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This is a nifty little piece, albeit nothing new to those familiar with Starfish. It started life as a coda to that book, ultimately discarded except for a paragraph or two that ended up elsewhere in the plot. But it’s a creepy enough tale in its own right, and stands on its own, and it might even make the point better than the original “A Niche” did. (It certainly does so more efficiently; smaller cast, fewer words, less plot.) Ultimately it came out in On Spec in the summer of 1999, coinciding with Starfish’s initial release. This is also the only story to date that I’ve illustrated myself, although OS never used the illustration.