This is a fun collection of stories by Lawrence Watt-Evans, who may be best known for fantasy stories, but the tales in this book are more focussed on the science fiction end of the range, though there are some excellent fantasy stories as well. The best of the bunch, IMHO isn't 'Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers', though it's still enjoyable after quite a few rereads but I preferred 'Windwagon Smith and the Martians' this time through and, although I don't usually recommend the Introductions and Afterwords, the Introduction to this book was a joy in its own right. ( )

I returned the book before I wrote this review, so I can't remember exactly all the stories. I liked the two (three? No, only two) Harry's All-Night Hamburgers ones - Why I Left... is excellent, A Flying Saucer with Minnesota Plates is amusing. The Hole one is...depressing, actually. I like the other Hole one, in Celestial Debris, better, though that also has its depressing aspects. There are various other parallel-world stories - lots of different ways and reasons to cross. I liked Monster Kidnaps Girl at Mad Scientist's Command - as Watt-Evans says, he tried to write a story where that would be an accurate headline. It's not, really, but it's New York Times or Washington Post inaccurate (slanted for sensation) rather than Inquirer inaccurate (made up out of whole cloth). And it has a happy ending. I enjoyed the descriptions and explanations as much as the stories - it's fun to see what the author thinks about his work. There was no one story, nor the whole lot combined, that was magnificent and made it necessary for me to own this book; but I'm glad I read it and I expect I'll reread it sometime. ( )