Short Fiction C

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Cabinet Meeting
[7900 words]

After the invasion of both coasts by conquering armies, Henry David Thoreau Montoya y Florit, the President of the United States, escapes to a small town in Oklahoma, which he rechristens New Washington.  In his bunker under a service station, he awaits the outcome, with the only object rescued from the White House, a chifforobe built for Thomas Jefferson.  Then the cabinet's sole possession, a coathanger, begins speaking to him.


  1. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine #2 (George H. Scithers)
    [New York: Davis Publications], Summer 1977 ($1.00); pp. 64 - 85 [illustrated by Tim Kirk]












  2. [as Riunione ristretta]
    [Italian translation by Lea Grevi]
    La Rivista di Isaac Asimov 2 (George H. Scithers)
    [Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore], Summer 1978 (Lire 1.000); pp. 30 - 52











  3. [as El armario de las negociaciones]
    [Spanish translation by Miguel Giménez Sales]
    Isaac Asimov's Ciencia Ficción #2
    [Barcelona: Picazo] [ISBN 84-361-0214-2], Feb 1980; pp. 69 - 93











  4. Aliens and UFO's: Extraterrestrial Tales from Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Cynthia Manson & Charles Ardai)
    • New York: Smithmark [ISBN 0-8317-0436-5] [hc], Sep 1993 ($9.98); pp. 93 - 116
The Calling of Paisley Coldpony
[14800 words]
  1. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine #126 (Gardner Dozois)
    [New York: Davis Publications], Jan 1988 ($2.00); pp. 86 - 117 [illustrated by Linda Burr]













  2. Chapters 15 - 17 of Unicorn Mountain (MB), Jun 1988; pp. 146 - 176















  3. Transcendental Tales from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Gardner Dozois)
    • Norfolk VA: Starblaze / The Donning Company [ISBN 0-89865-762-8] [trade paperback], Aug 1989 ($7.95); pp. 147 - 183













  4. Unicorns II (Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois)
    • New York: Ace 84564 [ISBN 0-441-84564-9] [pb], Nov 1992 ($4.99); pp. 1 - 40
    • New York: Baen Books [ISBN 978-1-62579-118-4] [ebook], Mar 2013 ($4.00)
       
Cathadonian Odyssey
[7800 words]

Maria Jill Ian is the only survivor of the survey probeship that crash lands on the newly discovered planet Cathadonia.  As she treks across a landscape of small pools and willow trees, her sole companion is a native creature that she has named Bracero.  Maria soon discovers the extent of the powers that this small creature possesses.

"Cathadonian Odyssey" dates from the same period [as "Blooded on Arachne"].  Its exotic landscape, its gutsy heroine, and its dependence on such venerable sf conceits as downed spacefarers, mysterious aliens, and telekinesis — well, these are flourishes that still occasionally appeal to me.  I had just desultorily read a book entitled Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain because it seemed to me at the time that an aspiring sf writer ought to know such things. — from Preface to Blooded on Arachne


  1. Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction #280 (Edward L. Ferman)
    [Cornwall CT: Mercury Press], Sep 1974 ($.75); pp. 90 - 108 [cover illustrated by Jeannine Guertin]












  2. [as Kyasadonia no odessei]
    [Japanese translation by Hisashi Asakura]
    S-F Magazine #197
    [Tokyo: Hayakawa Publishing Inc.], Apr 1975; pp. 68 - 88













  3. The 1975 Annual World's Best SF (Donald A. Wollheim)
    • New York: DAW Books UY1170 [#148] [ISBN 0-87997-170-3] [pb], May 1975 ($1.50); pp. 209 - 228
    • New York: DAW Books [book club edition published by Doubleday] [hc], Sep 1975 ($2.49); pp. 214 - 233
    • [as The World's Best SF Short Stories, No. 2]
      Morley, Yorkshire UK: The Elmfield Press [ISBN 0-705-70076-3] [hc], Nov 1976 (£4.95); pp. 209 - 228
    • [as Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Four]
      New York: DAW Books UE1585 [ISBN 0-87997-585-7] [pb], Dec 1980 ($2.25); pp. 209 - 228





















