My most recent short story collection.

• Published March 2026 by Misenchanted Press, ISBN 978-1619910669(ebook) and 978-1619910607 (paperback).
• Contents copyright 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025 by Lawrence Watt-Evans.

Table of Contents | Introduction | Booksellers | Exits

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Remembrance of Things to Come
• The Ghost Taker
• Natural Selection
• Short Lines
• Foxy Lady
• Dread Vengeance
• He's Only Human
• Throwback
• Valedictory
• The Last Bastion
• That Doggone Vnorpt
• Advance Man
• Contraband
• Nif's World
• The Abduction of Ebenezer Scrooge
• Volunteers
• An Evil Opportunity Employer
• Personal Space
• Sorcery of the Heart
• The Night People
• Paul is Dead
• The House of the Spider
• The Jurors
• Distractions
• Harry's Toaster
• How I Found Harry's All-Night Hamburgers
• The Prisoner of Shalott
• An Interrupted Betrothal
• To See the New Jerusalem
• When I See Rigel's Light Sleeting Through the Side of Heinlein Station

Introduction

   I sold my first short story in 1975. Since then I've had productive years and slow years, but the stories keep piling up. I had enough to fill a book in 1992, and that was Crosstime Traffic. I filled another, Celestial Debris, by 2002.

   After that I did a bunch of theme collections -- vampire stories, horror, fantasy, tall tales, and stories set in the world of Ethshar.

   In 2023 I noticed that I had almost enough to fill another generic collection. In the summer of 2025, when "To See the New Jerusalem" appeared in Grimoire Vol. III, I tallied them up again and discovered that I'd missed a few in '23 -- I have more than enough.

   So here they are. The book's title comes from the first story in this volume, which originally appeared in Analog in 1999, and combines the first English version of Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past, which is not an accurate translation) with H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come. It was especially appropriate for the short story, but I think it suits the collection as a whole, too.

   Some of these were originally published as by Nathan Archer; I haven't bothered to note which.

   There's no particular theme, but they're all science fiction or fantasy. I didn't include any collaborations or licensed properties. I left out stories about librarian and monster expert George Pinkerton because I'm hoping to eventually have enough of those to fill a book of their own. A few stories I deemed unsuitable for other reasons.

   But here are all the rest. I hope you like them.

That's it; here's your list of handy exits:

The Misenchanted Page
Front Page | Main Site | E-mail me!