A Spell for the Fulfillment of Desire

Don Webb is a major figure on the fringe of science fiction (or "speculative literature" or whatever they started calling it ten minutes ago) who hasn't yet gotten the attention he deserves. Combining sharp self-awareness, poison wit, and an itchy need to write stories a few standard deviations from the norm, he takes more chances on a single page than many writers take in their lifetimes. Webb reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson's Cagliostro the Great, who followed his magic act with explanations of how he fooled the audience and then went on to explain how they were also fooled by the government, media, religion, etc.Sometimes his trickery inspires great fiction, as in "Nor Sleet Nor Hail," in which a postal worker can't bear to deliver bad news and takes matters into his own hands, sometimes it inspires amusement--"After Abish" contains only words starting with the letter "A." Mostly, though, Webb simply inspires thought, a claim credibly made by few authors.