I love stories. Reading 'em, especially. Writing 'em is fun, too. Quicker than writing a novel--sometimes. And sometimes story-writing is tear-your-hair-out time. For a long, long time.

But oh! to see your story in print. And sometimes, just sometimes, you might get lucky. You might sell to the movies.

"Arachne," Omni (Dec 1987). Reprinted in Cyberpunk (March 1996, Replik [Sweden]). First fiction sale. Top SF story market of the day. Wow! Guardian angels working overtime. Thanks again, Ellen D. Re: Lawyer, plugged into a hellish futuristic telespace, becomes unplugged by a powerful ancient archetype.

"Guardian," Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Oct 1988). Reprinted in Transcendental Tales from Asimov's Magazine (Donning, 1990). Reprinted in Asimov's Ficcao Cientifica Numero 5 (1990 [Brazil]). Reprinted in Unter Die Haut (Fama Verlag, 1991 [Germany]). Re: Woman victimized by urban crime returns to her Haitian roots to invoke a supernatural protector.

"Deus Ex Machina," Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Dec 1988). Reprinted in Asimov's Ficcao Cientifica Numero 6 (1990 [Brazil]). Reprinted in Gogols Frau (Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1994 [Germany]). Re: 'The Net' with earthquakes. During the next devastating Big Quake in San Francisco, intellectual woman meets sexy villain and uncovers a terrible corporate conspiracy.

"The Oniomancer," Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Feb 1989). Thanks for the advice, Gardner. 1989 Nebula Preliminary List, Best Novelette. Reprinted in Asimov's Ficcao Cientifica Numero 7 (1990 [Brazil]). Reprinted in Hayakawa Science Fiction Magazine (1991 [Japan]). Reprinted in Unter Die Haut (Fama Verlag, 1991 [Germany]). Okay, guys. Early 1989 pub date. Re: the FIRST female punk bicycle messenger. Period.

"Tomorrow's Child," Omni (Dec 1989). Film rights optioned, 1990--2000. At long last, in January, 2001 sold to Universal Studios. To the President of Burn Victims of America, thanks for your letter. Meant a lot to me. Re: Aerospace executive desperate to save his critically burned daughter resorts to an artifact from outer space.

"Stripper," Unique (Premier issue, July--Aug 1990). Reprinted in Unter Die Haut (Fama Verlag, 1991 [Germany]). Re: Exotic dancer with quantum powers and a touch of Kali gets the best of the Mob when they try to muscle in on her turf.

"Hummers," Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Feb 1991). 1991 Nebula Preliminary List, Best Novelette. Reprinted in Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Fifth Annual Collection (St Martin's, 1992). Thanks Terri W, for choosing. Thanks William S, for your praise. Posthumous thanks to Roger Zelazny for the Neb recommendation. Re: Artist dying of cancer discovers magical guidance in ancient Egyptian archetypes.

"Triad," Universe 2 (Doubleday/Bantam, Feb 1992). Edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber. Re: Androgyne on a strange alien world falls for a seductress from an even stranger world. Also includes stories by Brian Aldiss, Barry Malzberg, Joe Haldeman, Jonathan Lethem, Kathe Koja, Jamil Nasir, Carolyn Gilman. Check it out!

"Destination," Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Sept 1992). Re: On the road across America, one of the riders in Sal's Delta Royale Eighty-Eight just might be that serial killer everybody's talking about on the radio. But which one? And why do they all have a spaceship? Based on a true story. Beware of ride boards, my friends.

ISBN 0-553-37400-1
Bantam Spectra

Re: My fave Surrealist artists, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, were best friends in Mexico during WWII. A loving interpretation of Carrington's brush with madness and transcendence.

Also includes stories by Michael Bishop, Karen Joy Fowler, Jonathan Lethem, Neal Stephenson. Check it out!

"Daughter of the Tao," Immortal Unicorn (HarperPrism, Oct 1995). Edited by Peter Beagle and Janet Berliner Gluckman. Re: San Francisco. Chinatown, 1895. A slave girl finds salvation in Chinese magic from a fate worse than death. All-star line-up of stories.

"Every Mystery Unexplained," David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible (HarperPrism, Nov 1995). Edited by Janet Berliner Gluckman and David Copperfield. Reprinted in Opowiesci niesamowite Davida Copperfielda (Dom Wydawniczy Rebis, 1997 [Poland]). 1995 Theodore Sturgeon Award Nomination. Re: San Francisco, 1895. The Golden Age of stage magic. Fake seances. The transcendent power of love. Young man faces the truth of his mother's death with the help of a mysterious lady. Another all-star line-up.

"Transformation and the Postmodern Identity Crisis," Fantastic Alice (Ace, Dec 1995). Edited by Margaret Weis. Re: Whatever happened to Alice? She was such a peculiar little girl. Imagine what she's like at forty. Perils of falling down the rabbit-hole don't compare to the perils of leaving Wonderland behind.

"The Hanged Man," The Shimmering Door (HarperPrism, July 1996). Edited by Katharine Kerr. Re: Magic rules! Code is a shining wheel! I want to live, I want to dance, I want to cha-cha-cha! Take that, cyberpunks!