Short Stories/Novellas

David Gerrold burst onto the science fiction scene in the late sixties with more Hugo and Nebula nominations than any other writer had ever received at the beginning of his career. His first collection of stories, With a Finger in My I , showcased his remarkable range. The jewel in that collection was "In the Deadlands," a bizarre and disturbing journey into a landscape of madness—not so much a story as a sculpture made of words. Nominated for the Nebula award for best novelette of the year, "In the Deadlands" has been out of print for 40 years. This new collection contains all the stories from With a Finger in My I , plus four other works written in the same period, with revealing notes from the author.

Time-quakes are disrupting Los Angeles in the sixties. A soul-scarred Vietnam vet takes a job as a time-raveler, sewing up the loose threads of unraveled lives, but now he's on a case that threatens to unravel his own life. Why are young men are disappearing from West Hollywood? Is there a serial killer preying on the nascent gay community? Or is there some darker force at work? A brilliant and disturbing short novel, gritty and realistic, filled with recognizable details. This crossover mix of science fiction and noir mystery evokes a not-yet-forgotten time and place on the threshold of change. Selected by Gardner Dozois for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006) and winner of the 2007 Spectrum Award for Best Short Fiction, it's a stunning depiction of a forgotten slice of gay life before Stonewall. In The Quake Zone is a journey into one man's heart of darkness and what it takes to come out the other side. This is David Gerrold writing at his passionate best. Contains mature material. (Some readers have speculated that the hero of this short novel is an alternate-world version of the hero in thirteen o'clock. What do you think?)

In an alternate timeline, John F. Kennedy goes into acting instead of politics and ends up as captain of the starship Enterprise. But what if history has its own plan for JFK? This savage satire of American politics and Hollywood egos was written by Star Trek's most notorious scribe, David Gerrold, who also wrote Star Trek's popular "Trouble With Tribbles" episode.

What happens when a science fiction writer takes a wrong turn? David Gerrold writes to his editor about his bizarre peripatetic journey through the northwest wilderness and his accidental encounter with one of the legendary "green people" and his even more bizarre trek to uncover the truth behind the mystery. Originally published in two parts in the January 2007 and the April 2007 issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, this novelette reveals the author's keen eye for detail as well as his mordant sense of humor. A deliciously vicious journey! Warning! There are terrible puns in this tale.

It starts with an attempted gay-bashing, but the bashers picked the wrong man -- a one-legged Vietnam vet with a strange affliction. Time is broken for him. And so is his life. The aftermath of violence is a scream-of-consciousness unraveling of a terrifying past and the ultimate discovery of a new human possibility. Tonight he takes the first step toward redemption. This is one of the most brutal and controversial story that David Gerrold has ever written. After its publication in the February 2006 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction several subscribers actually cancelled their subscriptions in protest. This story is an unflinching look at souls in transformation. Contains strong language and vivid descriptions of sex and violence. Not recommended for young or impressionable readers. Please keep your seat belt fastened tightly. The sequel to this story is "fourteen o'clock," available only as an Amazon ebook.

You know the drill. Rub the magic lamp and a genie appears, promising to grant you three wishes. But the wishes always have a trap in them. What happens when a Hollywood lawyer draws up the contract? This notorious little short by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author, David Gerrold ("The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek) is a delicious tale of well-deserved revenge.

Annie is six years old. Something bad lives in her dreams and now it’s trying to get out. A very scary story that will haunt you long after you read its hysterical last line. (By the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "The Martian Child.")

Something bad has happened and the world has become strange and terrible. A self-imposed darkness has crept out of the cities and across the land. Seething beyond is a virulent brightness, inhabited by creatures of blinding presence. A wild boy beckons and a boy who is lost and far away struggles to understand who he is in this remarkable tale of discovery. By the Hugo and Nebula winning author of "The Martian Child," "The Trouble With Tribbles," and "The Man Who Folded Himself."

The further adventures of ROACH-MAN in his continuing battle against his terrifying arch-nemesis, the villainous Sigmund Freud! An hysterical short story by one of science-fiction's funniest writers. David Gerrold is the Hugo and Nebula award-inning author of "The Martian Child," "The Trouble With Tribbles," "The Man Who Folded Himself," "Jumping Off The Planet," and "The War Against The Chtorr."

