Bøger af Gary W. Shockley

Shortly before Kato Whip was to become Kato Whip, he was waiting in line at a bank. He waited patiently, as he had done so countless times before. There was no hurry. Suddenly a woman crowded in front of him. He let it go. What did it matter? It wasn't that much more of a wait. But the more he thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. She had been rude not only to him but all the people behind him. In fact, by his inaction, he had implicitly condoned her every rude act going forward.The woman had finished at the window by the time he thought this through. As she exited the bank, he sought a glimpse of her face, but saw only that she wore a diaphanous white gown.At the bank window, instead of depositing his paycheck, he withdrew his life savings. Dropping by his place of employment, he turned in his resignation. Then (at last!) he changed his name to Kato Whip. With the clothes on his back and his life savings stuffed carelessly into them, he set off in search of the Diaphanous Woman. When he found her, and there was little doubt that he would, he'd give her a long overdue piece of his mind.But even as he began his search, the city landscape vanished, and he found himself on a forested ridge-on a world seemingly created just for his quest.500 pages

For Horatio Oberon Twitchgrove, the war had never ended. He fought as a child, as a teenager, as an adult. He fought into his twilight years. War was all he had ever known. Peacetime? Hah, like he could change now. It just meant trading his general's uniform for a crimelord's mantle. He proceeded with the same ruthless abandon as ever. Oh, he might be old now, battle-worn and broken-even wheelchair-bound. But he had his children. His grown children. What need had he of capable limbs when he had children to do his dirty-work? Through them he maintained his strangle-hold on the vices throughout the land.Still, there was Ronaldo, his youngest, born to too tame a wife. A bit problematic, that one. He'd never quite gotten it. Now he's gone off and found himself a young woman. Hah, of refined tastes! Naye, he's married her! She, without an ounce of bloodlust in her veins! Su, she calls herself. Without an E. As if that matters. As if anyone cares. Well, she'll have to prove her mettle to the whole family. One year. He's given her one year to demonstrate her worthiness to bear the Twitchgrove name. Who says he's not compassionate? That's plenty of time to commit an atrocity most foul.Approx. 250 pages.

On the sanctuary world Hearth 7, with its world-forest of mile-high trees, Sarah joins a band of troubled women. All have suffered past traumas. While Sarah expects a positive and supportive group, she receives a rather cool welcome; and the only support seems to come through a need to cooperate to survive. In this unbearably hot and humid forest, with almost no supplies, they must continually flee before migrations of hostile insects. And that is only the start of the problems. 150 pages

Centuries ago, on another planet, a few people took refuge in the swamp. They did so to escape the Five Continent Wars. When the wars ended, the people stayed. The swamp had become their home. And the swamp tolerated their presence-as long as they did not try to change its nature.This is their story. 188 pages.

The short stories in this collection could best be described as slipstream. Defying genre boundaries, they flirt with the hard and soft of science fiction, veer into playful absurdity, or turn darkly macabre. Often drawing inspiration from surrealism, they go to unexpected places. To paraphrase a line from one story, "They have a high degree of surprisingness." Collected herein are eighteen stories chosen from a lifetime of writing. A handful are reprints of published stories. Some have won awards. But the large majority are seeing the light of day for the first time.To those seeking something different, this might be the collection for you.Approx. 500 pages.