  4. [as Odyssée sur Cathadonie]
    [French translation by Bruno Martin]
    Nouvelles Frontiéres 1 (Alain Dorémieux)
    • Paris: Editions Opta [Fiction-Special #24] [pb], 1975 (12 F); pp. 5 - 31












  5. [as Sinedonisk Odyssé]
    [Swedish translation]
    Jules Verne Magasinet #358 (Sam J. Lundwall)
    [Stockholm: Sam J. Lundwall Fakta & Fantasi], Feb 1976














  6. [as La odisea de Catadonia]
    [Spanish translation by César Terrón]
    Nueva dimensión #110 (Domingo Santos)
    [Barcelona: Ediciones Dronte], Mar 1979












  7. Blooded on Arachne (MB), Jan 1982; pp. 31 - 54















  8. [as Odyssee auf Cathadonia]
    [German Translation by Johannes R. Blasius]
    Arachne (MB), Jun 1983, pp. 37 - 59














  9. [as Odyssee auf Cathadonia]
    [German translation by Joachim Koerber]
    Science Fiction Jahrbuch 1987 (Hans Joachim Alpers)
    • Rastatt, Germany: Moewig SF 3703 [ISBN 3-8118-3703-6] [pb], Sep 1986 (DM 10,00); pp. 147 - 165












  10. [as Odissea di Catadonia]
    [Italian translation by Vittorio Curtoni]
    Millemondinverno 1986
    • Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore [pb], Nov 1986 (Lire 7.000); pp. 174 - 193











  11. [as Cathadonische odyssee]
    [Dutch translation]
    De beste Science Fiction verhalen
    • Amsterdam: HEMA/Loeb [pb], 1986












  12. [as Cathadonische odyssee]
    [Dutch translation by Anita C. van de Ven]
    Top SF 2 (Josh Pachter)
    • Amsterdam: Loeb [ISBN 44-90-100-892] [pb], 1986













  13. [as Cathadonische odyssee]
    [Dutch translation by Pieter Cramer]
    Science Fiction omnibus (Josh Pachter)
    • Amsterdam: Loeb [pb], 1990












  14. [as Cathadonia-Odyssee]
    [German translation by Edda Petri]
    Top Science Fiction 3 (Josh Pachter)
    • Munich: Heyne SF 4654 [ISBN 3-453-03918-1] [pb], 1990 (DM 9,80)












  15. [as Kyasadonia no odessei]
    [Japanese translation by Hisashi Asakura]
    S-F Magazine #400
    [Tokyo: Hayakawa Publishing], Oct 1990; pp. 504 - 525 [illustrated by Hiroyuki Kato and Keisuke Goto]











  16. The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy (MB) (Michael H. Hutchins, ed.), Feb 2012; pp. 31 - 48
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
[2250 words]
  1. Tor.com (Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
    [New York: Tom Doherty Associates], Jul 11, 2011
    [Online Publication]
    [illustrated by Scott Brundage; with an introduction by Hayden]


  2. The Stories: Five Years of Original Fiction on Tor.com (Patrick Nielsen Hayden & Liz Gorinsky)
    • New York: Tor [no ISBN] [ebook, PDF format], Aug 2013 ($0.00); pp. 497 - 504 [illustrated by Scott Brundage]













  3. A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals (MB), Nov 2021; pp. 195 - 201
Change of Life
[5100 words]
  1. New York Stories (Daniel Caplice Lynch)
    [Long Island City NY: LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, ISSN 1096-2956], Spring 2004 ($5.95); pp. 24 - 30 [photo-illustrated by Rose Mackiewicz]











  2. Driftwood (Michele Colonna)
    [San Francisco: Driftwood Press, ISBN 0-9774596-1-6], Summer 2006 ($13.00); pp. 107 - 124
    [an earlier variant of the text first published in New York Stories]













  3. Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories (MB), Jun 2017; pp. 174 - 186












Chihuahua Flats
[5000 words]

A kennel products salesman falls for a sexy Tex-Mex dog breeder, and to prove his love, he must endure the vindictive wrath of her favorite chihuahua.

