Category Archives: Short Fiction

Winter Comes to Water As Well As Land: Gene Wolfe’s “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”

Posted on 14 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Gene Wolfe, “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories” (1970) (~15 pp) Winter comes to water as well as land, though there are no leaves to fall. The waves that were a bright, hard blue yesterday under a fading … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on Winter Comes to Water As Well As Land: Gene Wolfe’s “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”

The Lottery and Jim and Mary G

Posted on 9 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I reread Shirley Jackson famous/infamous short story “The Lottery” this morning (you can find the full text here) and was struck by this passage, about 2/3 the way through: “They do say,” Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Morality, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on The Lottery and Jim and Mary G

Passages by Benford

Posted on 16 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been belatedly catching up on 2014 short fiction in the past two or three weeks, moreso than I’ve done in the past two or three years; not enough to in time contribute substantially to the Locus Recommended Reading List, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on Passages by Benford