Lambing Season

by Molly Gloss

• Word count: 5625

• Page count: 9

Lambing Season is a 2002 science fiction short story by Molly Gloss. It is about a sheepherder who one night sees an alien spaceship land near her flock.

Richie Rich GEMS #47

• Date: 2012
• Publisher: KiZoic (an imprint of Ape Entertainment)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Stats: 28 color pages plus one house ad
• Writers: Sid Jacobson, Ralph Newman, Lennie Herman, Tom DeFalco
• Artists: Ernie Colon, Warren Kremer, Sid Couchey, Armando Zanker
• Notable Notes: An issue about aliens and robots!

New and Classic Richie Rich Stories!

I bought this issue along with Richie Rich: Rich Rescue #5 so that I could try out both new Richie Rich titles from KiZoic. While that one features the new look of the modern Richie, this one sticks with the classic style, and includes new, original stories as well as digitally re-colored old ones. I was impressed with the modern Richie Rich, so let's see how this one stacks up shall we?

In May of 2007 we held Round 13 for our writing group. For this one I wanted to write a fantasy story that included a demon. Why a demon? Well, I have been fascinated with demons in fantasy literature for most of my life. It all started with Dungeons & Dragons when I was 10 years old, and I just think they are cool looking and yet scary at the same time. Just think how frightening it would be to discover one in your own house! That's the feeling I wanted to capture with this story.

Salvador

by Lucius Shepard

• Page count: 12

Salvador is an award winning science fiction short story by Lucius Shepard. It is about a group of specially trained US soldiers using drugs to enhance their fighting abilities in Central America.

Akiko #3

• Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Sirius Entertainment
• Cover Price: $2.50
• 2013 NM Price: $3.00
• Stats: 22 black & white pages plus "Letters to Akiko" and "Akiko's Bulletin Board"
• Story & Art: Mark Crilley
• Notable Notes: The gang battles monsters - arena style!

Its Just Dumb Luck!

Akiko and her friends sure are lucky sometimes, and in this issue some pretty fantastic events happen to help them out of some pretty dire circumstances. But hey, that is part of the fun of comics right? This super-fun all-ages comic pushes the borders of willing suspension of disbelief, but I enjoyed it immensely none-the-less!

I recently returned to the Discworld novels - a set of 41 books from the late, famous and humorous English author Terry Pratchett. It had been a long break - much longer than I intended - since I had read Pyramids way back in 2008! But I was glad to be back, and very much enjoyed my outing with the setting and characters this time around.

A Cabin On The Coast

by Gene Wolfe

• Page count: 9

A Cabin On The Coast is a 1984 science fiction / fantasy short story by Gene Wolfe. It is about a young man who makes a deal with an alien ship in exchange for his girlfriend's life.

Daredevil #19 (Vol. 3)

• Date: December 2012
• Publisher: Marvel Comics
• Cover Price: $2.99
• Stats: 21 color pages plus ads and "Letters Without Fear" letters page
• Writer: Mark Waid
• Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna
• Notable Notes: Daredevil loses his head (both figuratively and literally!)

Fun Ads too!

Usually I tune out advertisements in comic books (or anywhere else for that matter) but this issue had one that I not only noticed but actually read carefully and enjoyed - gasp! It was the mini-story about breast cancer awareness featuring Iron Man and Captain America. Have any of you noticed it? It totally reminded me of those old Hostess ads from the 1970s, and it had an important message and was pretty cool to boot! Anyway, it was just one more cool thing in this already cool issue.

Our writing group held a St. Patrick's Day Limerick Contest on March 17, 2007. For this round we were supposed to come up with a few limericks - they didn't have to be themed around St. Patrick's Day or anything like that - the point was just to try our hand at writing these fun poems. With that in mind I wrote mine about family members and our yearly NCAA pool.

The Lincoln Train

by Maureen F. McHugh

• Page count: 10

The Lincoln Train is an award winning alternate history short story by Maureen F. McHugh. It is about the people of a Southern town who are forcibly removed from their homes after the North wins the US Civil War.