"The Prize"
- Empire of Dreams and Miracles: The Phobos Science Fiction Anthology, edited by Orson Scott Card and Keith Olexa, September 2002
* Locus Magazine 2002 Recommended Reading List - Anthologies
- Winner, 2001 Phobos Fiction Contest
- Esli No.2, 2004 (Russia)
She fixed me with her terribly gorgeous eyes. "Don't give me this body and pretend you care what I know."
"Julian Serrato cares what you know," I said. "He'll kill you to keep you from talking."
She laughed. "No he won't. You've seen to that. You've made me a dream, the prize that only you can give him. He won't kill me. He'll try to take me away from you without getting caught."
I frowned.
"You don't think he can do it," she said simply, "I think he can."
Government Agents Child and Bonner have
been ordered to apprehend Julian Serrato, the most wanted criminal
on earth. But Serrato is a devious and deadly force, and not so easily caught.
The first Phobos Fiction Contest was judged by
novelist Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game),
Star Wars production designer Doug Chiang,
The Matrix producer Andrew Mason,
renowned physicist and writer Lawrence Krauss,
Sci-Fi Channel Vice President Thomas Vitale,
and former Marvel Comics editor Jim Shooter.
Here's the table of contents:
"They Go Bump" by David Barr Kirtley
"Twenty-Two Buttons" by Rebecca Carmi
"The Hanged Man, the Lovers and the Fool" by Justin Stanchfield
"Empire of Dreams and Miracles" by James Maxey
"The Messiah" by Carl Frederick
"Eula Makes Up Her Mind" by Daniel Conover
"Carthaginian Rose" by Ken Liu
"Rippers" by Chris Leonard
"The Compromise" by Rick Sabian
"Who Lived in a Shoe" by Andrew Rey
"The Prize" by David Barr Kirtley
"Great Theme Prisons of the World" by Carl Frederick
Author's Note: The version of this story
sold through Fictionwise has been slightly rewritten from the version
that appeared in Empire of Dreams and Miracles.
"[Kirtley] has pulled off two stories, both of them
so full of surprises, puzzles, and cool ideas, that I dare you to do
what we judges couldn't do: Pick one."
- Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game
"The Phobos Anthology is wonderful!"
- Larry Niven, author of Ringworld
"Wildly inventive...great fun, a caper story with a nice twist at the end."
- Locus
"9 out of 10...my second favorite short fiction
anthology for the year."
- Slashdot.org
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