Horse of a Different Color

April 13, 2015
Waldrop (The Ugly Chickens) has long enjoyed a devoted readership, and this collection will help cement his place in the literary fantasy canon. His stories evoke many American nostalgia touchstones: vaudeville, early film stars, Alcatraz, the rural American South in summer. In âFrogskin Cap,â which takes place on Jack Vanceâs Dying Earth, one man who loves truth and science takes charge of what may be humanityâs last great achievement. A fictitious Marx Brother relates the tale of master vaudevillians on an arcane quest in âThe Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode in On).â The HMS Pinafore and the Pirate King square off on the high seas in âAvast, Abaft!â. The title character of âThe King of Where-I-Goâ wrestles with guilt for his sisterâs childhood polio before becoming her time-travel test subject. The punchy stories are reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, with the same feeling of occasional humor and something unsettling beneath the familiar.