- Sidhe Wood - A mother who tells us about another mother's baby being temporarily stolen (by fairies?) is wondering (or hoping?) that hers will be too.
- Ghillie's mum - Ghillie's mum was a shape-changer (animals). Social services threatened to take Ghillie away if she changed from being a woman. She relapsed and he was put in the "Registry". Ghillie had always been a quiet boy - stupid? clever? religious? At 18 he discovered he could change too. His kids were better changers than he was. I got a bit lost at the end.
- Dreaming in quantum - Some dreams are glimpses of alternative universes. The female narrator's PhD is about trying to find the branch points where universes bud off. She studies her dreams and can mostly identify alt-dreams from ordinary ones. Her mentor, Prof Wheatley, is messily murdered. She understands why Wheatley was investigating (and getting her to investigate) particular dreams - to identify the killer. In a dream she meets Julian (she used to fancy him as a fellow student but they're lost touch) who says that in his universe Wheatley could transmit volunteers like him into alternate universes. She's attacked by the same beast that killed Wheatley. Julian saves her. His Wheatley told him to look after her.
- Frozen - 2 young brothers are alone in the middle of their favourite maze, the older one teasing the younger that the Minotaur statue there is alive. They leave it then return because the little one left his mitten. The statue and mitten have gone. They hear laughter. They go and return, and things are back to normal, except the statue might be alive now.
- Shorty - A seemingly rather demented, recently widowed woman likes her dog Shorty. When she meets her grown kids they encourage her to go into a home and give the dog away. The kids die on the spot, poisoned. Seems that the dog did it, using its red bow and saliva - a surprise ending, but ...
- Dead men don't count - The narrator's the accomplice of Crom. They're both orphans. While Crom opens the safe, the narrator builds walls around the long-dead man with furniture. The skeleton moves, and when given photos seems to have feelings. It's a 5 page piece with several unknowns - why is there no more electricity? What is The Registry and The Home? It works for me though.
- Grandma's feast day - In a post-apocalyptic world, where old people are eaten, some family members are unhappy about the new traditions. The focus isn't on the goriness
- Blanks - 2nd person. The main character is weak, thin and hairless. He/she has an "Original". He/she is now a Blank. Outside, there are protesters shouting "Freak!". The main character and Aja escape. They're clones. They need money. Aja tries to sell their story. Maybe they're bred as organ donors for their Original? The main character meets her dying "mother" (who's also the inventor of the cloning technique?). Her mother's changed her mind about the status of clones and wants the narrator to continue her campaigning work.
- Mrs Sutherland's arms - Scally (first person) and her little sister (who wants to dress as a fairy) are told to help neighbour Mrs Sutherland. The power grid is unreliable. Mrs S has bionic limbs, which rather freak Scally out. She doesn't wear the arms in bed. Scally gets Mrs S's genny (generator) going in the cellar. She finds a tracked machine under a tarpaulin. Mrs S appears. Her limbs were removed so she could fit into the tracked machine for war purposes. Scally imagines her father undergoing the same ordeal, though it's uncertain whether this is based on fact. At the end, Scally decides to be braver about the bionic limbs, the way her little sister is brave. The story does well with 9 pages - the excellent realism grounds it.
- A winter crossing - 3 people are on a boat. 2 get killed by a humanoid monster. The 3rd, the female narrator escapes overboard and drifts towards an island she thinks might be full of hungry rats. No.
- Something or nothing - In 6 pages an episode reveals a backstory. The female narrator is chasing a fleeing soldier before the Eaters or the Big Guys get him. He's possessed by a parasite that dogs seem attracted to. The narrator talks with the parasite and sort-of exorcises it. A glow leaves the soldier's body. I was gripped by the story. I think the final line means that the parasite is in the narrator.
- Clockwork men and clockwork dogs and frogs - A female photographer in the time of box cameras specialises in taking photos of the recently dead to make them look alive. She takes a photo of a count. His dog died on the same day. The countess finds out that the photographer had not just tweaked her pet frog after it died, but had made it move - still feeding it worms. She gets the photographer to do the same for the dog. Using parts of her assistant's bicycle, she does. The countess then asks the photographer to animate the count. She refuses. She later sees the countess with the count, grotesquely stuffed. The photographer decides to enjoy life, asking her assistant out for a cycle ride. I quite like the story, but don't get the ostrich and peacock mentions, or the need for the frog to be feed with worms (it adds magic to what could be realism)
- The whisky situation - A few mates are making whisky on the cheap. The setting at first seems present day, or even Victorian, with carts and pea-soupers. Then nano walls and DNA cloning appear. When short of goods to fulfil an order, they steal whisky from the prospective buyer.
- Total transparency - A husband's wife gradually becomes transparent. He wants her to wear make-up but she won't because it makes her look like a waxwork. Then their dog becomes transparent. The final paragraph is "I still have a dog. I still have a wife. They're just invisible now, that's all." I wonder if it's an expression of his mental state.
- This time, forever - In 1966 a boy and girl meet at a festival. They go round the world, split, then meet each other on and off. They're immortals, but is it a good idea for them to pair up? After 100 years she thinks so.
- Phoenix - A man has the urn with the recent ashes of his wife. She'd claimed to be a hedge-witch. Inside the urn is an egg which he warms in the fire.
The proportions of Sci-Fi, Realism, Magic, etc vary and don't always suit me.
There are lots of dogs and severed arms. She likes withholding information - no blatent info-dumps. The life/non-life boundary interests her - cloning, bionics, taxidermy.
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