Monday, October 8, 2018

For Your Reading Pleasure

Clarkesworld is an SF magazine that sometimes runs reprints. Twice, they have run TOFian reprints. "The Promise of God" ran in June 2016. And in May 2018, they reprinted "In Panic Town, on the Backward Moon."


The Promise of God
You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.
It began to grow cold in the cabin after the sun went down, and Nealy thought about building a fire. It would be a fine fire, roaring and crackling and toasting warm. It would light the room with a delicious dancing light, and he and Greta could beek on the outer hearth. He loved the way that firelight played off Greta’s features, making them red and soft and shiny; and he loved the way the smoky smells of the burning wood blended with the earthy smells of Greta herself. Yes, a fire was surely what was needed.

The wood was stacked against the back wall. He had chopped it himself, as Greta had asked. Use the axe, she had told him before leaving to trek down the mountainside to the village. Don’t do it the Other Way.
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In Panic Town, on the Backward Moon

The man who slipped into the Second Dog that day was thin and pinch-faced and crossed the room with a half-scared, furtive look. Willy cut off in the middle of a sentence and said, “I wonder what that Gof wants?” The rest of us at the table turned to watch. An Authority cop at the next table, busy not noticing how strong the near-beer was, slipped his hand into his pocket, and VJ loosened the knife in his ankle scabbard. Robbery was rare in Panic Town—making the getaway being a major hurdle—but it was not unknown.

Hot Dog sucked the nipple of his beer bottle. “He has something.”

“Something he values,” suggested Willy.

VJ chuckled. “That a man values something is no assurance that the thing is valuable. It might be a picture of his sainted grandmother.” But he didn’t think so, and neither did anyone else in the Dog.

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3 comments:

  1. Thanks, good stories. I enjoyed reading them again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your "The Clapping Hand of God" is a good work underanthologized. Also, you left out one story from Captive Dreams that qualified in locale but not in tone. Let these two be in your next collection.
       -- Occasional Correspondent

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  3. I enjoyed both stories, but "The Promise of God" is one I think will be with me for a long time. Extremely nice work there.

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