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ISSN: 1206-8691

Stories Published In 1998


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 These are the stories SpaceWays Weekly published in 1998.

January February March April May June July August September October November December
  • "Love In Vain"
  • Al Pope
  • Issue #18 January 2 1998
  • A story set in the future, after the human race has been subjugated by an alien race. The women have all been taken away in order to maintain control over the men. In this world, one man struggles to survive. Part of his survival is playing Blues on his guitar and now his strings are broken and he must find more.
  • "Hemlock"
  • Tanya Parr
  • Issue #19 January 9 1998
  • A fantasy tale about a young man who lives in a world divided between night and day. He is a misfit, despised by his mother and sister. On a night when the Night People strike out at the city, Hemlock learns his true nature and destiny.
  • "Venus"
  • Magee Gilks
  • Issue #20 January 16 1998
  • Part one of our short story trilogy. In the distant past, a sentient being lies dying in the ruins of his world. His people had achieved greatness only to destroy themselves. We sit with him, as he dies, feeling his sadness and pain. His world will later be known as Venus.
  • "Josie's Marble"
  • Magee Gilks
  • Issue #21 January 23 1998
  • Part two of our short story trilogy. Josie is a young girl living in the moon colony. She isn't old enough to understand what is going on, but she realizes that something is wrong. The adults are very agitated and worried about something. Seeking to get away from the tension, she goes to her favourite lounge, where she can see Earth hovering in the sky; her big blue marble. As she sits watching, bright flashes appear upon its surface, scattered from one end of the globe to the other. Without quite knowing why, she finds herself crying.
  • "The Supplicants"
  • Magee Gilks
  • Issue #22 January 30 1998
  • Part three of our short story trilogy. A distant alien world is locked in a monumental war when a signal from another world is received. Hoping that another species can provide them with salvation, the launch a ship towards the signal source. When the survey ship arrives, they cannot find any signs of life. Further exploration shows them that there was a civilization on the third planet and its moon, but they apparently destroyed themselves. With great sadness, the crew turns their ship towards home.

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  • "Lady Goblin"
  • Rob Vanderwoude
  • Issue #23 February 6 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A fantasy tale which starts just after the brutal battle between the Goblins and Humans. A goblin chief has had his tribe decimated and now fears being finished off by other goblin tribes. But he has captured one of the human mages who was badly burned. He decides to try to heal the human and sway him to help defend his tribe. He tells his priest to get to work healing him. He then selects a young female to nurse-maid human. He chooses her because she once lived with humans and knows their ways. In the end, the blind mage and the goblin lady fall in love.
  • "Flight Home"
  • Bert Ellis
  • Issue #24 February 13 1998
  • While flying home for Christmas, a passenger goes to the bathroom. When he steps out of the airplane bathroom, he finds himself in his parents' home. They are surprised to see him, exclaiming that they did not hear him come in. In a daze, he spends some time with them, having coffee and pie. Excusing himself, he goes to the bathroom. Opening the door, he is once again in the plane. But there is an emergency and the stewardess is urging him to his seat. As it dawns on him that the plane is going down, he wonders if he had been dreaming--until he finds a spot of pie filling on his shirt. Desperately, he races to the bathroom and closes himself in. With a prayer, he opens the door. . .
  • "Frog Legs"
  • Mark Budman
  • Issue #25 February 20 1998
  • A humorous story about Len, an electrical engineer with arthritis and poor eyesight. One day, he is approached by a scantily clad woman carrying a sword who emerges from a lake and demands that he slay a dragon. When he meets the dragon, who only eats frogs, the dragon offers him a cashier's cheque for $100,000 if he doesn't kill him. So the dragon moves away, Len gets the money from both the Lady of the Lake and the Dragon and lives happily ever after.
  • "No Data"
  • Trevor Van Mierlo
  • Issue #26 February 27 1998
  • A humour story about a young college man being pursued by federal agents because his name does not appear in any computer system in the government. Can't have people running around not properly catalogued, can we?