Starling and her grandmother operate a way station in the asteroid belt. For decades, Ganny has had a very successful business, using her way station to sling cargo and passenger ships all over the asteroid belt and to most of the planets as well. But now, technological advances and corporate greed are threatening her livelihood and the continued well-being of her granddaughter. What’s an old lady to do? Digging back into her past, Ganny applies an ancient technique to modern materials. She begins to create a spaceship that will enable her and Starling to survive—and even to prosper. How? By knitting it.All is going well. But once the corporate interests that were plotting to seize her way station realize what she’s up to, they set out to stop her by any means fair or foul.Mostly foul. Her crew is suborned, murder attempts are launched, financial plots are set underway. What’s an old lady to do?Apply a long lifetime’s sagacity and resourcefulness, that’s what. Guided always by her knowledge that revenge is a dish best served old.Written by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "The Trouble With Tribbles," The War Against the Chtorr series, "The Man Who Folded Himself," and "The Martian Child."

In this wonderful young adult adventure, a socially maladroit teenager invents a way to become a time-slicing superhero and uses his new powers to extract an exquisite revenge on his junior high school tormentor—and in the process learns a few lessons for himself as well. This hilarious tale is a delicious evocation of adolescent geekery. Don't miss this one! Written by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "The Martian Child," "The Man Who Folded Himself," "The War Against The Chtorr" and "The Trouble With Tribbles."

The devil has always been an expert in marketing, but the old fashioned way of recruiting souls just won’t work in a modern technological age. Have you ever been invited to a guest event for one of those courses? One that promises you everything? Well, you haven't been invited to this one yet. Here's the ultimate deal with the devil story--sacrilegious, disturbing, and ultimately poignant. Written by the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of "The Trouble With Tribbles," "The Martian Child," "The Man Who Folded Himself," and "The War Against The Chtorr."

You come home from the movies, you’ve had a good time, you go to the fridge to get a snack, and suddenly, while standing in front of a day-old box of cold pizza, you stop and say, “Hey! If E.T. could fly away at the end of the movie, why didn’t he do that at the beginning? That’s the Refrigerator Door Question. Here are The Unanswered Questions from the 1933 classic adventure King Kong, followed by King Kong, Behind The Scenes. This is the movie they should have made, an hysterical homage to the movie that started it all—and a whole new way to think about one of the greatest Hollywood monsters of all.

This is the ultimate traffic nightmare—city-wide gridlock. In this savagely satirical view of the near future, vehicular traffic in Los Angeles finally loses its liquidity, transforming into slow-moving slush, then finally hardening into sun-baked mud. With cars and trucks and buses paralyzed across a hundred miles of freeway parking lot, the city grinds to a painful stop—or does it? Plus a bonus story! Afternoon With A Dead Bus, a bizarre urban fantasy only David Gerrold could write.

When we finally start building stations on the moon, it won’t just be scientists and astronauts and engineers. We’ll also have students and trainees earning serious credits for their internships. A team of young scouts travels to Luna to help build the largest dome yet. But what if everything on Luna is not what it appears to be? And what if the scouts are not just scouts either? In this Heinlein-inspired novella, the future isn’t what it used to be.

Sherlock Holmes meets Oscar Wilde in a delicious mashup of literature and history. Fans of both Holmes and Wilde will find this an insightful look at some of the darker moments of the Victorian era. This may be one of Holmes' most disquieting adventures, because it is a case with a solution -- but not a satisfactory resolution. The bonus story in this ebook is "The Fan Who Molded Himself," another tale of Holmes, in which Dr. Watson finally reveals the real secret behind the famed detective's legendary success at crime-solving. David Gerrold is the author of the Hugo and Nebula award winning tale of THE MARTIAN CHILD, as well as THE WAR AGAINST THE CHTORR, THE VOYAGE OF THE STOAR WOLF, JUMPING OFF THE PLANET, and forty other books. He is also well-known for writing the Legendary "Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek, The Original Series, while still in college.

Thinking of traveling Europe by rail? You might want to think twice after reading this unsettling little tale of what should have been nothing more than a sleepy journey through darkness. Winner of the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction.

Not all heroes are super. In this incredible short story, award-winning author David Gerrold reveals the true cost of of being heroic in an uncaring world. A vivid vignette of urban fantasy.

On an alien world, where the equator is so hot it's the scorch belt that divides the planet into two separate ecological zones. Here is where the ocean boils -- and here is where a daring exploration team attempts an ocean crossing to discover how the local life forms migrate from the northern hemisphere to the southern and back again. An old-fashioned science fiction adventure from a master storyteller. David Gerrold is the award winning author of "The Martian Child," "Night Train to Paris," and "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek, The Original Series.

A rare opportunity to eavesdrop on a gathering of the smartest men and women on the planet as they discuss ways to prevent or prepare for an inevitable future. By the award-winning author of The War Against The Chtorr..