We erroneously speculated on the line of succession through which emergency mayoral powers might pass in a crisis. Events have since proved that the City Clerk and Deputy City Clerk are not in the line of succession, as they are not elected officials.
The photograph of the Visitor curled up on the so-called "nest" it constructed of human skeletons was taken in Highland Park, not Frick Park as the caption stated. In addition, the photo was cropped against Times-Dispatch guidelines by an editor attempting to obscure viscera in the foreground. The uncropped photo is reproduced on A6. Warning: Viewing this photo may cause madness in the weak-minded.
The estimate for the number of eggs in the Visitor's nest should have read 10,000, not 1,000. Moreover, the incubation period for the eggs can now be confidently stated as approximately 16 hours.
Finally, we misspelled the name of Miriam Bethel, a member of the School Board of Directors, in our article about the failed levies. Her last name has only one "l".
Like all mankind today, we regret our errors.
This story originally appeared in Daily Science Fiction magazine, 2013.
M. Bennardo is the writer of over 50 published short stories, appearing in Asimov's Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and others. He is also co-editor of the Machine of Death series of anthologies, including This Is How You Die from Grand Central Publishing.
Afterword
IF YOU ENJOYED these stories and would like to read more, Unidentified Funny Objects is an annual volume of stories just like these. Many of the authors featured in this book are regular contributors. There is also fiction by Robert Silverberg, George R. R. Martin, Gail Carriger, Piers Anthony, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, Neil Gaiman, and many other excellent and very funny writers.
Here are the Kindle links:
Funny Science Fiction
Featuring Ken Liu, Lavie Tidhar, Mike Resnick, Cat Rambo
Funny Fantasy
Featuring Gail Carriger, David Gerrold, Esther Friesner, Laura Resnick
Unidentified Funny Objects
Featuring Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye, Lavie Tidhar, Ken Liu
Unidentified Funny Objects 2
Featuring Robert Silverberg, Esther Friesner, Jim C. Hines, Tim Pratt
Unidentified Funny Objects 3
Featuring Piers Anthony, Kevin J. Anderson, Gini Koch, Karen Haber
Unidentidied Funny Objects 4
Featuring George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Esther Friesner, Mike Resnick
Unidentified Funny Objects 5
Featuring David Gerrold, Esther Friesner, Jody Lynn Nye, Gini Koch
Coming soon:
Unidentified Funny Objects 6 (2017)
Funny Science Fiction 2 (2018)
About the editor
Alex Shvartsman is a writer, anthologist, translator, and game designer from Brooklyn, NY. He's the winner of the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and a finalist for the 2015 Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing.
His short stories have appeared in Nature, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy’s Edge, and a variety of other magazines and anthologies. His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories, and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were published in 2015.
In addition to the UFO series, he has edited the Humanity 2.0, Funny Science Fiction, Funny Fantasy, Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic, and Dark Expanse: Surviving the Collapse anthologies. His website is www.alexshvartsman.com
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