Although hardly an opinion of apocalyptic dimensions, I find chihuahuas both silly and obnoxious.  I like dogs in general, but this breed inspires only my irritation, a bigotry requiring painful atonement, either now or posthumously.  . . . In 1994 (I believe), Gardner Dozois invited me to contribute to an anthology of original ghostly love stories.  I figured that his brief would elicit stories more tragic, frightening, or elegiac in tone than otherwise and resolved to go against the grain by submitting a comedy.  And so I wrote “Chihuahua Flats,” which generally gets a positive reaction when I read it aloud, even from auditors who later confide that they own a chihuahua or two and that my story nails their prickly possessiveness.  As a result, I like chihuahuas a bit better than I used to and have even considered acquiring one for a pet — if a mutant parvovirus wipes out every other breed, not excluding chows, pit bulls, and neurotic cocker spaniels.  (Dare I admit that our neighbors on King Avenue, the Phillips family, own a dachshund-chihuahua mix that I sometimes feed table scraps and stoop in the darkness to pet?)  — from Afterword to Brighten to Incandescence


  1. Killing Me Softly: Erotic Tales of Unearthly Love (Gardner Dozois)
    • New York: HarperPrism [ISBN 0-06-105328-7] [trade pb], Nov 1995 ($12.00); pp. 233 - 248
    • New York: HarperPrism 105611 [ISBN 0-06-105611-1] [pb], Sep 1996 ($5.99)










  2. Brighten to Incandescence (MB), Jun 2003; pp. 32 - 45
















  3. Infinity Plus (Keith Brooke)
    Online Publication, Jun 2003
Cicada, Inc.
[4000 words]
  1. Interzone #185 (David Pringle)
    [Brighton, UK: Interzone, ISSN 0264-3596], Jan 2003 (£3.50); pp. 35 - 39
The City Quiet as Death
(written with Steven Utley) [5900 words]

  1. Tor.com (Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
    [New York: Tom Doherty Associates], June 9, 2009
    [Online Publication] [illustrated by Jon Foster]



  2. The City Quiet as Death
    • New York: Tor [ISBN 978-1-4299-2498-6] [ebook in Kindle, Nook, and Ipad formats], Feb 2011 ($0.99); 32 pp.













  3. The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy (MB) (Michael H. Hutchins, ed.), Feb 2012; pp. 491 - 504














  4. The Stories: Five Years of Original Fiction on Tor.com (Patrick Nielsen Hayden & Liz Gorinsky)
    • New York: Tor [no ISBN] [ebook, PDF format], Aug 2013 ($0.00); pp. 3507 - 3528 [illustrated by Jon Foster]
The City Takes Care of Its Own
[600 words]
[An "Urban Nucleus of Atlanta" story]
  1. Interlude in Catacomb Years (MB), Jan 1979; pp. 126 - 128














  2. [as Die Stadt sorgt für die Ihren]
    [German translation by Walter Brumm]
    Die Jahre in den Katakomben (MB), 1982; pp. 110 - 112
Close Encounter with the Deity
[4200 words]
  1. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Gardner Dozois)
    [New York: Davis Publications], Mar 1986; pp. 101 - 110
    [illustrated by Gary Freeman]













  2. Close Encounters with the Deity (MB), Aug 1986; pp. 1 - 13















  3. Transcendental Tales from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Gardner Dozois)
    • Norfolk VA: Starblaze / The Donning Company [ISBN 0-89865-762-8] [trade pb], Aug 1989 ($7.95); pp. 243 - 254













