FP201209 September 2012 Fairwood Press Books

Summer of the Apocalypse

by James Van Pelt

End of an Aeon

by Bridget and Marti McKenna

Absalom's Mother

by Louise Marley

Branegate

by James C. Glass

FP201210 October 2012 Fairwood Press Books

Strangers and Beggars

by James Van Pelt

The Last of the O-Forms

by James Van Pelt

The Radio Magician & Other Stories

by James Van Pelt

FP201211 November 2012 Fairwood Press Books

Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille

by James Van Pelt

Over the Darkened Landscape

by Derryl Murphy

The Child Goddess

by Louise Marley

Pandora's Gun

by James Van Pelt

Blue Yonders, Grateful Pies and Other Fancy Feasts

by Ken Scholes

Cracking the Sky

by Brenda Cooper

Strangers and Beggars gathers together for the first time seventeen stories — one of them previously unpublished — by new talent, James Van Pelt, showcasing his explorations in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Human, compassionate and imaginative, Strangers and Beggars is a must-have collection from one of science fiction's most interesting newcomers.

When a plague wipes out most of humanity, fifteen-year-old Eric sets out to find his father. Sixty years later, Eric starts another long journey in an America that has long since quit resembling our own, but there are shadows everywhere. Shadows of what the world once was, and shadows from Eric's past. Blood bandits, wolves, fire, feral children, and an insane militia are only a few of the problems Eric faces. Set in Denver, Colorado and the western foothills, Van Pelt’s first novel is both a coming-of-age tale, and a story of an old man's search for hope in the midst of disaster. Eric’s two adventures lead him through a slice of modern America and into the depths of one man’s heart.

From a giant spider that can’t be ignored in a high school classroom, to humanity facing a mutagen plague, to the last two robots witnessing the end of the universe, this comprehensive collection includes sixty-two of the best stories from James Van Pelt’s fertile and wide-ranging imagination that have appeared over the last thirty years in Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Talebones, and numerous other science fiction and fantasy publications.

Included in this collection is a Nebula finalist, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalist, numerous stories that were recognized by Analog or Asimov’s readers as among the best of the year, along with titles that were reprinted in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other year’s best anthologies.

Frightening or thrilling or uplifting, each of these stories is an exploration into the unknown. Take up a journey now into The Best of James Van Pelt.

Jim Van Pelt is one of science fiction’s most accomplished and prolific story writers, with over 150 published stories to his credit. This new collection, his fifth, consists of twenty-four of the thirty-five short stories Van Pelt sold from his write-a-story-a-week-for-a-year challenge he started in 2015. Every story has a brief teaser for readers, and every story has a postscript for writers and teachers that talks about the thinking that went into the writing of the stories.

Jim Van Pelt's first collection, Strangers and Beggars, was voted one of the Best Books of 2003 by the American Library Association. Now, in this new collection, Van Pelt continues to explore the ever-changing boundaries of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Van Pelt is one of the best writers of speculative fiction writing today. The Last of the O-Forms is an important collection filled with stories that transport us to far-flung worlds and to the harder-to-find inner worlds that define the human condition. Finalist for the 2007 Colorado Blue Spruce Award for fiction.

Mixing straight-forward science fiction ideas, such as search for habitable planets, the terra-forming of Venus, and a time-traveling substitute teacher, along with fantasy concepts, such as saving the Earth from nuclear destruction through supernatural sacrifice, a teen werewolf agonizing over attending prom on the night of the full moon, or a young boy who denies his polio by listening to a radio magician, to tales of horror where a pair of fathers have both lost sons, or an inn so vast that a man may never find his wife, The Radio Magician and Other Stories showcases James Van Pelt's wide-ranging talent as a tale spinner of the fantastic.