" CONTENTS Before Paphos
The Grammarian's
o Art Gallery by Loretta Casteen
Five Daughters
o Articles 8 January 2007
By Eleanor Arnason
o Columns It starts again. The baby
begins to cough and
29 March 2004
o Fiction
choke.
o Poetry nce there was a grammarian who lived in a
O
Locked Doors
great city that no longer exists, so we don't have
o Reviews
by Stephanie Burgis
to name it. Although she was learned and
industrious and had a house full of books, she did
o Archives
1 January 2007
not prosper. To make the situation worse, she
had five daughters. Her husband, a diligent
" ABOUT US
You can never let
scholar with no head for business, died soon afteranyone suspect, his
o Staff
the fifth daughter was born, and the grammarian
mother told him. That
had to raise them alone. It was a struggle, but shewas the first rule she
o Guidelines
managed to give each an adequate education,
taught him, and the last,
though a dowry -- essential in the grammarian's
o Contact
before she left him here
culture -- was impossible. There was no way for
alone with It.
her daughters to marry. They would become old
o Awards
maids, eking (their mother thought) a miserable
Heroic Measures
o Banners
living as scribes in the city market. The
by Matthew Johnson
grammarian fretted and worried, until the oldest
" SUPPORT US
daughter was fifteen years old.
18 December 2006
o Donate
Then the girl came to her mother and said, "You
Pale as he was, it was
can't possibly support me, along with my sisters.
o Bookstore
hard to believe he
Give me what you can, and I'll go out and seek
would never rise from
o Merchandise my fortune. No matter what happens, you'll have
this bed. Even in the
one less mouth to feed."
darkest times, she had
" COMMUNITY
never really feared for
The mother thought for a while, then produced a
o Forum
him; he had always been
bag. "In here are nouns, which I consider the
strong, so strong.
solid core and treasure of language. I give them
o Readers'
to you because you're the oldest. Take them and
Choice
Love Among the Talus
do what you can with them."
by Elizabeth Bear
The oldest daughter thanked her mother and
kissed her sisters and trudged away, the bag of
11 December 2006
nouns on her back.
Nilufer raised her eyes
Time passed. She traveled as best she could, untilto his. It was not what
she came to a country full of mist. Everything waswomen did to men, but
shadowy and uncertain. The oldest daughter
she was a princess, and
blundered along, never knowing exactly where
he was only a bandit. "I
she was, till she came to a place full of shadows
want to be a Witch,"
that reminded her of houses.
she said. "A Witch and
A thin, distant voice cried out, "Oyez. The king ofnot a Queen. I wish to
be not loved, but wise.
this land will give his son or daughter to whoever
Tell your bandit lord, if
can dispel the mist."
he can give me that, I
might accept his gift."
The oldest daughter thought a while, then opened
her bag. Out came the nouns, sharp and definite.
Archived Fiction Dating
Sky leaped up and filled the grayness overhead.