In The Time of War & Master of the Road to Nowhere [ARC] by Carol Emshwiller

In this double-header collection featuring the very best of Carol Emshwiller -- with one half of the book featuring stories set in times of relative peace and the other half in war -- the author demonstrates how, in the words of the Philadelphia Enquirer, she "has never lost her capacity to surprise."

In In The Time Of War And Other Stories Of Conflict: Soldiers go off to burn the library and the books of the enemy; a general saves a little girl; a woman steals a wounded imprisoned general of the enemy to work in her fields; and a doctor doesn't remember what side he's on but helps the wounded anyway. "Looking back at my anti-war stories," the author says, "I can see that I always want to have a character from one side fall in love with a character of the enemy's side."

In Master Of The Road to Nowhere and Other Tales of the Fantastic: Aliens try to take over the world through our dogs; a woman frightened of witches becomes one; a girl finds a god in a cave; a perfectly normal boy is displayed in a cage; half-alien half-human children are hidden and brought up in the mountains; a group of nomads try to live among us, secretly, and keep their old ways; and a woman forgets who she is.

Carol Emshwiller's fiction has received an NEA grant and a Pushcart Prize, as well as the Philip K. Dick, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. In 2005 she received the World fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Previous books included novels: Mr. Boots, The Mount, Leaping Man Hill, Ledoyt and Carmen Dog, and collections: I Live With You, Report To the Men's Club, The Start Of The End Of It All, Verging On The Pertinent, and Joy in our Cause.