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Strangers and Beggars
This volume gathers together 17 stories by Van Pelt which showcase his explorations in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Miss Hathaway's spider --
Finding Orson --
Home --
Nor a lender be --
Happy ending --
Shark attack: a love story --
The infodict --
The diorama --
Nine fingers on the flute --
The yard god --
The death dwarves --
Eight words --
Parallel highways --
What Weena knew --
Voices --
The comeback --
Resurrection
Miss Hathaway's spider --
Finding Orson --
Home --
Nor a lender be --
Happy ending --
Shark attack: a love story --
The infodict --
The diorama --
Nine fingers on the flute --
The yard god --
The death dwarves --
Eight words --
Parallel highways --
What Weena knew --
Voices --
The comeback --
Resurrection
- GenresShort StoriesFantasy
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 14, 2025
The story "Nor a lender be" has been haunting me since I read it, printed out in English class due to the fact that I could NEVER find it nor figure out what it was called.
I've been reading scifi short story collections for the past 10 years in hopes that I would conveniently stumble upon it. That method is a bit tedious but turns out it works!
I've been reading scifi short story collections for the past 10 years in hopes that I would conveniently stumble upon it. That method is a bit tedious but turns out it works!
March 15, 2019
Spring training has started, and that reminded me of a Van Pelt story I like. It took me a bit to find it, but the reread was as good as I remember. “The Comeback” from the collection Strangers and Beggars, is about baseball in 2051 with precognitives on the bench advising managers. The crack of the bat is a special kind of sound, you understand. It’ll let a psychic see a few seconds into the future.
So long as they’re not slumping.
And all ballplayers slump.
“The Comeback” is one of those stories that resonates with me. I think about it every once in a while, at odd little moments. Sometimes, like now, it’s because baseball is in the air. But sometimes it’s when I feel like I’m in my own slump, or when I’m thinking about the underdog, or maybe about an odd bit of trivia. Or sometimes for no reason at all.
It’s an enormously satisfying story in a book filled with them: there’s ignoring the obvious in “Miss Hathaway’s Spider”, fighting death in “The Death Dwarves”, and a special kind of hell in “Parallel Highways”. Each of these intrudes upon my thoughts from time to time.
Van Pelt has a way of writing stories that stick with me.
So long as they’re not slumping.
And all ballplayers slump.
“The Comeback” is one of those stories that resonates with me. I think about it every once in a while, at odd little moments. Sometimes, like now, it’s because baseball is in the air. But sometimes it’s when I feel like I’m in my own slump, or when I’m thinking about the underdog, or maybe about an odd bit of trivia. Or sometimes for no reason at all.
It’s an enormously satisfying story in a book filled with them: there’s ignoring the obvious in “Miss Hathaway’s Spider”, fighting death in “The Death Dwarves”, and a special kind of hell in “Parallel Highways”. Each of these intrudes upon my thoughts from time to time.
Van Pelt has a way of writing stories that stick with me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews