Showing results by narrator "James Kelly" in All Categories

Here's an emotional tale of family secrets set in 2038. Jen has been estranged from her father, a Shakespearian actor, ever since he got divorced from her mother years and years ago. But when her mother dies, Jen is astonished to discover that she has left her ex-husband a fortune in her will. Jen tries to confront her father, but first she must get past the robot that cares for him. This is a Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon nominee, and the winner of the Locus Award for best short story of 1997.

The last man on Earth is depressed and the robots charged with his care are at a loss as to how to shake him out of it. They concoct an elaborate scheme to have Christmas in May. After all, at the end of history, who cares if the dates are a little off? This story was a Hugo Award finalist in 2004.

When the bombs fell, there were precious few survivors. Young Lucy and Juan were spared, but they fell into the clutches of the Bad Daddy. After their escape, they scavenge through the ruins in New England, barely able to make sense of the civilization that destroyed itself, until they meet Hannah, who has a vision and, perhaps, the technology to make it come true.

A man in a bar has a headache, but it's not from drink. Rather, it is because in the distant future, a collective consciousness is experimenting with his cryogenically-preserved corpse. What's the cure for being dead?

Talisha is shocked when she finds mechdream pills in the bottom of her husband's underwear drawer. Designed to create a unique virtual reality based on his wildest fantasies, they will allow him to plumb the depths of his pleasure centers. The only problem is, he's spending the rent money building his virtual paradise. Just what are her husband's deepest desires? Talisha isn't sure she wants to know.

A young man signs up for a writing class because he thinks it will be a good place to meet women. The woman he does hook up with tells him a fantastic story and gives him more than he bargained for. A horror story for English majors.

Jack is having an affair with Suzanne. He invites her to lunch to tell her that he's leaving his wife so that they can be together. But just before Suzanne arrives, a stranger approaches Jack and asks for help - a stranger whom no one can see but Jack.

In 1855, young Fitzpatrick Reed, in the employ of the publishers Harper and Brothers is obsessed by Emily Bronte. He longs to meet her, but there's just one problem - she died in 1848. Here's a ghost story for fans of the Bronte sisters.

You live on a lake and it's Christmas. You go skating and you happen upon a man frozen under the ice. Who is he? No, don't ask! You're in a horror story.

Where did all the people go? In a bizarre outpost perched on top of a mountain, the survivors of some cyber-cataclysm ponder the fate of humanity. Although all their needs are taken care of, their memories have been so compromised that they question their very reality. When one of them begins a project that will change everything, the mysterious keepers arrive to restore order.

This is the story of Thumb the Great. He gave his people the bow and arrow and taught them the ways of war. When the battle madness took him, there was no one so fierce. He was a man filled with luck. A Cro-Magnon cave painter encounters the last mammoth on earth in this thrilling story of a man reluctantly coming to terms with destiny.

What if God decided to try again in the Garden of Eden? Humanity 2.0 turns out to be more to the Deity's liking. But of course, the eternal Adversary must always have his say. A comic remake of the book of Genesis - with a sting.

In this charming romantic comedy, a divorced single mom decides to re-enter the dating scene via an ad in the personals section of her local paper. Among the many men who answer the ad is the mysterious Gardiner, who writes poems, breeds daylilies, and has the unsettling ability to know exactly the right thing to say to win a woman's heart. What is his secret?

Children fighting on the front lines? Maybe in some other country. But things have gone from bad to worse in the U.S. as the South American war drags on. Now the government has hatched a scheme to attract teens and even preteens into the army: they are offering kids a chance to be the star of The Johnny America Show, a reality show set on the battlefront. In a country wracked by shortages and draft sweeps and despair, maybe picking up a gun isn't such a bad idea after all.

Here's a time travel tale that takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 12 year-old Ray stumbles upon an android from the future that has been sent back to 1962 to change the course of our history. What he asks Ray to help him do will shock you in this gripping story of impossible choices. This story won the Hugo for Best Novelette in 2000.

Whatever Nojo imagines comes true, which is why he's huddled with a group of other homeless men under a bridge on a frigid winter night. They're waiting for Mags and her mysterious friend Angel, who may be bringing them the whiskey they crave or the death they fear.

Phillip Wing is the architect of one of the Seven New Wonders of the World: the Glass Cloud. But construction has fallen behind schedule, costs have skyrocketed, and the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled. The mysterious alien Messengers step in to save the Glass Cloud but at a terrible cost to Wing and his wife, Daisy.

As humankind's first starship accelerates past the speed of light, an astronaut wakes up and finds that he is all alone. The crew is gone, the sensors give no readings, and he is trapped. Alone? Not quite. His imaginary wife keeps him company and helps him keep a tenuous hold on his sanity.

An alien has crash landed in a sleepy country town, and its ship stands guard over the fallen spaceman. When some unlikely townsfolk happen upon the site of the tragedy, what began as a game turns into a deadly first contact - with consequences for all humankind.

Les hates the artificial baby that Birth Control has given her, but she tries to take care of it because she wants to have a real baby of her own. But now the baby is sick and needs a doctor, and Les is broke and on the run. She has a gun but no ammunition. Yet.