  4. [as Eine intensive Begegnung mit der Gottheit]
    [German translation by Yoma Cap]
    Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazin 37 (Friedel Wahren)
    • Munich: Heyne SF 4795 [ISBN 3-453-04991-8] [pb], 1991 (DM 12,80); pp. 7 - 23
Cold War Orphans
[11300 words]

Is "Cold War Orphans" science fiction?  Only marginally.  It takes place — for the most part — in Incirlik, Turkey, in 1957.  It deals with our U2 overflights of the Soviet Union and the men who made them.  The bulk of the story consists of a letter from one of the U2 pilots to his twelve-year-old son back in Kansas.  ...  To my mind, sf or no, it's one of the best pieces of fiction I've ever written. — from Michael Bishop: A Self-Interview Update


  1. Their Immortal Hearts (Bruce McAllister [uncredited])
    • Reno NV: West Coast Poetry Review [ISBN 0-915596-24-5] [trade paperback], May 1980 ($5.00); pp. 7 - 36












  2. [as Ein Ereignis im kalten Krieg]
    [German translation by Rainer Schmidt]
    Kopernikus 5 (Hans Joachim Alpers)
    • Rastatt, Germany: Moewig SF 3563 [ISBN 3-8118-3563-7] [pb], Feb 1982 (DM 6,80); pp. 174 - 208











  3. One Winter in Eden (MB), Jan 1984; pp. 52 - 83
















  4. [as Ein Ereignis im kalten Krieg]
    [German translation by Rainer Schmidt]
    Science Fiction Highlights 6 (Hans Joachim Alpers)
    • Rastatt, Germany: Pabel/Moewig SF 3712 [ISBN 3-8118-3712-5] [pb], 1986 (DM 10,00)
Collaborating
[7000 words]
  1. Rooms of Paradise (Lee Harding)
    • South Yarra, Australia: Quartet Books [ISBN 0-908128-04-5] [hc] (A$10.95), 1978; pp. 113 - 130
    • New York: St. Martin's Press [ISBN 0-312-69306-0] [hc], Oct 1979 ($8.95); pp. 113 - 130
    • Victoria, Australia: Penguin Books Australia Ltd. [ISBN 0-14-070090-0] [pb] (A$4.50), Jun 1981; pp. 113 - 130







  2. The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series VII (Gerald W. Page)
    • New York: DAW Books UJ1476 [#346] [ISBN 0-87997-476-1] [pb], Jul 1979 ($1.95); pp. 173 - 191
    • Canada: DAW Books / New American Library of Canada UJ1476 [#346] [ISBN 0-87997-476-1] [pb], Jul 1979 (C$2.25); pp. 173 - 191















  3. Fantasy Annual III (Terry Carr)
    • New York: Timescape / Pocket 41272 [ISBN 0-671-41272-8] [pb], May 1981 ($2.95); pp. 33 - 52
















  4. One Winter in Eden (MB), Jan 1984; pp. 128 - 150
















  5. [as Colaboración]
    [Spanish translation]
    Las Mejores historias de terror IV (Gerald W. Page)
    • Barcelona: Ediciones Martínez Roca [pb], 1984













  6. Top Fantasy (Josh Pachter)
    • London: J. M. Dent and Sons [ISBN 0-460-04659-4] [hc], Jun 1985 (£9.50); pp. 33 - 50
    • London: J. M. Dent and Sons [ISBN 0-460-02467-1] [trade pb], Jul 1986 (£3.50); pp. 33 - 50












  7. [as Zusammenarbeit]
    [German translation by Franz Rottensteiner]
    Top Fantasy Band 2 (Josh Pachter)
    • Munich: Heyne SF 4518 [ISBN 3-453-02775-2] [pb], 1988 (DM 9,80)












  8. [as Collaborazione]
    [Italian translation by Lydia Di Marco]
    Inverno Horror 1991
    • Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore [pb]; Oct 1991 (Lire 8.000); pp. 286 - 305











