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City Colors by Zoran Milich
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Dazzle Joins the Screenwriter's Guild by Scott Bradfield
December 22, 2012 by Sophie M. White
For the Love of Books by Ronald B. Shwartz
The Free Fall of Walter Cummings by Tom Bodett
Genuine Men by Nancy Bruno
Going Back in Time by Laurel Winter
Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson
Horns and Toes and In Between by Sandra Boynton
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club
A Jolly Good Fellow by Stephen V. Masse
Lion's Pride by Debbie Jordan
Killing Time by Caleb Carr
The Mark of Zorro by Johston McCulley
Mouse's Halloween by Alan Baker
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates by Stephen King
Past Perfect Present Tense by Richard Peck
Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenborn
Private Eye by Terry Bisson
Pug Hill by Allison Pace
Queen for a Day by Albert E. Cowdrey
Red Orc's Rage by Philip José Farmer
Sea Glass by Laurence Yep
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Sheep on a Ship by Nancy E. Shaw
Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy E. Shaw
Sleepless Years by Steven Utley
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
The Visionaries by Robert Reed
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
Whoever by Carol Emshwiller

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The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates: 10/07/08

The name Stephen King probably brings to mind long horror novels or perhaps the Dark Tower series but he got his start writing short stories. I personally prefer his short stories and novellas over his longer works. This month's double issue has a "virtually perfectly execution" of a Twilight Zone type of story (page 99).

The story is mostly a long phone call between a husband and a wife. It should have been a typical call: the husband calling to say his plane is landing early. This being Stephen King (and F&SF), it's anything but typical. The plane crashed two days earlier and there were no survivors.

The phone call is one last chance to say good-bye and one last chance for James to protect his wife, Annie. It's also a chance to describe the afterlife in terms of broken down architecture, both familiar and strange at the same time.

Of course it's not enough just to record the phone call. King goes a step further and shows the consequences of their last conversation.

In way the story folds back on itself, I'm reminded of other Stephen King stories, especially The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and "The Langoliers."

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