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BEACONS OF TOMORROW
An Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Paperback, 240 pages, Tyrannosaurus Press, 2008
 “Crash! Erhard opened the window by throwing a chair through it.”
-from the short story “The Pit,” by Eric Pinder
Eighteen exciting and thought-provoking tales of science fiction, magic realism and sword & sorcery fill this second collection of speculative fiction from Tyrannosaurus Press, edited by Bret Funk. In “Monkey Blood,” a genetically enhanced primate questions his own humanity. “Time Off” takes readers to a world where sleep is a luxury with a price tag. In “The Exchange Program,” an interstellar traveler’s journey ends with a twist worthy of The Twilight Zone. In “The Pit,” two swashbuckling adventurers take on nomads, demons and the most fearsome enemy of all: their girlfriends’ angry father.
Short stories in this collection were selected from the Illuminations Speculative Fiction Writing Contest. The winning story, “Onion Worlds,” follows a disgraced scientist as his controversial experiment puts religious doctrine to the test. The stories run the gamut of speculative fiction, from surreal to supernatural, from fantasy in the tradition of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to futuristic tales in deep space to post-apocalyptic nightmares in worlds hauntingly familiar to our own.
Contents (to visit each author’s website, click their names below):
ONION WORLDS, by Ray Veen; THE OW SHOP, by David Densely Thomas; THE EXCHANGE PROGRAM, by Madeline Bay; RACE TO THE SUMMIT, by Paul Lamb; ADAM OF ARGOTHA, by C.S. Larsen; WARM, INC., by Sheri Fresonke Harper; THE SWING, by A. Christopher Drown; MONKEY BLOOD, by Terry Lindner; THE STEIN COLLECTION, by Kathryn Mattingly; DOTTING THE i, by Gary Sleeth; THE PIT, by Eric Pinder; GALEN THE DEATHLESS, by Danielle Parker; TIME OFF, by R. Gatwood; CUSTOM APPRAISAL, by Susan Mattinson; CHALICE OF EVENSADE, by Erik Goodwyn; VIPER 3, by T.J. Starbuck; FOLIAGE, by F. R. Jameson; DECONSTRUCTING FIREFLIES, by Kristi Petersen & Nathan Schoonover
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