N - Short Works
This story appears to fit in with the version of time travel presented in "The Far Side of the Bell-Shaped Curve", only a different type of dilemma is explored: what if a time traveler, instead of visiting the great moments of history, became obsessed with getting back an ex-lover? The scenario presents a very fluid vision of reality-- with the past changing constantly, everyone accepts new situations with a casual attitude. After a moment of disorientation, you go on with a new version of your life. It's technically illegal to manipulate the past for private game, but how can you prove a crime when the very success of the crime eliminates it from the past?
Mr. Silverberg informs me that Miramax studio has purchased the rights to make a movie of this story, though at the moment there is no timetable for production or word about who might write, produce, direct, or star in such a film (if it's ever made).
On a distant frontier planet only sparsely inhabited, there's a quiet feud between two families on adjoining estates. Both mansions bristle with missiles, cannons, and other high-tech weapons, just waiting for an excuse to be used. Then one day, the phone rings...
In the galactic war with the Rigelians, every allied system counts, so Earth sends the Peccable to contact the gnorph of planet Fafnir for a treaty. But there's a Rigelian ship landing at the same time, so the two enemies must compete for the natives' favor.
Winner of Hugo Award for best novella 1969. Nominated for Nebula Award for best novella, 1968.
This is a truly wonderful story. The far-future setting is full of strangeness taken for granted, with a rich diversity of life on Earth reminiscent to a modern reader of Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun series. Civilization on Earth has been through several cycles of advance and decline and the planet is filled with the artifacts of the past: semi-functional fusion plants, magic-tech monuments, Roman buildings. There are apparently many planets full of humans and other races, some of whom come to Earth as tourists. The most prominent feature of human society is a rigid guild system: most people belong to a Guild which has certain duties, privileges and strictures; those without a guild live in a shadowy world, mostly subservient to the Guilded. Some Guilds seem to be based on genetically engineered abilities: Fliers are slight of build and have wings, Watchers have the ability to mentally scan the galaxy for enemies (with the aid of a device), and so on.
The story involves the journey of a Watcher who has lost faith in the necessity of Watching. Together with a Flier named Avluela (whose delicate flying appendages provide the title), and a Changeling named Gormon (a genetic mutant), he visits the ancient city of Roum. Finding themselves without a place to stay, they throw themselves on the mercy of the Prince of Roum, a member of the Guild of Dominators, who takes a liking to Avluela and invites the threesome into the palace. Then the Watcher detects a fleet of enemy ships approaching Earth and sounds the alarm, simultaneously setting in motion the defenses of the planet and rendering himself Guildless (as there is no more need of Watchers once the invasion comes). The story continues in "Among the Rememberers", but also functions magnificently on its own.
An American collector of Mexican ceremonial masks travels to an isolated village where the old rites are still practiced. He comes face to face with the local spirits, still very much alive.
A man with the telepathic ability to communicate with himself through time uses his power to play the stock market. Everything goes fine until a woman with a power of her own shows up. The title of this story is printed differently in every publication where I've seen it. Sometimes it's in brackets, sometimes not. In the story, plain parentheses are used.
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Last updated October 21, 2002
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