A Year Near Proxima Centauri
by Michael Martin
When a creature and his wife decide to up worlds and go and live permanently on their perfect holiday planet, they little realise what a feast of food, fun, and fantasy awaits them.Provender was a dream of a planet, with a fascinating population (comprising several types of aliens, all quite delicious to eat) and a lovely landscape. With their own halmatrope grove (not always necessary to uncork your halmatrope three hours before a meal - just let it hyperventilate for five minutes, then wring its neck and squeeze it into your glass), their own lagoon, and their charming house made of Couth skins, life seemed idvllic.From their first gargantuan evening meal which took until noon the following day to complete, to the removal of the delicious Grebble spawn that was clogging their bathing lagoon, it was obvious that life on Provender was one long epicurean feast. Indeed, it had been said of the planet that if you survived the first year without being eaten, you would probably become a permanent fixture...