"Alan Dean Foster - Impossible Places" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

Who could do things with words that most
writers can only do with dreams.
May he rest in comfort.
 Contents




Introduction
“Lay Your Head on My Pilose”
“Diesel Dream”
“Lethal Perspective”
“Laying Veneer”
“Betcha Can’t Eat Just One”
“Fitting Time”
“We Three Kings”
“NASA Sending Addicts to Mars!”
“Empowered”
“The Kiss”
“The Impossible Place”
“The Boy Who Was a Sea”
“Undying Iron”
“The Question”
“The Kindness of Strangers”
“Pein bek Longpela Telimpon”
“Suzy Q”
“The Little Bits That Count”
“Sideshow”



Introduction


Every professional needs a workout. Basketball players shoot free throws and jump shots. Golfers
retire to the driving range to practice their swing. Lawyers argue in front of mirrors; actors perform in
summer stock; artists work with pencil and pastel in sketchbooks. Landscapers fill flowerpots; swimmers
do lap after lap; gem cutters try different cuts with flawed stones.
Writers write short stories.
Except—sometimes the longest drive comes not on the course, but on the driving range. Occasionally
the finest piece of art leaps out not from the finished oil on canvas, but from the sketchbook. Now and
then, the most expansive, the most beautiful flower blossoms are not in the elaborate garden, but in the
simple pot.
Writers write short stories.
There are all kinds of freedom attendant to composing shorts. Most obviously, a good deal less time is
involved. For professionals, that’s more than a little important. Then too, the creative freedom that is
inherent in and so important to the writing of fantasy and science fiction is magnified in reverse. The
shorter the story, the greater the freedom. It’s easier for artists to let themselves go in an afternoon than
over a period lasting four or five or six months, or a year or two. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing, or
painting, or composing music. Time is precious to us all.