Anthology
Contents
22 stories by Edward Willett. Search by title, or open the introduction first.
Front matter
Introduction
How these stories were written, sold, and gathered into a book.
Back matter
About the Author
Edward Willett — novels, short fiction, and a life between New Mexico and Saskatchewan.
01The Minstrel
THE MUSIC SANG OF THE INFINITE DARK and the suns that burn within it. It shimmered like starlight on alien seas, and whispered with the voices of strange winds.
02A Little Space Music
DRIPPING VISCOUS GREEN SLIME onto the brushed-steel plates of the recreation room floor, the pulsating blue slug reared until it towered a full meter above my head. Three eyes the colour of old blood reared up on black…
03Strange Harvest
THE TOMATO ROLLED ACROSS my coffee-spattered notes from the previous night’s school board meeting and fetched up against my Garfield cup with a “clink!”. I stared at the fruit, then tapped it with the end of my pen.
04Waterlilies
Danny eased a step closer to the black-leather couch. The rhesus macaque balanced on the armrest bared its teeth. Danny snarled back, then lunged. All he came up with was a handful of fur; the monkey, chattering,…
05Sins of the Father
AS HIS HOVERBOAT BURST INTO FLAMES, Richard Hansen plunged into the water.Thanks to the envirosuit, he felt no shock of cold, no sensation of pressure, as he let himself sink into the darkness. But he was shocked and…
06The Path of Souls
It’s true I am not Andillan. Nor are you, obviously. Not enough fur.
07Follow A Song
TELAR, PERCHED ON THE BOTTOM BRANCH of the dead tree, stared sheepishly down at his father, who glared up at him. “Telar,” said Annuin with some heat, “I am a blacksmith, but I cannot make a living as one when I must…
08Memory Jam
JIMMY CONKLIN SAT at Granny Noggin’s kitchen table, right hand wrapped around a water-beaded glass of milk, left hand holding a CD-sized chocolate-chip cookie. More cookies covered a blue china plate on the…
09The Rescue
THEY WERE CRASHING AGAIN. Alicia knew with sick certainty everything that was about to happen, but that did not lessen the terror.
10Devil’s Architect
TERRANCE WALKEDEN KNEW WEALTH when he saw it, and the woman who had just entered the showroom of the Pearly Gate exuded it like an exotic perfume. Money practically dripped from the vat-grown mink draped around her…
11Moon Baby
THE MOONQUAKE WASN'T MUCH, as such things went; back in Apollo City it wasn’t felt at all, though of course it registered clearly on the hordes of seismographs that recorded every twitch of the moon’s thick, cold crust.…
12The Daydark
THE THREE-WHEELED GROUNDCAR FISHTAILED around every curve in the rutted cart track, spraying dust and pebbles into the purple roadside weeds. The alien hobbling down the middle of the road didn’t even glance at it. Only…
13The Wind
Carl Seitz woke to the moaning of the eaves and sleepily reached for the other side of the bed—only to come suddenly awake when all his reaching fingers touched was the smooth, cool flatness of an empty sheet. He’d…
14Lost in Translation
KATY HELD ON TO MAMA WITH ONE HAND and clutched a chocolate ice cream cone with the other. Mama and Daddy talked and laughed and Katy smiled, feeling their laughter tickling her inside, with none of the ache she felt…
15Texente Tela Veneris
THE STATUE GLEAMED IN THE LEAFY SHADOWS like a pearl on green velvet, its white stone, unmarred by uncounted years of rain and wind, glowing as though lit from within. No sharp-edged shadow or too-bright glint of…
16Landscape With Alien
KAREEN ALDONA ADDED A WHITE HIGHLIGHT to the orange flank of a boulder, considered a moment, enlarged it a bit, then set her brush aside with a sigh. She had hoped to finish the painting that day, but shadows were…
17Janitor Work
DARRYL NORTON LOOKED GLUMLY at the dust-covered object before him. It seemed to him he had seen an inordinate number of dust-covered objects in his short life.
18The Strange One
IAN STUMBLED THROUGH KNEE-DEEP DRIFTS on numbing feet, the bone-chilling cold of the screaming wind creeping inexorably through his warmsuit, sapping his waning strength. He knew if he stopped he would freeze to death,…
19I Count the Lights
SELVAN HORI, TERRAN AMBASSADOR TO PREVARIS, paused on the stairs that spiralled around the Tower of the Silent God and peered anxiously at the pool of shadow in front of him. One of the green lights that gleamed eerily…
20The Mother’s Keepers
I WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD when the Krollians invaded for the first time.
21Fairy Tale
ON A SPRING DAY SO MAGNIFICENT the cankerworms were bungee-jumping from the tops of the elms out of pure glee, Alexander Parker found a fairy.
22Je me Souviens
THE HOPCAR SOARED OVER THE CRATER WALL and settled to the rock-strewn floor just a few metres away. Its bright-green metalwork, only slightly dulled by the dust its landing had raised, gleamed in the Earthshine.