The day I set foot in Ybor after the Saturn excursion, I could perhaps have run for president and won. Six months later it was all I could do to avoid being lynched. I should provide some background on my abrupt shift of status. If there was one thi...
Zosi was silent, feeling guilty for not agreeing to stay alive to be Plato’s governess, but she had promised to think seriously about it. Kody suspected that what she lacked was some positive personal reason to counteract the chore of continued life, but he didn’t know what such a reason could be...
She had privately envied Dug and Kim's ability to believe in it, and to submerge themselves in mutual fantasy. Maybe that was what made them get along so well there was magic in their relationship. Pia herself hardly believed in magic But that demonstration in the O-Xone h...
Skeleton Crew. “Hang on, Dolph!” Marrow cried as the sudden gust of wind blew the boat over. But it was too late; Dolph was pitched into the heaving sea. Marrow was unable to help him, because his skull was set inside the craft and could not see out...
They were the Solomons, whose specialty was gambling. Their leader had adopted the name Straight, evidently relating to one of the winning configurations of the card game of poker, but he had the reputation of being straight in his dealings, too. This was essential for his business, for the gambl...
I mentioned the debt and mortgage our father took on to insure an education for his children. He was in arrears on the payments, of course, because all peasants were. That was the way of life on Callisto. My father, Major Hubris, was an intelligent man with minimal formal ...
David was asleep, but she was wide-awake and bored. Now that the accommodation spell no longer affected them, she could appreciate just how small the imps were. Trenita was thirty-seven years old—the same age as Mom—but only nine inches tall. The seat belt looked monstrous on her, and was sur...
It led to a huge, barnlike cave, where motherly cows nursed small baby calves, and old bullheads chewed cud complacently. Standing in a Kingly stall was Ferdinand, a huge and noble bull of a man. Moola conducted us straight to him. Moola had to translate, as we did not com...
Or unhappening. Each time the Sea Hag was about to seduce the Dastard with the princess' body, Becka had turned dragon and intervened. The Dastard hadn't liked it, but she was acting to protect his interest as well as the princess, because she herself had once been Possessed by the Hag and knew t...
The samples proved workable, and a formula developed for the “cosmetic” supplement Fungo. The spores were imperfectly adapted to the human species, and unable to convert a woman’s body into a spore-making machine. Thus the effect was limited to a few hours before it faded, but they were phenomena...
This wasn't ideal country for a creature of Swiftmud's natural size. The other human folk were comfortably ensconced in the Brain Coral's pool, awaiting that seemingly timeless interval when Trent would return for the fade-away party. Tandy had decided to wait with the elders, because this might ...
He was beginning to wonder whether the problems they had had on the way to delivering letters were not just coincidences. The way the Demoness Metria had tried to distract him from his mission and faded out in annoyance when it didn't work. Or when that girl Caitlin had lured him into the comic s...
Kim asked. Metria opened the bag. There were ten tokens remaining. “I don't see how I'm going to serve all of these in time,” she said. “I've already used up several days, and the others are scattered all over Xanth.” “And what you have already a...
She had no interest in power for herself and stepped down the moment the elections produced a new president and Congress. She was called a great woman. She was. Hope loved her, and so did Spirit. Actually, the Tyrancy had accomplished much of what it could. It had not only...
She organized the selves according to the advice Gabriel gave, and developed a technique of recording data in the database so that one secret was entered every second, day and night. Even so, the job took thirty years full time, before they caught up to every living person. Then they were able to...
The most important of these were Umbriel and Titania, two moons about a quarter million and two-fifths of a million kilometers out from the residential band of the planet, respectively, and just below and just above a thousand kilometers in diameter. These were tiny, on the scale of the satellite...
Hapless opened the box.There was a lovely woman in shorts and a halter, wearing hair curlers and sandals, sitting on a crude wooden throne. The words were ISIS ORB.“Can that really be her?” Hapless asked, surprised. “I thought she’d be in a shining royal gown.”“It must show her when she’s not mak...
It was a wide open plain with wind gusting across it. Clouds floated low in the sky, scudding rapidly here and there.“That’s odd,” Mitch remarked.“Odd?” Tiara asked.“Those clouds are not going all in the same direction.”Now Kandy saw it: the clouds were small, as clouds went, at different levels ...
Cyrus exclaimed as he carefully let go of Rhythm so as not to seem to be clasping a child. “I think it will make a perfect play for the Lady.” “Oh, tell me!” the dragon exclaimed, delighted. He described the dream in detail as they ate hot cross bun...
The common man, it seemed, did not really want reform—not when it inconvenienced him. Already editorials were lamenting the good old days of President Tocsin, “the last legitimate leader” of North Jupiter. There was a climate of rebellion that was coming to permeate every level of the society. &n...
A shape loomed. “Excuse me, please.” “I think you have the wrong room,” I said, annoyed by the interruption. “This bed is occupied.” I had never really liked cold nights before, but now I delighted in them, for they brought MareAnn innocently close for warmth. A third pers...
Dream Man They were on the proper route; the blue arrow pointed back the way they had come, which Clio knew was correct because it was opposite to the way it had pointed when reversed. Just the four of them: Clio, Sherlock, and the two little dragons. “I realize that...
“I'll consider anything.” “Your Companions--I'm sure the Princesses can handle any problem you encounter. But for straight protection without using special magic--would you consider a dragon?” “Don't tell me you want to join!” &n...
After the preliminary bombardment, Goblin Mountain was pocked with dents, and several goblin tunnels now were open that had been closed. But before he sent in the smokers, Cheiron chose to negotiate again. “Gloha, do you think you can go there without being attacked?” he asked. ...
His gaze was keen and so was his hearing; he was confident he could spot them if they were here. They tended to be noisy little rascals, always up to some mischief; that made them easier to spot. He came to a large lake or small sea, half shrouded by fog. He realized he wa...
Her balance had been good, and she had fought to remain as a ghost; now her balance had shifted bad, and she no longer fought. But Jolie refused to let her go, not until she had consulted with Gaea. Once firmly in conventional Purgatory, Jolie was able to make the jump dir...
They found a field of daisies and sat there, resting. “I thought I was afraid of nothing,” Hannah said. “But I'm afraid of turning male. What a horror!” “You look good as a barbarian lout, damsel.” She flung a pebble at the bird, which missed. It wo...
It was a random form and a random location, which was hardly surprising, considering that he was the Random Factor. His talent was to be random. For years he had done random things to other people; now he had figured out how to randomize himself. So he had randomly given himself full consciousnes...
But there was no time to ponder that, because the way was open and she had a Question to ask the Good Magician. Sammy Cat was already bounding into the main part of the castle. Actually, she had been here once before, but that was almost like a dre...
Wenda asked. “I wood like to relax after that scare.” Jumper consulted the Prophecy. “ ‘Like the Ogre beware rogue her; With heart and mind, but be not blind.’ That makes no more sense to me than it did before.” “Let me touch the original paper,” Ev...