Showing results for "Kelley" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Phillip Wing is the architect of one of the Seven New Wonders of the World: the Glass Cloud. But construction has fallen behind schedule, costs have skyrocketed, and the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled. The mysterious alien Messengers step in to save the Glass Cloud but at a terrible cost to Wing and his wife, Daisy.

He's a simple man, trying to live a simple life. He works at a dry cleaner and lives by himself. He doesn't have any friends and doesn't dare to reach out to others because there's a monster inside of him, a bloody-minded creature he's fighting a losing battle to control. He prays to God for help knowing that, unless his prayers are answered very soon, he will go on a killing spree. A taut tale of suspense and the fantastic, that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last sentence.

What is love? A profound and life-changing emotion, or a heady brew of neurochemicals washing through your brain? Two young medical students take a break from their studies to enjoy a night out at a neuromance palace, where for a mere $40 you can fall deeply in love and out again in a single carefree evening. Here's a romantic comedy about sales techniques, square-dancing, and hormones gone wild.

Here's a time travel tale that takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 12 year-old Ray stumbles upon an android from the future that has been sent back to 1962 to change the course of our history. What he asks Ray to help him do will shock you in this gripping story of impossible choices. This story won the Hugo for Best Novelette in 2000.

In a future where virtual reality shows are the dominant entertainment form, a damaged young woman has the uncanny ability to impersonate the dead celebrities of the late 20th Century, bringing them to life once again for the nostalgia market. A bittersweet tale of fame lost and found, with an ending you'll never guess.

In this charming romantic comedy, a divorced single mom decides to re-enter the dating scene via an ad in the personals section of her local paper. Among the many men who answer the ad is the mysterious Gardiner, who writes poems, breeds daylilies, and has the unsettling ability to know exactly the right thing to say to win a woman's heart. What is his secret?

This novelette won the Hugo award in 1996 and has been hailed by many as a science-fiction classic. Intelligent dinosaurs from outer space offer humanity the chance to use their transporter technology to join the galactic culture, but at a terrible price. When a routine transport goes wrong, one man must face the consequences of becoming too much like an alien.

Imagine a race of marsupial-like aliens who have not two, but three sexes: father, birth-mother, and nurture-mother. The difficulties of married life are further complicated by adding another partner, but this culture has worked out its own unique solution. The arrival of a new race of space-faring aliens, however, will change everything.

The aliens have made contact with us, and they're very alien indeed. What's worse, they bring news that will shake the world's religions to their core. Who will stand up to them? Saint Theresa believes God has called her to do so in this novelette, a Nebula Award finalist.

A revolutionary young woman and her sentient spaceship have the technology to travel through time. In the aftermath of a space battle they are hurled 20 million years into their future and stranded there. When they find that civilization has all but vanished, they set out to learn why. This pyrotechnic space opera was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.

Where did all the men go? When aliens make all men disappear from Earth, the women left behind struggle to rebuild the shattered human culture. Years later, private investigator Fay Hardaway is hired by a grieving mother to investigate the mysterious suicide of her daughter. The aliens take an interest in the case as well, as does a religious cult bent on breaking the aliens' stranglehold on Earth.

An overweight draftsman with a love for science fiction answers an ad in the back of his favorite magazine. It promises an incredible weight-loss miracle, but the return address is from Brimstone, Texas. In this wacky tale of diet and revenge, getting what you wish for might cost your immortal soul.

Here's an emotional tale of family secrets set in 2038. Jen has been estranged from her father, a Shakespearian actor, ever since he got divorced from her mother years and years ago. But when her mother dies, Jen is astonished to discover that she has left her ex-husband a fortune in her will. Jen tries to confront her father, but first she must get past the robot that cares for him. This is a Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon nominee, and the winner of the Locus Award for best short story of 1997.

Welcome to a survivalist's nightmare. On the day a nuclear war is threatening to break out, his wife's car dies 20 miles away from the bunker he has so painstakingly prepared. He has to go get her, but what price is he willing to pay to keep his family safe in the face of the impending holocaust?

A psychological study masquerading as an experiment in time travel lures an undergraduate English major to volunteer. To the astonishment of the psychologists in charge of the study, he takes their instructions to heart - with horrific results.

Mike has it all: a loving wife, a bright son, a steady job, and a house on a lake. Then why does he feel as though he had locked himself in and thrown away the key? And what is the meaning of the disturbing dream that haunts him night after night, the one in which he is revealed to be a coward? In a horrifying moment that shatters his tranquil life, his courage will be put to the ultimate test.

When the bombs fell, there were precious few survivors. Young Lucy and Juan were spared, but they fell into the clutches of the Bad Daddy. After their escape, they scavenge through the ruins in New England, barely able to make sense of the civilization that destroyed itself, until they meet Hannah, who has a vision and, perhaps, the technology to make it come true.

A career woman, wracked by guilt over the death of her young daughter, begins to find toys scattered around her house. Is she being haunted or going mad? Her psychiatrist insists that it's all in her mind but the truth is far stranger - and emotionally wrenching.

Once humans began to live permanently in outer space, the harsh realities of that hostile environment became all too apparent. Still, many sought to move to the high frontier and break away from Earth. Not all were fit for this difficult life, however, and this is the tragic story of one would-be astronaut who was forced to back down from her dream of space.

An alien has crash landed in a sleepy country town, and its ship stands guard over the fallen spaceman. When some unlikely townsfolk happen upon the site of the tragedy, what began as a game turns into a deadly first contact - with consequences for all humankind.