The Radio Magician and Other Stories

“Musicians and magicians, terraforming and trans-dimensional inns, ice cream as a means to defuse interspecies warfare—James Van Pelt has a wide-ranging imagination, but that’s only the first of these stories’ many pleasures. Van Pelt has an unerring eye for the perfect detail, the understated emotion, and the character that unexpectedly splits your heart along its seam. Read these stories. You will remember them for a long, long time.”

— Nancy Kress, author of Steal Across the Sky

“There may not be a better science fiction or fantasy writer today, working in the short form, than James Van Pelt. From the story of a boy stricken with polio who learns magic from a radio magician to the sacrificial figure of a musical genius abducted by aliens, these tales will amaze and move you, all written in Van Pelt’s smooth, lyrical style, with convincing and memorable characters. This collection is a jewel, polished to the high sheen of the literary short story, but with the heart and muscle of great science fiction.”

— Louise Marley, author of Singers in the Snow

“James Van Pelt brings a polished, literary style to some of my favorite SF themes. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the stories in this collection. Jim’s characters and the places he takes them are real and delightfully detailed. Each story has its own unique feel.”

— Brenda Cooper, author of The Silver Ship and the Sea

“Humane, fascinating, original—Van Pelt’s best stories excite the reader in a manner reminiscent of great past masters like Jack Finney and Charles Beaumont. Reading the title story, I yearned toward the page, believing an important truth was about to be revealed or confirmed. It was: James Van Pelt is one of the best short story writers at work today.”

— Jack Skillingstead, author of Harbinger