  9. Horrorstory, Volume Three (Karl Edward Wagner)
    • Lancaster PA: Underwood-Miller
      1. [ISBN 0-88733-107-6] [trade hardcover], Jan 1992 ($39.95); pp. 141 - 156
      2. [ISBN 0-88733-108-4] [signed limited hardcover], Mar 1992 ($150.00); pp. 141 - 156











  10. [as Collaborazione]
    [Italian translation by Gianni Pilo]
    Orrori e incubi (Gerald W. Page)
    • Rome: Newton & Compton [I Nuovi Best-seller 43] [ISBN 88-8183-940-7] [pb], Mar 1998 (LIre 7.900); pp. 199 - 219
The Contributors to Plenum Four
[1500 words]
  1. New Dimensions 5 (Robert Silverberg)
    • New York: Harper & Row [ISBN 0-06-013870-X] [hc], Apr 1975; pp. 208 - 213
    • New York: Harper & Row [book club edition published by Doubleday] [hc],
      Jun 1975; pp. 187 - 192
    • London: Gollancz [ISBN 0-575-02087-3] [hc], Jan 1976 (£3.20); pp. 208 - 213
    • New York: Perennial Library P354 [ISBN 0-06-080354-1] [pb], Sep 1976 ($1.95); pp. 208 - 213

















  2. A Reverie for Mister Ray (MB), May 2005; pp. 84 - 88














  3. A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals (MB), Nov 2021; pp. 45 - 48
The Cradle Begins to Rock
[600 words]
[An "Urban Nucleus of Atlanta" story]
  1. Interlude in Catacomb Years (MB), Jan 1979; pp. 273 - 275














  2. [as Die Wiege beginnt zu schaukeln]
    [German translation by Walter Brumm]
    Die Jahre in den Katakomben (MB), 1982; pp. 255 - 256
Crazy About Each Other
[5400 words]
  1. The Chattahoochee Review Vol. XI, No. 3 (Lamar York)
    [Dunwoody GA: Dekalb College, ISSN 0741-9155], Spring 1991 ($3.50); pp. 1 - 13













  2. Pulphouse, A Fiction Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7 (Dean Wesley Smith)
    [Eugene OR: Pulphouse Publishing], Nov 29 1991 ($3.50); pp. 17 - 22











  3. Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories (MB), Jun 2017; pp. 77- 89












The Creature on the Couch
[8700 words]

An Atlanta psychologist agrees to counsel an 8-foot masked recluse who lives and works in a warehouse just outside of town — the morose giant is suspected as the source of nocturnal howlings recently reported in the area.  With each secret therapy session, the good doctor is more certainly convinced his patient is indeed the revived, wretched offspring of Victor Frankenstein.


  1. The Ultimate Frankenstein (Byron Preiss)
    • New York: Dell 50352 [ISBN 0-440-50352-3] [trade pb], Oct 1991 ($10.00); pp. 39 - 68
    • New York: Dell [book club edition published by Doubleday] [hc], Jan 1992; pp. 29 - 52
    • London: Headline 3831 [ISBN 0-7472-3831-6] [pb], Jun 1992 (£4.99); pp. 45 - 78
    • London: Headline [ISBN 0-7472-0553-1] [hc], Jul 1992 (£15.99); pp. 45 - 78
    • New York: ibooks [ISBN 0-7434-5838-9] [pb], Mar 2003 ($7.99)



















  2. [as Yokotawaru kaibutsu]
    [Japanese translation by Takenori Nanjo]
    The Ultimate Frankenstein, Volume 1 (Byron Preiss)
    • Tokyo: Ta-Ke Shobo Bunko KH-3 [ISBN 4-88475-157-4] [pb], Nov 1992












  3. [as La creatura sul divano]
    [Italian translation by Sergio Perrone]
    Il ritorno di Frankenstein (Byron Preiss)
    • Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore [Varia Fantascienza] [ISBN 88-04-37254-0] [hc], May 1993 (Lire 29.000); pp. 45 - 74











