R W Byrum

Revenge from the Slush Pile R W Byrum

A collection of fifteen pieces of short fiction. Most of the stories are science fiction or fantasy though not all of them fit into those genres. Stories include: The Tiger in Winter: A tiger in the twilight of his life. Just a Dog: A military canine handler is forced to confront the differences between his own value system and that of his superiors. Horse Latitudes: A merchant ship carrying a cargo of horses encounters the tropical doldrums. Second Language: An extra-terrestrial must master the strange quirks of contemporary English. Maternal Instincts: A cat adopts the pups of a recently deceased dog. Revenge from the Slush Pile: A disgruntled author wreaks supernatural revenge against the editor who rejected his stories. A Small Mistake: A time traveler deals with the consequences of making a minor navigational error. Sir Cedric the Dragon Slayer: A would-be hero sets off to slay the dragon. The Bottle: A man frees a djinni from an antique bottle hidden in his antic. Naturally, he receives the customary three wishes. Pickles: A short story about a man who REALLY hates pickles. The Dragon Tamer: The performance of a woman and her trained dragon. The Eye of Ra: The real explanation for the spectacular early successes of the Axis powers. The Ghost Writer: A once renowned author is brought back from the dead to serve as the ghost writer for an unscrupulous hack. Retribution: A pair of lions must find alternative game when human encroachment drives away their traditional prey. The Man in the Mask: A household servant finds her curiosity insatiably piqued by the habit of her employer to always hide his face behind a mask.