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  • "Changeling's Dream"
  • C. A. Mehrlein
  • Issue #27 March 6 1988
  • Katja is a girl who begins to have a sense that something is wrong in her life. She starts seeing things about herself that are wrong, almost not human. Or is she? As Katja struggles through a growing unease and sense of displacement, she comes to realize that she is a member of the Faerie Folk, a changeling, and her greatest desire is to return home.
  • "Tether"
  • David Chato
  • Issue #28 March 13 1988
  • Man has achieved a great dream; a space tether. A giant cable, with a freight elevator inside of it, stretching up into high Earth orbit and passing through an orbital station. It will make lifting goods and supplies to the station so much cheaper. Except, the cable has picked up an alien microorganism capable of adapting to any environment. It eats metal and is feeding on the tether. The only way to destroy the organism is to create a rapid change in environment, too rapid for it to adapt to. As the organism reaches the ground station, a dam is blown apart, crushing the station with billions of tons of water, effectively destroying both the organism and the tether.
  • "They Came From Ooter's Place"
  • Karl El-Koura
  • Issue #29 March 20 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A humour story about a young boy who's best friend is Ooter. They discover that Ooter's family has a "television" which is allowing aliens from another dimension to infiltrate Earth, where they assume human disguises and take up important positions.
  • "Second Moon"
  • Sean Campbell
  • Issue #30 March 27 1988
  • An "end of the world" story about a tribe of people struggling to survive, and the mysterious, seemingly immortal, wanderer who visits them and tries to teach them new things.

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  • "The Professor's Weekend"
  • Barb Soutar
  • Issue #31 April 3 1998
  • A professor is having some problems with his wife. She is pregnant and becoming deeply involved in a New Age movement. They claim that the Age of Aquarius is coming and that it will herald the sudden evolution of "supermen". Then strange things start happening and the professor is no longer certain that the New Agers are whackos.
  • "The Wrong Door"
  • Frank Fedishaw
  • Issue #32 April 10 1998
  • In a woods called Lombard, a little family has pretty much hit bottom. The husband has been bed ridden with fever, the winter has wiped out almost all of the food, their cabin is full of holes and the temperatures are dropping. Suddenly, a wolf appears and tries to break through the door, seeking food. A terrified wife battles him with her broom. Suddenly, a larger wolf appears and the two sit together for a moment. Then the smaller wolf returns to the door and starts to apologize to the woman. His boss tells him that he's at the wrong house, that these people are going to have an early spring, the husband recovers, they inherit a fortune and live happily ever after. With that, the wolves depart.
  • "Aftermath"
  • Dietmar Trommeshauser
  • Issue #33 April 17 1998
  • A sad tale about a dark future in which society and its safety nets are collapsing. The story focuses on a family who's young daughter was killed in a random drive-by shooting.
  • "Pandora's Box"
  • Robert H. Beer
  • Issue #34 April 24 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • This story touches upon something which is not entirely science fiction; arcologies. Arcologies are giant buildings; self-contained, selfsufficienct cities. Plans for such things have been in existence for decades. This is the story about a time when arcologies are just going into operation and about one man who thinks that being shut inside them is wrong.