  4. [as Die Kreatur auf der Couch]
    [German translation by Kamela Kiel]
    Das Beste von Frankenstein (Byron Preiss)
    • Bergisch Gladbach, Germany: Bastei-Lübbe 13443 [ISBN 3-404-13443-5] [pb], Apr 1993












  5. [as La criatura en la litera]
    [Spanish translation by Francisco Rodríguez de Lecea]
    Frankenstein Insólito (Byron Preiss)
    • Barcelona: Timun Mas [ISBN 84-7722-796-9] [hc], Jun 1992
    • Barcelona: Timun Mas [ISBN 84-480-4204-2] [pb], Nov 1996 [as El Mito de Frankenstein]






  6. [as Het Schepsel op de Bank]
    [Dutch translation by Irene Tjemmes-Lodewijk]
    Het uur van Frankenstein (Byron Preiss)
    • The Hague, Netherlands: ZHU/Areopagus [ISBN 90-5112-425-2] [trade pb], 1993; pp. 41 - 66
Cri de Coeur
[26000 words]

This was an attempt on my part to write the kind of story that most people don't think I can write — a story which is grounded so thoroughly in the sciences that people can accept it as being credible.  I had Geoff Landis, winner of a Nebula Award for short story and an employee of NASA, vet a lot of the things I had done here.


  1. Asimov's Science Fiction #220 (Gardner Dozois)
    [New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Magazines], Sep 1994; pp. 114 - 165
    [cover illustration: Ron Fleming; interior illustration: George H. Krauter]











  2. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection (Gardner R. Dozois)
    • New York: St. Martin's Press; Jul 1995; pp. 355 - 401
      1. [ISBN 0-312-13222-0] [hardcover] ($26.95)
      2. [ISBN 0-312-13221-2] [trade paperback] ($16.95)
    • New York: St. Martin's Press [book club edition published by Doubleday] [hc], Sep 1995 ($14.98); pp. 420 - 475








  3. [Italian translation by Giancarlo Carlotti]
    Isaac Asimov Science Fiction Magazine 16
    [Bologna: Phoenix Enterprise Pub. Co., ISSN 1122-6420], Aug 1995 (Lire 6.500); pp. 6 - 68












  4. [German translation by Christian Mähr]
    Heyne Science Fiction Jahresband 1999 (Wolfgang Jeschke)
    • Munich: Heyne 6301 [ISBN 3-453-14899-1] [pb], Mar 1999 (DM 19,90); pp. 219 - 313












  5. Blue Kansas Sky (MB), Oct 2000; pp. 132 - 191
















  6. [as Krzyk z serca]
    [Polish translation by Anna Klimasara]
    Rakietowe szlaki tom 6 (Lech Jęczmyka and Wojtek Sedeńki)
    • Warsaw, Poland: Wydawnictwo Solaris [ISBN 978-83-7590-084-2] [hc], Jun 2012 (55,90 zł)











  7. Forever #37 (Neil Clarke)
    [Stirling NJ: Wyrm Publishing], [ebook], Feb 2018 ($2.99)
Cutouts

(see Her Smoke Rose Up Forever)
Cyril Berganske
[5600 words]

Phillip Devers, a psychiatrist, is uncertain why his new patient, Cyril Berganske, a nosebleeder, has come to him for help.  Through his questioning, the doctor begins to believe that Berganske may have a Messiah complex.  But in a time of civil unrest and terrorist attacks, perhaps the world may need a savior.

[This story] stems from the fact that for the past twenty-five years or so I have suffered from periodic nosebleeds.  It may not pay to say much more than that.  I guess I could also mention, however, that the echo of the name of Edmund Rostand's hero, Cyrano de Bergerac, is deliberate, given that noses figure prominently in both Rostand's play and my story.


  1. Omni Magazine Online (Ellen Datlow)
    [New York: Omni Publications International Ltd.], May 1997




  2. Quantum Speculative Fiction (Kurt Roth)
    [Ames IA: Obscura Press], 1999 [loose-leaf binder]; pp. 135 - 150










 

Compiled by Michael H. Hutchins

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