THE BEST OF JAMES VAN PELT
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JAMES VAN PELT
From a giant spider that can’t be ignored in a high school classroom, to humanity facing a mutagen plague, to the last two robots witnessing the end of the universe, this comprehensive collection includes sixty-two of the best stories from James Van Pelt’s fertile and wide-ranging imagination that have appeared over the last thirty years in Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Talebones, and numerous other science fiction and fantasy publications.
Included in this collection is a Nebula finalist, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalist, numerous stories that were recognized by Analog or Asimov’s readers as among the best of the year, along with titles that were reprinted in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other year’s best anthologies.
Frightening or thrilling or uplifting, each of these stories is an exploration into the unknown. Take up a journey now into The Best of James Van Pelt.
Click here to see all other titles in the James Van Pelt Collection.
- November 2020 978-1-933846-95-8 (HC) 978-1-933846-21-7 (TP)
- Full wraparound cover by Gabriel Gajdoš
- Signed and numbered by the author. This hardcover with dust jacket will be limited to 200 copies. Nearly 300 thousand words of fiction, and 700 pages!
- Trade paper & ebook versions also available. You can order the trade edition below, or buy both print or ebooks of this title from these dealers
From a giant spider that can’t be ignored in a high school classroom, to humanity facing a mutagen plague, to the last two robots witnessing the end of the universe, this comprehensive collection includes sixty-two of the best stories from James Van Pelt’s fertile and wide-ranging imagination that have appeared over the last thirty years in Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Talebones, and numerous other science fiction and fantasy publications.
Included in this collection is a Nebula finalist, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalist, numerous stories that were recognized by Analog or Asimov’s readers as among the best of the year, along with titles that were reprinted in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other year’s best anthologies.
Frightening or thrilling or uplifting, each of these stories is an exploration into the unknown. Take up a journey now into The Best of James Van Pelt.
Click here to see all other titles in the James Van Pelt Collection.
Only a few left!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction by Ken Scholes • Parallel Highways • Miss Hathaway’s Spider • Happy Ending • Plant Life • O Tannenbaum • Nor a Lender Be • Shark Attack: a Love Story • The Diorama • The Comeback • Friday, After the Game • Safety of the Herd • Savannah is Six • Saturn Ring Blues • Once They Were Monarchs • Origin of the Species • Night Sweats • What Weena Knew • The Infodict • The Last Age Should Know Your Heart • Perceptual Set • The Stars Underfoot • The Yard God • The Last of the O-Forms • Its Hour Come Round • The Sound of One Foot Dancing • The Boy Behind the Gate • Do Good • A Flock of Birds • Notes From the Field • The Long Way Home • The Ice Cream Man • Echoing • The Miracle at Ramah • One Day, in the Middle of the Night • Where and When • A Wow Finish • The Inn at Mount Either • The Small Astral Object Genius • How Music Begins • Rock House • Of Late I’ve Dreamt of Venus • Just Before Recess • The Radio Magician • Where Did You Come From, Where Did You Go? • Solace • Late Homework • Classroom of the Living Dead • Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation • The Hareton K-12 County School and Adult Extension • My Father and the Moon Maids from Mars • Aubrey Comes to Yellow High • Everything’s Unlikely • On the Road with the American Dead • The Lies • The Continuing Saga of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet • The Lawn Fairy War • The Silk Silvered Skulls of Millen Mir • Mars, Aphids and Your Cheating Heart • Orphaned • Mother Azalea’s Sad Home for Forgotten Adults • Pirate Readers • Graduation in the Time of Yog Sothoth
Introduction by Ken Scholes • Parallel Highways • Miss Hathaway’s Spider • Happy Ending • Plant Life • O Tannenbaum • Nor a Lender Be • Shark Attack: a Love Story • The Diorama • The Comeback • Friday, After the Game • Safety of the Herd • Savannah is Six • Saturn Ring Blues • Once They Were Monarchs • Origin of the Species • Night Sweats • What Weena Knew • The Infodict • The Last Age Should Know Your Heart • Perceptual Set • The Stars Underfoot • The Yard God • The Last of the O-Forms • Its Hour Come Round • The Sound of One Foot Dancing • The Boy Behind the Gate • Do Good • A Flock of Birds • Notes From the Field • The Long Way Home • The Ice Cream Man • Echoing • The Miracle at Ramah • One Day, in the Middle of the Night • Where and When • A Wow Finish • The Inn at Mount Either • The Small Astral Object Genius • How Music Begins • Rock House • Of Late I’ve Dreamt of Venus • Just Before Recess • The Radio Magician • Where Did You Come From, Where Did You Go? • Solace • Late Homework • Classroom of the Living Dead • Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation • The Hareton K-12 County School and Adult Extension • My Father and the Moon Maids from Mars • Aubrey Comes to Yellow High • Everything’s Unlikely • On the Road with the American Dead • The Lies • The Continuing Saga of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet • The Lawn Fairy War • The Silk Silvered Skulls of Millen Mir • Mars, Aphids and Your Cheating Heart • Orphaned • Mother Azalea’s Sad Home for Forgotten Adults • Pirate Readers • Graduation in the Time of Yog Sothoth
“Van Pelt showcases his mastery of short-form fiction in these 62 stories, all published between 1993 and 2018 and ranging from apocalyptic fiction to subtle daylight horror, Lovecraftian riffs, and speculation about future social policy initiatives. . . .Van Pelt’s superior combination of imaginative concepts with recognizable human emotions makes him a talent deserving of a wide readership.”
