Jim Metzler

In a pollution-free future, humans seek narcotic chips for pleasure, stealing from Los Angeles with Danner and smuggling to New York, while Plughead pursues them. In a future where most humans have moved underground to escape the pollution, one of the few pleasures left is a kind of narcotic in the form of chips which can be plugged directly into the brain. Lori, a female body guard steals a case of such chips and flees underground Los Angeles with Danner, a pleasure android so that they can smuggle the chips to New York. In pursuit is Plughead, a dangerous criminal so named because of the many sockets and ports which decorate his scalp so that he can test and use the chips that he is after.

Vampires residing in a town wear sunscreen. A Van Helsing descendant arrives, leading to humorous situations as their paths intersect. Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sunscreen to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences. —<robin.poole@octacon.co.uk> The last remaining vampires have decided to find peace in a secluded desert town protected by sunblock. They are in the midst of getting a substitute blood plant up and running, but they need the help of a human scientist who brings his family not knowing what they are walking into.

Looking for change late in life, Harriet travels for a job as teacher in Mexico. The revolutionaries use her to gain access to a fortified estate. There she meets General Arroyo and befriends Old Gringo, a writer. When school teacher Harriet Winslow goes to Mexico to teach, she is kidnapped by Gen. Tomas Arroyo and his revolutionaries. An aging American, Ambrose "Old Gringo" Bierce also in Mexico, befriends Gen. Arroyo and meets Harriet. Bierce is a famous writer, who knowing that he is dying, wishes to keep his identity secret so he can determine his own fate. Though he likes Arroyo, Bierce tries to provoke the General's anger whenever possible in an attempt to get himself killed, thus avoiding suffering through his illness. Winslow is intrigued by both Bierce and Arroyo, and the men are in turn attracted to her. She becomes romantically involved with Arroyo. When Winslow learns of Bierce's true identity (a writer whose work she has loved and respected for years), she is singlemindedly determined to fulfill his dying wish. —E.W. DesMarais <jlongst@aol.com>