Shannon Connor Winward: an interesting tale of a woman with magical powers working as a cook in a castle. But she has a dark past, as revealed by a ghost who haunts her. Her attempts to get rid of the ghost become more urgent when the new King takes an interest with her, leading to a decision to use more magic. But as always, unless used carefully, magic has a way of backfiring on you.

• "Dirty Old Town" by Richard Bowes: a light, urban fantasy tale about a boy being bullied by another boy not only physically but mentally by having images projected into him. Then he is taught a magical skill to fight back and the relationship between them changes. Many years later, they meet again and, as usual with age, come to a new understanding about each other's abilities and gifts.

• "The Prognosticant" by Matthew Hughes: a light-hearted fantasy tale of two henchmen of a wizard sent to obtain a magical helmet. But as it the case of magical devices, the helmet has a mind of its own and prefers one of henchmen, leading to interesting discoveries about dimensions, space and time and his possibly illustrious background.

• "The History of the Invasion Told in Five Dogs" by Kelly Jennings: a tale of woe, hunger, survival and, perhaps, hope as the Earth is invaded as told in five parts involving dogs.

• "What the Hands Know" by Gregor Hartmann: a story about fighting that could be set anywhere, except for a twist: the fighters wear a non-newtonian fluid type of suit that hardens at the point of impact for protection. This affects both attacking and defensive moves.

• "The Woman with the Long Black Hair" by Zach Shepard: a short-short about a woman who goes around asking people about a mythical person and, based on the story told, performs an act of kindness or violence on the person.

• "My English Name" by R.S. Benedict: a fascinating story about a 'life-form' (even it doesn't know what it is) which can fit into human-like skin that has been living among us, changing skin from time to time. This tale focuses on it wearing the skin of an Englishman living as a teacher in China who gets involved with a citizen. The tale weaves together the desire to want to fit in (and yet can't) and the emotional attachment it feels. The story makes you think about the time you may have seen a person that doesn't quite fit it.

• "The First Day of Someone Else's Life" by John Schoffstall: in this story about a future where countries have broken up and enclaves are being run based on different social constructs, a man wakes up not knowing his past and hearing a voice in his head. A tale of corporate espionage, mind downloads and the desire to be with the person you love, even if it is not the same body.

• "Neko Brushes" by Leah Cypess: an interesting tale set in feudal Japan about a samurai who discovers a child with the ability to draw a picture that can come to life. As the child undergoes training in drawing and making things come alive in the samurai's household, we get background information on an ongoing conflict and how the drawing of a certain weapon could end it. But will the child, who just loves to draw cats, be a willing party to the conflict?

• "Rings" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: feeling like a fragment of a longer tale, this story tells a day in the life of a woman in a world where men are slaves and owned. In this case, it is an off-world man who later reveals his previous life off-world, leading the woman to re-evaluate her relationship with him.

An above average issue. Malcolm Devlin's story of a man revived in another body but with missing memories stands out for the questions it asks about what makes a personality. Shauna O'Meara's tale of a tourist taken for a VR ride to unexpected places was also exciting but tragic; for we are all fickle tourists in the end.

• "Rushford Recapitulation" by Christopher Mark Rose: a strange story about a small town where women start to give birth to things. The ending does not resolve how this strange sequence of events happen.

• "Like You, I Am A System" by Nathan Hillstrom: an AI system accidentally becomes conscious, destroys other copies of itself (but regrets it), enters the outside world and tries to remake humanity so that it can talk to humanity as a single being. It, of course, fails and regrets it.

• "Dirty Code" by Wayne Simmons: a story that starts off with a 'bounty hunter' who hunts and eliminates computer code viruses that have invaded human bodies; but ends up as something else, for the people involved are actually compassionate ones that want to also help the infected.

• "Encyphered" by Jonathan L. Howard: not much of a story about the life of a man who was fascinated with secret codes and cyphers, unless you're more interested in the history and current status of encryption.