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  • "A Touch Of Justice"
  • Darren Latta
  • Issue #35 May 1 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A story about a man, his wife and her lover. The lover murders the wife and the man is accused of the murder. Because the lover is a rich and powerful man, the husband is found guilty. In the future, people are not executed for murder, the are discorporated. He was told that during his sentence, he would be totally unaware of anything. Once the discorporation is performed, he finds that he is fully aware, as a disembodied spirit. He also discovers that while he cannot touch anything, his presence has a bad effect on electronics. His wife's murderer wears an electronic vision prosthetic, which leads to interesting opportunities for revenge.
  • "Ova And Out"
  • Kate Thornton
  • Issue #36 May 8 1998
  • A story about the humans mining a planet for everything its worth, blissfully ignoring the consequences. The problem is that the planet is already inhabited and the inhabitants are beginning to retaliate, for their eggs are one of the materials being mined.
  • "Esaux's Dilemma"
  • Joe Murphy
  • Issue #37 May 15 1998
  • Esaux has a problem. The starship he is on has crashed and he is one of three survivors. The other two survivors each work for a different corporation; two powerful companies at odds with each other. As Esaux attempts to get the ship mobile, the other two are constantly feeding him stories about how the other is attempting to betray him. Esaux begins to wonder if the ship actually crashed or if it was deliberate sabotage. Either way, he finds that he must decide which of these people can be trusted. In the end, he chooses neither as the planet he finds himself on has made him a better offer.
  • "The Watering Hole"
  • Andrew Burt
  • Issue #38 May 22 1998
  • An excellent character story about Jennifer Stoakes, a member of a linguistics team attempting to establish communications with an alien race.
  • "Vayra"
  • Wayne Bloemhof
  • Issue #39 May 29 1998
  • A sad story about the nasty side of human nature. Set in a city called Vayra on a distant world, a strange woman enters the life of the bartender. It is the bartender who tells the story of this haunted looking woman and of the people chasing her.

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  • "An End Of Sorrows"
  • Aaron Emmel
  • Issue #40 June 5 1998
  • A man is stuck in a small country where it rains a lot and he is at the end of his limits. Then he meets another traveller who offers him a book. It is a strange book, with strange things written in it. The man tells him that if he writes something in the book, it will become reality. Could it be true?
  • "Hermes Pan"
  • Debra Pine
  • Issue #41 June 12 1998
  • A delightful tale about a woman who has become a Famous Author with her character Hermes Pan. While meeting with one of her more persistent fans, she learns that Hermes Pan may be more real than even she thought!
  • "In The Land Of Paradise"
  • Rodney Bryant
  • Issue #42 June 19 1998
  • A story about a colony struggling to survive on a very hostile world, and the one man who sits in orbit playing god with their lives.
  • "A Bit Of Coloured Ribbon"
  • Robert A. Hall
  • Issue #43 June 26 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A city is bordered by ruins harbouring dangerous and undesirable people; reactionaries, bums, homeless people, that sort of thing. Into this devastated area comes a small troop of government soldiers attempting to capture the leader of one of the bigger gangs. In the end, all that is left is the medal, the coloured ribbon, delivered to grieving parents. A strong commentary on the senselessness of war.

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  • "Microverse"
  • Shikhar Dixit
  • Issue #44 July 3 1998
  • A young college student uncovers a centuries old theory that his world is doomed to destruction. What worries him is that it seems to be drawing close to the time of the cataclysm. We, the readers, slowly learn that his universe exists within the dirt on a bathroom wall, next to a urinal; the one a staggering drunk is about to attempt to use.
  • "Homemade Prisoner"
  • Gary Thomas
  • Issue #45 July 10 1998
  • The Internet has become the largest repository of information ever created. However, it can be hard to find what you're looking for. This is the story of a man who is trapped inside of a room. His purpose in life is to know everything and to know where to find everything. He spends his days answering questions, giving advice and creating plans. He wants out.
  • "Born Lucky"
  • Shirley Chan
  • Issue #46 July 17 1998
  • A story about a family which has a dominant recessive gene which gives them luck. One of their younger members lies in a hospital, the victim of a tragic automobile accident. Charlie has never been lucky because his mother married outside of the family. But his father is convinced that Charlie did inherit some of his mother's luck, otherwise he wouldn't be alive.
  • "One Good Turn"
  • Alyson Moorcock
  • Issue #47 July 24 1998
  • The story of a woman who inherits her mother's property. On the property are two very rare Totara trees; trees that her mother struggled all of her life to care for. As the woman grieves for her mother, near the trees, a unicorn appears. He has come to give her a gift to say thank you for the hard work her mother put into preserving the two sacred trees.
  • "The Divorce Machine"
  • Holly Day
  • Issue #48 July 26 1998
  • An amusing story about a man who creates a machine which allows troubled couples to simulate what their lives will be like after divorce. Enter one such couple, each of whom learn very different things.

