James Van Pelt - Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille

Poul said, “When you realize a thing is bad, you’ve got to let it go or you’ll drown.”

James Van Pelt teaches high school and college English in western Colorado. He has been publishing fiction since 1990, with numerous appearances in most of the major science fiction and fantasy magazines, including Talebones, Realms of Fantasy, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Analog, Asimov’s, Weird Tales, SCIFI.COM , and many anthologies, including several “year’s best” collections. His first collection of stories, Strangers and Beggars , was released in 2002, and was recognized as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. His second collection, The Last of the O-Forms and Other Stories , which includes the Nebula finalist title story, was released in August 2005 and was a finalist for the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award. His novel Summer of the Apocalypse was released November, 2006. His third collection, The Radio Magician and Other Stories , was released in 2009. James blogs at http://jimvanpelt.livejournal.com

“Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille” first appeared in Quantum (1999)

“Father’s Dragon” first appeared in On Spec (2001)

“Just Before Recess” first appeared in Flash Fiction Online (2008)

“O Tannenbaum” first appeared in Weird Tales (1998)

“Night Sweats” first appeared in Realms of Fantasy (2001)

“Teaching” first appeared in Star Anthology #1 (1998/1999)

“Working the Moon Circuit” first appeared in Footprints (2009)

“Plant Life” first appeared in Aberrations (1993)

“That He Might Yet Find the Unknown” first appeared in Altair (2000)

“Floaters” first appeared in Talebones (2008)

“The Road’s End” first appeared in Realms of Fantasy (2006)

“One in a Thousand” first appeared in Altair (2000)

“Rock House” first appeared in Talebones (2006)

“Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation” first appeared in Asimov’s (2012)

“Far From the Emerald Isle” first appeared in Analog (2002)

“Howl Above the Din” first appeared in Talebones (2000)

“No Small Change” first appeared in After Hours (1991)

“The Saint From Abdijan” first appeared in Extremes, Darkest Africa (2002)

“Ark Ascension” first appeared in Analog (1999)

“Working Pushout” first appeared in The Third Alternative (2001)

“Notes From the Field” first appeared in 3SF (2002)

“Classroom of the Living Dead” first appeared in Daily Science Fiction (2011)

“Savannah is Six” first appeared in Dark Terrors 5 (2000)

The Radio Magician

Summer of the Apocalypse

The Last of the O-Forms

Strangers and Beggars

Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille

A Fairwood Press Book

November 2012

Copyright © 2012 by James Van Pelt

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Fairwood Press

21528 104th Street Court East

Bonney Lake, WA 98391

www.fairwoodpress.com

Front cover image by Elena Vizerskaya

Book design by Patrick Swenson

ISBN13: 978-1-933846-34-7

First Fairwood Press Edition: November 2012

Printed in the United States of America

eISBN: 978-1-61824-991-3

Electronic version by Baen Books

http://www.baen.com