Collected Stories: Volume III

The stories in this volume are in five sections. The first contains "Retirement Stories" about senior citizens coping with old age or recalling past loves and adventures. The second section is called "Sequels and Series." It includes three more "In Olden Times" stories about Abe and his family dragon Bob, and three more adventure stories about Alvin Oaks, who's partially solved the Universal Theorem, both introduced in Volume II. Finally, there are three stories about Uncle Pringle, a retired possibly CIA agent turned consultant, who helps people with their problems in sometimes surprising ways. The "Speculative Stories" in the third section include one in which an author's characters come to life, two in which super-intelligent inhabitants of another planet debate the fate of Earth, and one in which "Journeyman Meets Seinfeld." The "Dark Stories" of the fourth section are about the fearsome things that lurk "Out There," and similar menaces. The fifth section has "Stories Written (Mostly) for Fun" plus a few "serious" stories, concluding one about "When My Father Met My Mother." I hope readers will have fun reading all these stories.