The Fort Moxie Branch

Jack McDevitt was a fixture for years inside the pages of the top science-fiction magazines. This edition brings together for the first time sixteen of McDevitt’s greatest tales. It is here where the full extent of McDevitt’s talent is at last on display. In Standard Candles , wonders abound, with the lucidity and grace that have become McDevitt’s trademarks.

Editorial review:

McDevitt has done a number of very interesting novels, of which the last two were The Engines of God and Ancient Shores. The short fiction has been accumulating for years - clever, insightful, often marked by oddly inconclusive endings, and quite neglected in the sense of fame, fortune, and awards. Two of the sixteen stories thus ring of personal relevance: the title story concerns an astronomer who, though he has never flared as brightly as a nova has had a long and glowing career; "The Fort Moxie Branch" offers the notion of a future library that preserves the work of neglected writers and materializes rather like an Isher weapons shop to offer affirmation when a writer needs it most. "Auld Lang Boom" is the butterfly whose wings cause hurricanes - every time two old friends meet, something awful happens in the world; the surviving heir of one, reading the diary left behind, gets quite spooked. "Cryptic" is the tale of closing down a SETI operation and finding the files of an old computer disk with frightening implications. "Time Travelers Never Die" plays fast and loose with continuity when even after death a time traveler is able to maintain contact with his lover. "The Jersey Rifle" concerns the discovery of the world's greatest chess player, an unassuming druggist who can beat anyone. And more.

- Analog

Contents

"Standard Candles"

"Tidal Effects"

"Translations from the Colosian"

"Black to Move"

"The Fort Moxie Branch"

"Promises to Keep"

"Gus"

"To Hell with the Stars"

"Ellie"

"The Jersey Rifle"

"Cruising through Deuteronomy"

"Tyger"

"Auld Lang Boom"

"Dutchman"

"Cryptic"

"Time Travelers Never Die"