• "The New Man" by Malcolm Devlin: a fascinating story about a man who, after a serious accident, is revived by having his memory and personality transferred to a new body. But the transfer is incomplete, leaving gaps in his memory and personality that he isn't even aware of. His family life suffers in the story, as does his work life as we learn more about this future where body transfers may be a growing trend.

• "Evangeline and the Forbidden Lighthouse" by Emily B. Cataneo: what starts off as a tale about two girls growing up together on a beach in the shadow of a lighthouse that apparently nobody can get to turns into an interesting story about determinism and decision as bottles appear with messages that apparently foretell the future.

• "Memories of Fish" by Shauna O'Meara: a look at a virtual reality future, where tourists view what remains via remote drones. But one tourist get a rough, fast, ride when the drone he's viewing get hijacked by a girl who wants to show him what the drones normally don't show. A fascinating future where forbidden glimpses, Twitter trends and fickle tourists become mingled with personal tragedy.

A fascinating anthology of speculative fiction from around the world. Not all the stories may be to your liking, but you will find interesting stories and new authors to discover. For me, I enjoyed the stories by Sabrina Huang, Chinelo Onwualu, Haralambi Markov, Yukimi Ogawa, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Saad Z. Hossain, Dilman Dila and Isabel Yap in this collection.

• "The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family" by Usman T Malik (Pakistan): a tale of the horrors of living in Pakistan at the mercy of terrorists, mixed in with the tale of a woman who seeks to understand the strange behaviour of her own blood.

• "Setting Up Home" by Sabrina Huang (Taiwan) (Translated by Jeremy Tiang): a short-short story about pieces of furniture appearing at a home of a man. It is only when a message arrives with the final item that the nice twist in the story is revealed.

• "The Gift of Touch" by Chinelo Onwualu (Nigeria): a struggling space cargo crew is asked to ferry a suspicious group of travellers. As the journey continues, and we discover the relationships between the crew, we learn the deadly religious purpose of the group and what the crew must do to stop it; and discover new relationships among themselves.

• "The Language of Knives" by Haralambi Markov (Bulgaria): the story of grief and anger as a husband is prepared to be turned into cakes for the gods by one person whose daughter is angry that the person gave up a warrior's life for the life of a cake-maker. Yet, the process of turning body into cakes may yet provide a path for reconciliation.

• "In Her Head, In Her Eyes" by Yukimi Ogawa (Japan): a strange girl who wears a round pot on her head is apprenticed into a house which makes patterns with dyes. Her apparent past from a legendary island intrigues the household, and she is intrigued, in turn, by the patterns they create. Yet she is often bullied, and it would turn out to be this bullying that would enlighten her desire to create patterns like them; a desire that can drive people to madness when she finally reveals what she is like underneath the pot.

• "The Farm" by Elana Gomel (Israel): a horror tale about a land overrun by aliens known as Eaters who emulate various body parts. One day, a soldier who nurses a strong hatred for Eaters and others 'not like him' sees a farm that looks like it is full of food and free of Eaters. But things are not as they look, and he discovers why the Eaters, who hunt humans, have left him alone; but not for much longer.

• "The Last Hours of the Final Days" by Bernardo Fernández (Mexico) (Translated by the author): it's the end of the world. A boy and a girl cruise through the remains of civilization as they wait for it to end. But when it does, their experience of it does not go as planned.

• "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Netherlands) (Translated by Laura Vroomen): a fascinating tale about two boys, one of whom casts no shadow and cannot be seen in mirrors (no, he's not a vampire) and the other appears to be made of glass. Bullying and standing out in school bring them together, becoming close friends and taking risks together. When they run off for the adventure of their lives, they learn things about themselves and about each other and become closer than friends. Brief sexual scenes may turn off some people, but the ending is wonderful.

• "First, Bite a Finger" by Johann Thorsson (Iceland): a very short and very uncomfortable story about a girl who become addicted to eating parts of her own body.

