Stealing Fire from the Gods

Do you only read speculative fiction that's predictable? Filtered by sensitivity readers? Rewritten to the critical taste of a creative writing professor? Validated by a New York publisher*? Or that hits every trope, and only every trope, of one particular bookstore subcategory? Then this collection probably isn't for you.On the other hand, you might like speculative fiction where the author follows the muse wherever it leads him. Across time and space. Across genres and subgenres. From serious to humorous. Following characters male or female, young or middle aged, black or white.If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, come on in.From the author of The Reincarnation Run and Portia Oakeshott, Dinosaur Veterinarian.Azureseas: Cantrell's WarCantrell didn't question his 'animal control' mission on the tropical planet of Azureseas. Then a scrap of troubling evidence came to him out of thin air. A complete novel!A Fistful of MonopolesThe alien derelict held a fortune in magnetic monopoles. A fortune the two men agreed to split fifty-fifty. A dangerous retrieval... but Bartlett had his back.Bodacious Ursula and the Phone Call from HellOld boyfriends never call. Especially when they're twenty years dead. A contemporary fantasy about second chances and making things right.Seven OutThree young men. One telekinetic power. From a street craps game in the 'hood to the high-roller tables in Vegas, how far will they let it ride?Iphigenia of KhufuIphigenia peeked at the docked ship. She craved an escape from the conformist culture of her home asteroid colony. But with this pilot?Return BlessingLiving a lush life on the planet Valoduria, paid for by his father's generosity, Jeffrey cheerfully accepted the gifts pressed on him by the planet's insectoid aliens. Then they asked for something in return.*New York gatekeepers aren't all bad. Two of these stories previously appeared in Analog magazine.