A woman thinks she’s being haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover, and enlists her friend to try to exorcise it.
“Wish Wash” by Sarah Read
Two boys are granted wishes by an old man they find in a dead tree, and become locked in a prisoner’s dilemma when one tries to steal the wish of the other.
“The Pelt” by Annie Neugebauer
A woman finds a mysterious pelt from an unidentified animal hanging on a fence at her farm, and begins to doubt that she understands anything about her husband and her home. This…
“Slow Tuesday Night” by R.A. Lafferty
A madcap night of invention, romance, and commerce in a world where the limits on human decisions have been listed and people are able to follow their whims at breakneck speed. This…
“Thunder and Roses” by Theodore Sturgeon
In the aftermath of a one-sided nuclear war, an entertainer travels to military bases in decline due to grief and madness to dissuade any attempt at world-ending revenge. A weird and melancholy…
“Pretty Boy Crossover” by Pat Cadigan
A club-hopping Pretty Boy is tempted by representatives of a tech corporation to enter the network and become self-aware data. A trippy cyberpunk story of temptation and resistance from the era of…
“The Golem” by Avram Davidson
A retired Jewish couple is visited by a golem-like android, and they unwittingly turn the tables on its plot to subjugate humankind to its will. This is a wonderfully charming story; Davidson…
“Forever Yours, Anna” by Kate Wilhelm
A graphologist is hired to find a woman who wrote love letters to a scientist killed in an accident at a top secret lab, and discovers a surprising secret. I like a…
“Computer Friendly” by Eileen Gunn
A girl befriends a pair of rambunctious kids at a test for their future placement in a cybernetic network, and goes on a quest to prevent them from being liquidated as unassimilable….
“Everywhere” by Geoff Ryman
A young man in the near future reflects on his grandfather’s passing and the way technology intersects with his daily life. This is an interesting look into the rather mundane effects that…