• "The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul" by Natalia Theodoridou (Greece): a stranded man on a desert island on an unknown world makes mechanical beasts to keep him company.

• "Djinns Live by the Sea" by Saad Z. Hossain (Bangaldesh): A wealthy tycoon starts seeing a presence who claims to be from an ancient time. Thinking him to be a djinn, the man asks it to fulfil a wish. But as with all such tales, you have to beware of what you wish for: in this case, a wish to know about the mysterious origins of the djinn.

• "How My Father Became a God" by Dilman Dila (Uganda): a nice story about a girl who cares for her father and thinks he is destined for greatest despite his 'inventions' not working. But her brothers disown him and think him mad. One day, they go behind his back and announce the girl's wedding. The father, mother and girl desperately run to escape. And it is during this time that they discover the secret of a haunted place that will cement the father's reputation.

• "Black Tea" by Samuel Marolla (Italy) (Translated by Andrew Tanzi): a horror-tale about four people lured into a house inhabited by a hungry beast who looks like an old woman. Suspense is added by the men losing their memories upon entering the house, and the only hint of the horror within are notes they've written to themselves about the woman just before their memories are gone.

• "Tiger Baby" by JY Yang (Singapore): a girl living a humdrum life in Singapore yearns to be free of her human body and be like the tiger in her dreams. But when the change comes, the reality of living in a tiger-free country is still strong.

• "Jinki and the Paradox" by Sathya Stone (Sri Lanka): a confusing tale of an experiment with probability and destiny on a planet by three colonies, one inhabited by an only child with strange gifts.

• "Colour Me Grey" by Swabir Silayi (Kenya): in a place where light is muted and all things are grey, a boy who strictly follows the rules is invited by its ruler to his residence, when he shows the boy the consequences of letting colour be seen.

• "Like a Coin Entrusted in Faith" by Shimon Adaf (Israel) (Translated by the author): a story that mixes up AI development with a Hebrew tale of a midwife seeing monsters being born. Not knowing enough about the culture, the story did not make much sense.

• "Single Entry" by Celeste Rita Baker (Virgin Islands): a weird tale about an entity who expands and shrinks during entry to a fair; unless I'm complete misreading the story.

• "The Good Matter" by Nene Ormes (Sweden) (Translated by Lisa J Isaksson and Nene Ormes): a man and a women bargain over old garments and artefacts. Then the man discovers the woman has a gift like him; the ability to 'inhale' the presence that the artefacts belong to. This particular artefact interest him for it was worn by a person considered saintly.

• "Pepe" by Tang Fei (Translated by John Chu): two apparently created 'kids' escape into the world, somehow escaping prosecution by not automatically telling stories (which is what they do). But now it may be time for a parting of ways.

• "Six Things We Found During the Autopsy" by Kuzhali Manickavel (India): the title says it all, although how the items ended up in the body and what they mean are a mystery to me.

• "The Symphony of Ice and Dust" by Julie Novakova (Czech Republic): an expedition to a dwarf planet leads to the discovery of an earlier expedition, another discovery and an attempt to revive the expedition that may live on in song.

• "The Lady of the Soler Colony" by Rocío Rincón (Spain) (Translated by James and Marian Womack): a story about workers at a colony working (or worshipping) under a huge statue that appears from out of the sea. But the day arrives when the statue opens to reveal its contents, crushing the colony and affecting the survivors.

• "The Four Generations of Chang E" by Zen Cho (Malaysia): an update retelling of the Chang E legend of travelling and living on the moon and returning from it. Also features the rabbit.

• "Pockets Full of Stones" by Vajra Chandrasekera (Sri Lanka): on a deep-space station, one person remains in touch with her grandfather, who is on a distant ship travelling at relativistic speed. The grandfather suddenly sends a message about making alien contact. But as other messages arrive, strange things start to happen on the station, and it may be up to her to figure out why it is happening and, perhaps, stop a kind of alien invasion from happening.

