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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

This weekend I’m sending you to a great story by Alan Campbell (author of the fantastic Scar Night and Iron Angel). I haven’t always provided a lot of commentary on the stories I’m referring people to here, but I loved this story.

Now, that might be because I absolutely loved Scotland when I was there and I can’t wait to go back. Perhaps it’s because the Scottish brogue (I know, technically brogue is used in connection with Irish speakers, but…) is my favorite of all the English language accents (followed by Welsh and then Baltimore). Could be that the young boys in Campbell’s tale remind me very much of my own misspent youth arguing over comic books and television shows like Space:1999.

But I really think the reason that I love this story so much is that Campbell is a talented storyteller. For some readers, the dialect of the speakers might be a little off-putting, particularly depending on how much time you’ve spent around people from Scotland. Nonetheless, the language is quite important, and I think Campbell (a native of Scotland) uses it to great effect. Without furuther ado:

The Gadgey” by Alan Campbell


[Image from Flickr user ILoveMyPiccolo; CC licensed for commercial use]

About the Author

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John Klima

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If you want to get in touch with me, use editor[at]electricvelocipede[dot]com rather than posting here. I don't mind the e-mail and you'll have a better chance of hearing back from me. I edit the Hugo Award winning speculative fiction magazine Electric Velocipede. In 2007, Bantam published Logorrhea, my anthology of stories based on spelling-bee winning words. EV Website Blog Logorrhea You can also find me online at Facebook [John Klima], Twitter [johnklima], and Flickr [johncklima]. If you can guess what the 'c' stands for in johncklima, I'll give you a cookie. If you are a publisher of short fiction anthologies or single-author story collections, I want to see them! Please send material to: John Klima, PO Box 266, Bettendorf, IA 52722
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