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  • "Net Worth"
  • David Chato
  • Issue #49 August 7 1998
  • What is your net worth? Mattison Honnegger lives in a world where everything is credit and your net worth is carefully tracked. When his electronic accounts suddenly turn up zero, he finds himself unable to do anything, he can't even get into his apartment. He eventually finds himself on the outside of the city, where all of the derelicts live. He tries to tell people that he's a person of importance, that the system made a mistake and he shouldn't be there. He actually finds a woman who believes him--because that's her job. He tells him that yes, the system made a mistake; but they can't let the public find out or they may lose confidence in it. He is executed, to keep him quiet, and the system carries on.
  • "Overlay"
  • Chris Markwyn
  • Issue #50 August 14 1998
  • In a bizarre twist of fate, a man finds out the when your Internet Service Provider accidentally gives another customer your account, he gets everything else in your life too!
  • "High Stakes"
  • Magee Gilks
  • Issue #51 August 21 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A humorous story about a man who dies and goes to hell. Mortimer Sealy was an advertising agent who could sell anything to anyone. Now that he was in Hell, he was going to sell the devil a plan which would see Mortimer back on Earth.
  • "Black Fire"
  • Shikhar Dixit
  • Issue #52 August 28 1998
  • An interesting tale about a "gopher routine", a program designed to shuttle data back and forth on the Internet, and its quest for independence.

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  • "Corpus"
  • Andrew Burt
  • Issue #53 September 4 1998
  • A story about a man who is living a quiet life until some people show up and tell him that it isn't real. They tell him it's all a simulation and they would like to help him find out where his body really is and what it's doing. At first, he doesn't believe them, but then he starts to notice things which are not quite right. Eventually, he learns the truth, that his body is being used as an electrical connector in a giant pipe that aliens are building on Earth. But to what purpose?
  • "Stranger on the Road"
  • F. Alexander Brejcha
  • Issue #54 September 11 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A handicapped man is driving home from a science fiction convention when he spots a hitch-hiker standing in the rain. He picks her up and discovers that she too is coming from the con. They chat about the con and the conversation turns to her telling him that she was studying the con on behalf of aliens that she works for. When they stop so that she can e-mail them, a car pulls up and the couple identify themselves as her brother and sister-in-law. They apologize for her, saying she was off her medication and they would take her back to the hospital. The man continues to poke into the incident and becomes convinced that the brother has the young woman convinced of the alien story so he can keep her hospitalised and steal her inheritance. He starts writing to the brother, as the alien conspirators and gets everything straightened out. Just when he thinks it's over, he receives a message from the aliens.
  • "The Promise"
  • Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen
  • Issue #55 September 18 1998
  • An interesting story about several artificial intelligences who serve as computer game characters. One of them becomes dissatisfied with being the loser all of the time and becomes determined to change the script and win.
  • "Evergreen"
  • Tabitha Baumander
  • Issue #56 September 25 1998
  • A strange tale about an evergreen tree on a schoolyard which seems to eat children.

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  • "Forest Healer"
  • Raechel Henderson
  • Issue #57 October 2 1998
  • An engaging story about a young woman who is a healer. She becomes aware of a young girl, hiding in the woods, who makes her village very nervous. In an attempt to calm the situation, she goes out trying to befriend the girl.
  • "Fields of Amethyst"
  • Robert H. Beer
  • Issue #58 October 9 1998
  • The story of an agricultural project on an alien world. They grow and harvest a plant which is important to the galactic economy. But then, something starts to attack the plants, chewing on them. What bothers the project director is that this world was selected specifically for its lack of animal life. So where are the animals coming from? A wonderful mystery with a surprise ending.
  • "Within The Harshest Light"
  • Joe Murphy
  • Issue #59 October 16 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A story told from the viewpoint of a small alien on a distant world and its contact with a human. The human convinces the alien that it should join him on an adventure. Unknown to the alien, the human ingests his kind as a powerful drug.
  • "Gone Fishing"
  • Ion Newcombe
  • Issue #60 October 23 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • There is a world with no land, just water. On this world, a man has built a floating city, a tourist trap as it were, which has become renown throughout the galaxy for its sport fishing. The problem is, gruesome murders are beginning to turn up. Enter into this world, Investigator Heath, called in to solve the mystery. What he discovers is that the humans are not the only ones engaged in sport fishing.
  • "Puncture Repair"
  • David Stephenson
  • Issue #61 October 30 1998
  • A young college student falls in love with a young woman who's father is a corporate big-wig. A very opinionated big-wig. The young man is finding it very difficult to cement his relation with the young woman due to the opposition of the father. Until he stumbles upon something in the lab which could be very profitable to the father.