— Publishers Weekly
"You’d expect a collection called The Best of James Van Pelt to contain some excellent tales, and you’d be right. But this 'Best of' collection delivers a whole lot more than any reader could expect. Seven hundred pages, a full 62 stories . . . and not a dud in the lot. Don’t worry that you will have already read most of them. Unless you’ve scoured every source of genre short fiction for the last thirty years, dozens of stories will be new to you. . . . The Best of James Van Pelt is an important and rewarding collection by an under-appreciated writer.
— Don Sakers, Analog Magazine
“These stories are rich in diverse settings—suburbia, a plant nursery with horrific vegetation, the trenches of Verdun, an automotive hell (literally). In all places and times, with all characters, Van Pelt superbly illuminates the best that is in us.”
— Nancy Kress, author of Sea Change
“In a genre like science fiction, when nearly every story is filled with incredible worlds, amazing science, and mind-blowing ideas, what does it take to stand out? It takes one of the hardest things to find in real life, too: heart. More than just those worlds and ideas and science, that’s what James Van Pelt excels at: his characters, whether human or not, are people who live and die, love and cry, in ways that remind us of ourselves.”
— Trevor Quachri, editor of Analog Magazine
“James Van Pelt is an astute observer of the human condition. He can skillfully and compassionately evoke the extraordinary in seemingly ordinary situations. James convinces us to care deeply about the fate of his compelling characters—whether they are mutated creatures, ice cream salesmen, or classroom teachers.”
— Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's Magazine
“Full of riches . . . a treasure trove of stories.”
— Connie Willis
“What a delicious treat! James Van Pelt is a terrific storyteller. Buy this book. Read. Enjoy.”
— David Gerrold, author of The Man Who Folded Himself
“Jim Van Pelt is one of those rare writers who swoop effortlessly across the landscape of the fantastic. I read him with admiration and envy.”
— James Patrick Kelly, Hugo, Nebula & Locus Award Winner
“A master storyteller . . . imaginative, riveting, superbly crafted and thoroughly entertaining short stories.”
-- The Midwest Book Review
“James Van Pelt is a master of the short story . . . Whether writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, or stories that fall between the categories, he can take the most commonplace topics—running, tourism, family life—and make them profound. If Van Pelt’s stories don’t move you, you have no heart.”
— Carrie Vaughn, author of Bannerless
He has been a Nebula finalist, a John W. Campbell Award finalist, and has been nominated for Pushcart prizes. His first collection was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and his last collection won the Colorado Book Award. Many of his short stories have appeared in various Year’s Best collections.
— Publishers Weekly
"You’d expect a collection called The Best of James Van Pelt to contain some excellent tales, and you’d be right. But this 'Best of' collection delivers a whole lot more than any reader could expect. Seven hundred pages, a full 62 stories . . . and not a dud in the lot. Don’t worry that you will have already read most of them. Unless you’ve scoured every source of genre short fiction for the last thirty years, dozens of stories will be new to you. . . . The Best of James Van Pelt is an important and rewarding collection by an under-appreciated writer.
— Don Sakers, Analog Magazine
“These stories are rich in diverse settings—suburbia, a plant nursery with horrific vegetation, the trenches of Verdun, an automotive hell (literally). In all places and times, with all characters, Van Pelt superbly illuminates the best that is in us.”
— Nancy Kress, author of Sea Change
“In a genre like science fiction, when nearly every story is filled with incredible worlds, amazing science, and mind-blowing ideas, what does it take to stand out? It takes one of the hardest things to find in real life, too: heart. More than just those worlds and ideas and science, that’s what James Van Pelt excels at: his characters, whether human or not, are people who live and die, love and cry, in ways that remind us of ourselves.”
— Trevor Quachri, editor of Analog Magazine
“James Van Pelt is an astute observer of the human condition. He can skillfully and compassionately evoke the extraordinary in seemingly ordinary situations. James convinces us to care deeply about the fate of his compelling characters—whether they are mutated creatures, ice cream salesmen, or classroom teachers.”
— Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's Magazine
“Full of riches . . . a treasure trove of stories.”
— Connie Willis
“What a delicious treat! James Van Pelt is a terrific storyteller. Buy this book. Read. Enjoy.”
— David Gerrold, author of The Man Who Folded Himself
“Jim Van Pelt is one of those rare writers who swoop effortlessly across the landscape of the fantastic. I read him with admiration and envy.”
— James Patrick Kelly, Hugo, Nebula & Locus Award Winner
“A master storyteller . . . imaginative, riveting, superbly crafted and thoroughly entertaining short stories.”
-- The Midwest Book Review
“James Van Pelt is a master of the short story . . . Whether writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, or stories that fall between the categories, he can take the most commonplace topics—running, tourism, family life—and make them profound. If Van Pelt’s stories don’t move you, you have no heart.”
— Carrie Vaughn, author of Bannerless
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
He has been a Nebula finalist, a John W. Campbell Award finalist, and has been nominated for Pushcart prizes. His first collection was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and his last collection won the Colorado Book Award. Many of his short stories have appeared in various Year’s Best collections.