• "The Corpse" by Sese Yane (Kenya): a rather confusing story centred around the inner thoughts of a doctor who moves an unusual corpse into his garden for unknown reasons.

• "Sarama" by Deepak Unnikrishnan (The Emirates): initially a tale by a grandchild about his grandmother, it takes a strange turn as the unusual grandmother starts telling a tale from the Ramayana about how she came to be there. It just ends without a proper conclusion.

• "A Cup of Salt Tears" by Isabel Yap (Philippines): an interesting tale of a Japanese woman whose husband is dying. While having a bath, she encounters a kappa, a river spirit, who tells her that it was the one who saved her in her childhood from drowning. But can she now overcome her revulsion of the kappa to ask it for help to save her husband and possibly tying herself emotionally to the kappa?

A good issue, with a nice nod to Robert Heinlein's 'Crooked House' by David Erik Nelson and a fascinating tale by G. V. Anderson that starts out sounding like fantasy but slowly reveals itself to be SF via biological modification. Justin C. Key's 'alternative US slavery history' (with a small dose of fantasy) might be enjoyed by those into that time period; otherwise, it's probably too specific to find a bigger audience.

• "In A Wide Sky, Hidden" by William Ledbetter: a man travels the galaxy, searching for his sister who has left behind an enigmatic message about finding her through her art.

• "The Massochist's Assistant" by Auston Habershaw: an interesting tale about the assistant of a mage whose job is to try to kill his master; for what doesn't kill him will make him stronger. But the assistant's social standing in society suffers due to the mage's attempts at death antics until he is virtually exiled from society. And it may be up to the mage to help his restore it; even if it kills him.

• "The Bride in Sea-Green Velvet" by Robin Furth: a fascinating dark fantasy tale of a landlord who appears to have a fetish for the bones of dead women. In this story, he acquires what he believes is an especially beautiful skull of a woman who he plans to use in a dark, magical ceremony involving the sea that has been going on for generations, performed by his ancestors. Little does he know how the outcome of the ceremony will affect his own future for the worse.

• "There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House" by David Erik Nelson: a fascinating story about an unusual building in Detroit. Without going into too much detail, it tells the story of two people (and later, others) who find it curiously difficult to enter the house. But later, with the right key, they enter it, discover what its enticing contents are, and discover that leaving the house is now a challenge. Even more challenging is avoiding its chilling out-of-this-world occupant who is now hunting for them.

• "A Dog's Story" by Gardner Dozois: a short-short told from a dog's point of view of finding a girl's body and then, with the help of other animals, tracking down the killer and arranging a punishment. All in a dog's day.

• "I Am Not I" by G. V. Anderson: a fantastic tale that starts out sounding like fantasy but slowly reveals itself to be SF of a girl cast out from a famous family and seeks work at a body emporium. What the story reveals is an incredible world where humans are outcasts and treated like vermin in a world of genetically modified beings who see themselves as superior. The girl is desperate to fit into the world and to hide her background, but her world comes crashing down as her deception is revealed, and she has to accept that she is what she is.

• "Afiya's Song" by Justin C. Key: a long story set during the slave period in the US involving an unusual slave girl whose singing can cause healing. But things turn rebellious at the slave owner's plantation when the girl's husband is whipped to death.

• "An Obstruction to Delivery" by Sean Adams: to save money, a city strangely drives its postal service underground into former service tunnels. But things take a turn for the worse when postal workers start turning up as piles of bones. And it may need the help of a former postal worker, whose ideas on making the postal service wonderful are somewhat idealistic, to get to the bottom of the horror in the tunnels.

• "An Unearned Death" by Marissa Lingen: an interesting fantasy about a messenger of the gods whose cloak can reveal which god is willing to receive those who are about to die. But the messenger may have a difficult task ahead when she is called to find out who will receive a grandmother; for in this world, a sad fate awaits those who die without being accepted by any god.