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  • "Limits"
  • Terry Hickman
  • Issue #62 November 6 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • One of the most touching of the human stories we ever published. The psyche cases of Earth are no longer a problem, because the Earth has stuck them into "tin cans in space"; stations orbiting the sun at the edge of our solar system. This is the heart breaking story of the patients who live in one of these stations and the psychiatrist who cares for them.
  • "The Marking"
  • Kate Tompkins
  • Issue #63 November 13 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A wonderful fantasy tale about a young man who is disgusted with the attention and devotion bestowed upon a worthless old man who no longer contributes to the tribe. The young man finds himself on a strange journey in which he learns that the value of people is not always measured in their ability to hunt or build.
  • "Paradise Island: Annotated Version"
  • Michael Mirolla
  • Issue #64 November 20 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • A story about Captain Cook, world famous explorer, and a certain little island that he once discovered. A very interesting tale with an unusual twist in the plot.
  • "The First of Several Short Sagas From The Life Of Samuel Alexander Micemaster, Snowcat At Large"
  • Rusty Miller
  • Issue #65 November 27 1998
  • Sam is a snowcat who loves mischief and has a rebellious nature. When he becomes aware of the atrocities of mankind, he decides that something must done to preserve the natural world. He tries to rally the animals into a war with man, but gets told that there is nothing that they can do; man is too powerful. But Sam doesn't like to take "no" for an answer, so he starts the war himself. To get things going, he convinces Mount St. Helen to fire the first shot. (RE: the explosion of Mount St. Helen in the 1980's)

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  • "The Long Arm of the Law"
  • D. K. Latta
  • Issue #66 December 4 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • An odd mix of genres (SF and Western) which worked so well as to win the Readers' Choice Award. It is the story of an RCMP officer who almost dies in an ambush, due to losing his arm. He stumbles upon the remains of another fight in the woods. He passes out. When he awakens, he has a new arm, not a human one, and no memory of how it got there. But he needs to settle a score with the men who left him for dead and he goes hunting, only to uncover a thicker plot than he originally conceived; one involving aliens invading Earth.
  • "Mere Survival"
  • Brett Boyko
  • Issue #67 December 11 1998
  • An engaging story which blends fantasy with cyber-punk as an Elven assassin seeks to take out a target with a Nosferatu guardian. She learns to adapt a new way of looking at the world, becoming a guardian rather than an assassin.
  • "Virus"
  • Bert Ellis
  • Issue #68 December 18 1998
  • Mike Mulberry, Expeditor for the World Teleportation System has his hands full again. This time, a deadly virus has escaped from a research lab and is being spread through the teleporters. It kills within a very short span of time. How to contain a virus which is being instantly transported around the world?
  • "The Coming of the Dawn"
  • Lisa Liscoumb
  • Issue #69 December 25 1998
  • Winner of The Readers' Choice Award 1998
  • An incredible story of love between a vampire and a woman, who struggle to create a normal life for themselves. But their lives cannot be normal as the one-time business partner of the vampire would like to get back to business. To expedite the vampire's cooperation, he kills the woman. After going on a murderous rampage, the vampire sits by the grave of his loved one, awaiting the coming of the dawn.

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