Mac Beckett

     Pilot is Chapter One of a novel in progress; Tales of the Slovish People.   (Or something, probably with the name Slovish in it.)

     Earth is recovering from the effects of a double-asteroid-impact, and is regimented under the Protector Service, who seek out and destroy minor bodies in potentially dangerous orbits.  Their equipment and ships are all outdated -- antiques, from the days when technology was king.

     Willa Mant and Albet Simps are a typical crew, who, during years-long tours of duty, alternate dominant and submissive postures, as well as the role of Captain.

     The story takes place at Christmas, and revolves around their mostly passive encounter with an alien species who are looking for shelter after their own planet is destroyed.

     No Contact occurs; the species are both absorbed in their own problems.

     A surreal attempt to navigate a rotary (roundabout?) (traffic-circle?) in Halifax, NS.

      The story of a young woman who takes direct revenge against a mail-terrorist who has fixed upon her, and sent her the head of a dead rabbit.

     A reflection and study, as much as a story.  The journal of an astronaut whose undiagnosed Alzheimer's Disease manifests itself during a space-voyage.  Told as perceived by the man who is becoming ill; he sees many of the changes in him as taking place in the outside world and in others; specifically his only companion, whom he first blames and then depends upon, as he becomes less and less able to understand what is going on around him.

(Poetry related to Alzheimer's Disease, and to my father.)

     How the Sorcerers fought over the World, and how a human finally ended the conflict, when he ate Grandpa all up.

     Based upon a true event, though the Sorcerer, sadly, is not as real as he used to be.

     Arbuthnot is a reconstituted plesiosaur who has outlived his usefulness, as happens to many of the hundreds of ancient animals whom Jurassic-Park-inspired, and somewhat negligent, scientists bring back from fossil DNA .

     Just as he is about to be destroyed, (though exactly where they might get rid of him, the scientists cannot decide) he is rescued by Eratosthenes Gwynthorpe, who runs a sort of spaceborne menagerie in order to be able to rescue animals in distress.

     Arbuthnot repays the kindness manifold when it is discovered that he, like all plesiosaurs and many other dinosaurs, is a magnificent singer.

      I was very pleased when Mike chose this story for his book.  Arbuthnot and he are two of my favourite SF people.  It has been suggested, possibly by some enemy of one or the other, that the two are not entirely unlike.

     Pasquatz is a drummer; a congenital musician, of a species of congenital musicians, whose moment of triumphant performance is interrupted by the interplay of darker instincts.

     This is a tale of alien accomplishment, and I'm delighted that Kim chose it for the revivified Amazing.

     This was my second appearance in Amazing Stories