Far and Away

A supremely entertaining selection of speculative short fiction from the author of Rocket to the Morgue and "e;The Quest for Saint Aquin."e; Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O'Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. In "e;The Anomaly of the Empty Man,"e; a man seems to have vanished without ever exiting a room, leaving only his clothes behind. In "e;Balaam,"e; a priest and a rabbi go to Mars. Near the desert town of Oasis in the terrifying "e;They Bite,"e; you must be weary of what lurks in the corner of your eye. Private investigator Fergus O'Breen has a case involving a time machine and a locked room murder in "e;Elsewhen."e; And a history professor uses time travel to fiddle with a presidential election in "e;The Other Inauguration."e; In these and half a dozen other mind-blowing short stories, Boucher deftly combines science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror.