A companion story to “Minister Without Portfolio,” (listed below). A disgruntled housewife, reading about birds, makes a strange discovery with the help of her cat. The story’s witty and the payoff is such fun. I can’t say much more than…
Tag: Aliens
Minister Without Portfolio by Mildred Clingerman
This one’s a favorite of mine. Mrs. Chriswell has moved in with her son and daughter-in-law after her husband’s death. She pretends to bird watch to get out of the house. While on one of those pretend bird-watching missions, she…
“The Queer Ones” by Leigh Brackett
“The Queer Ones” reminds me more of stories by Stephen King or Zenna Henderson or Sharyn McCrumb, stories set in a rural America that makes its own rules. Hank Temple and his friends run into a badly beaten child who…
“Shannach—The Last” by Leigh Brackett
Honestly, I shouldn’t have read “Shannach—The Last.” I didn’t have time, and it was clearly too long for the Baen anthology. But that opening paragraph— “It was dark in the caves under Mercury. It was hot, and there was no…
The Women Men Don’t See by James Tiptree, Jr.
When Toni Weisskopf and I first discussed this project in Colorado Springs in February, we joked that the title of the book should be The Women Men Don’t See. Once we settled down, we realized that the title was alienating part of…