Some of the following stories, collected here for your online pleasure, have been published in one of my story collections -- Tomorrow Happens, The River of Time or Otherness. Others have appeared exclusively in "outside" publications.

If you are a student or teacher, some of these stories have been used to illustrate or express ideas that are discussed in modern classes, ranging from physics to history. To find out more, click to a page of information about stories that teach.

Just added! The novella "Thor Meets Captain America" (part of my story collection The River of Time), was the inspiration for my huge new graphic novel The Life Eaters.

Just added! Also part of The River of Time, "Tank Farm Dynamo" was added to this site as part of my ongoing interest in using science fiction to teach science. This story has been used widely to teach some principles of physics. It illustrates ideas of micro-gravity, orbital dynamics and the problems of life support in outer space.

Completists eager for more in the Uplift Universe may be interested in reading the novella "Temptation," which appeared in Robert Silverberg's anthology Far Horizons. This work features the adventures of a female dolphin on the faraway world, Jijo, who must escape from two of her own kind and then penetrate a deeply dangerous ancient secret. This novella will be a core element of the next Uplift novel... when I get around to it (!)... and answers several unresolved riddles left over from Heaven's Reach.

Another story, "Aficionado" (which first appeared in Popular Science and now appears in my story collection Tomorrow Happens), details the very beginnings of Uplift.

"Lungfish" has only appeared in The River of Time. It's an in-depth exploration of the concept that civilizations might send robot probes between the stars, and how many different agendas those robots might have.

"Those Eyes," (which appeared in Otherness), takes you on a ride through the notion of UFOs following the tough gaze of a radio talk show host who defies the nasty, skulking 'visitors' to come into the open and face us, eye to eye!

Both "Lungfish" and "Those Eyes" go directly to one of my longstanding interests, spanning both fiction and my other life as a scientist -- the deep question of whether alien life may exist, and if so how it could manifest in both strange and familiar ways. For some of my more scientific and technical approaches to this issue, look elsewhere in this site under the category Real Science.

"The Giving Plague," (which appeared in Otherness), came in second for a Hugo. It plunges into our modern fear -- even deeper than nuclear war -- of a virus that might wreak ruin on us all... or else change us immeasurably... and the moral quandaries facing a brilliant researcher.

"The Loom of Thessaly" is one of my oldest stories (and appears in The River of Time). Loads of fun, it explores the ancient legend of the Three Fates... and wonders how they might deal with a modern hero.

The novelette "Stones of Significance" appeared in the special January 2000 issue of Analog Magazine (and in Tomorrow Happens). This story won the AnLab Reader's Poll to be chosen as Best Novelette of the year. It describes a future time when we've achieved godlike powers and compassion... yet pay an eerie price for achieving these heights.

A different take on a similar subject, "Reality Check" appeared in the March 16, 2000, issue of the science journal Nature and was selected for the Year's Best SF 6 Anthology, edited by David G. Hartwell. It also appears in Tomorrow Happens.