came in. The food line had already closed down, but Wiggin saw
him and stood up and waved him over. He was slow raising his
hand to wave, though, what with his chest hurting and all.
Zeck approached. “Got lunch for you,” said Wiggin, stepping
away from his chair so that Zeck could sit in it.
The other kids at the table were obviously poising themselves
to leave if Zeck sat down there.
“No, I’m not hungry,” said Zeck.
Had he been crying? No. And what was with his hand? He
kept it in a fist, but Dink could see that it had been injured. That
there had been blood.
“I just wanted to give you something,” said Zeck.
He laid a stocking down on the table beside Wiggin’s tray.
“Sorry it’s wet,” said Zeck. “I had to wash it.”
“Toguro,” said Wiggin. “Now sit and eat.” He almost pushed
Zeck down into the chair.
It was the stocking that did it. Wiggin had given Zeck a gift—
a Santa Claus gift, of all things—and Zeck had accepted it. Now
Wiggin stood with his hands on Zeck’s shoulders, staring at each
of the other Rat Army soldiers in turn, as if he was daring them
to stand up and go.
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Edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Dink knew that if he got up, the others would too. But he
didn’t get up, and the others stayed.
“So I’ve got this poem,” said Dink. “It really sucks, but
sometimes you just gotta say it to get it out of your system.”
“We’ve just eaten, Dink,” said Flip. “Couldn’t you wait till
our food is digested?”
“No, this will be good for you,” said Dink. “Your food’s
turning to shit right now, and this will help.”
That got him a laugh, which bought him enough time to
finish coming up with the rhymes he needed.
“What do you do with Zeck?
You want to break his neck.
But I warn you not to try
Cause Zeck’s too stubborn to die.”
As poems go, it was pretty weak. But as a symbol of Dink’s
decision that Zeck should be given another chance, well, it did
the job. Between Wiggin’s stocking and Dink’s poem, Zeck had
returned to his previous status: barely tolerated.
Dink looked up at Wiggin, who was still standing behind
Zeck, who now seemed to be eating with some appetite.
“Merry Christmas,” Dink mouthed silently.
Wiggin smiled.
Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender’s Game ,
Ender’s Shadow , and Speaker for the Dead , which are widely
read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used
in schools. His most recent series, the young adult Pathfinder
series ( Pathfinder , Ruins , Visitors ) and the fantasy Mithermages
series ( Lost Gate , Gate Thief ) are taking readers in new
directions. Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card
writes contemporary fantasy ( Magic Street , Enchantment , Lost
Boys ), biblical novels ( Stone Tables , Rachel and Leah ), the
American frontier fantasy series, The Tales of Alvin Maker
(beginning with Seventh Son ), poetry ( An Open Book ), and
many plays and scripts.
Card was born in Washington and grew up in California,
Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in
Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches
occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He
frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern
Virginia University. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North
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Decision Points
Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, where his primary
activities are writing a review column for the local Rhinoceros
Times and feeding birds, squirrels, chipmunks, possums, and
raccoons on the patio.
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331
C O P Y R I G H T N O T I C E S
Introduction © 2016 Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Original to this
volume.
“Sisters (A Story of the Rot and Ruin)” ©2016 Jonathan
Maberry Productions, LLC. Original to this volume.
“Sankofa” ©2016 Nnedi Okorafor. Original to this volume.
“The Prince of Artemis V” ©2010 Jennifer Brozek. Originally
published in Crossed Genres Issue 15, February 2010
“Aftermaths (A Vorkosigan Story)” ©1986 Lois McMaster
Bujold. First published in Far Frontiers, Volume V, Spring
1986.
“Driving A Bargain” ©2002 Robert J. Sawyer. First published
in Be Very Afraid! , edited by Edo Van Belkom, 2002.
“My Father’s Eyes” ©2010 E.C. Myers. First published in
Sybil's Garage No. 7, Senses Five Press, July 2010. This is its
first anthology appearance.
“Like a Thief in the Light” ©2015 Alethea Kontis. First
published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show,
November 2015. This is its first anthology and print
appearance.
“Clockwork Fagin” ©2013, Cordoc-Co LLC, Some Rights
Reserved under a Creative Commons BY-SHAREALIKE-
NO-DERIVATIVES 3.0 license.
First
published in
Steampunk! , edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.
“Postcards” ©2005 Rebecca Moesta. First published in
Gateways, edited by Martin H. Greenburg.
Decision Points
“The Outbreeders” ©1959, 1987 by Agberg, Ltd. Reprinted by
permission of the author and Agberg, Ltd. First published in
Fantastic Universe, Sept 1959.
“Rivalry on the Sky Course (A Davi Rhii Story)” ©2011 Bryan
Thomas Schmidt. Originally published in Residential Aliens,
October 2011. This is its first print and anthology appearance.
“An Echo in the Shell” ©2013 Beth L. Cato. First published in
Waylines Magazine, January 2013.
“The Milky Way Dance Hall” ©2016 Lou Antonelli. Original
to this volume.
“Blood and Water (A Spark Story)” ©2016 Kate Corcino.
Original to this volume.
“The Boy Who Yelled ‘Dragon’” ©2005 Mike Resnick.
Originally published in Young Warriors, edited by Tamora
Pearce and Josepha Sherman.
“Newts” ©2006 Kevin J. Anderson. Originally published in
Jim Baen’s Universe, 2006. This is its first anthology
appearance.
“Babydoll (A Lightbringer Tale)” ©2016 K.D. McEntire.
Original to this volume.
“Shade (A Jumper Story)” ©2008 Steven Gould. First
published at Tor.Com August 2008. This is its first print
anthology appearance.
“Granted” ©2016 Jody Lynn Nye. Original to this volume.
“The War of Gifts (An Ender Story)” ©2007 Orson Scott Card.
First published in A War of Gifts, novella hardback, by Tor
Books. This is its first anthology appearance, and the first in a
form slightly abridged by the author.
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333
A B O U T T H E E D I T O R
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and Hugo-nominated
editor of adult and children's spec
ulative fiction. His debut novel,
The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes &
Noble Book Club's Year's Best Science Fiction Releases. His
short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online
and include entries in The X-Files and Decipher's WARS,
amongst others. His anthologies as editor include Shattered
Shields with co-editor Jennifer Brozek, Mission: Tomorrow,
Galactic Games, and Little Green Men—Attack! with Robin
Wayne Bailey (forthcoming) all for Baen, Space Battles: Full
Throttle Space Tales #6, Beyond The Sun, and Raygun
Chronicles: Space Opera for a New Age. He can be found online
at www.bryanthomasschmidt.net.
I F Y O U L I K E D …
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Launch Pad
Jody Lynn Nye
O T H E R W O R D F I R E P R E S S T I T L E S B Y
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The Worker Prince
Our list of other WordFire Press authors and titles is always growing.
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