" CONTENTS Before Paphos
Higher than
o Art Gallery by Loretta Casteen
Usual
o Articles 8 January 2007
By Derek Paterson
o Columns It starts again. The baby begins
to cough and choke.
16 April 2001
o Fiction
Locked Doors
o Poetry erkins came up to me and he was
P
by Stephanie Burgis
grinning from ear to ear, his eyes dancing
o Reviews
with an unexpected madness that made
1 January 2007
me take a step back and look at him
o Archives
suspiciously.
You can never let anyone
" ABOUT US
suspect, his mother told him.
"We've got one of them," he told me
That was the first rule she taught
gleefully.
o Staff
him, and the last, before she left
him here alone with It.
"One of what?" I asked, bewildered.
o Guidelines
Heroic Measures
"One of them," he said, as if that
o Contact
explained it. "Cheeky sod from Accounts
by Matthew Johnson
o Awards
came upstairs and tried to get a coffee
out of our vending machine. Can you
18 December 2006
o Banners
believe it? Out of our vending machine."
Pale as he was, it was hard to
" SUPPORT US
He was holding a plastic coffee cup and I
believe he would never rise
wanted to sniff it to make sure he wasn't
o Donate
from this bed. Even in the
having a caffeine overload.
darkest times, she had never
o Bookstore
really feared for him; he had
"Are you feeling all right?" I asked.
always been strong, so strong.
o Merchandise
He nodded, still grinning, and jerked his
Love Among the Talus
thumb over his shoulder. "The lads have
" COMMUNITY
got him in the toilets. They're giving him a
by Elizabeth Bear
o Forum
damned good thrashing. That'll teach him
to come up onto our floor. Accounts will
11 December 2006
o Readers'
think twice before they mess with us
Choice
Nilufer raised her eyes to his. It
again."
was not what women did to
He turned and stalked away, leaving me
men, but she was a princess,
confused and shaken. I'd have to have a
and he was only a bandit. "I
word with someone about him. I didn't
want to be a Witch," she said.
want to get him into trouble or anything,
"A Witch and not a Queen. I
but there were limits. If he had a drink
wish to be not loved, but wise.
problem, the company would try to help
Tell your bandit lord, if he can
him. There were groups he could
give me that, I might accept his
join. . . .
gift."
As soon as I reached my desk, my phoneArchived Fiction Dating back to
started ringing and I forgot all about
9/1/00
Perkins. It was a busy morning and I only
managed to grab a coffee myself around
eleven. I glanced at my newspaper while
I sipped the foul stuff, wondering whether
I'd be better off drinking paint solvent.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I