Alien Pregnant by Elvis

That headline gives you an idea of the types of stories that you'll find in this volume. 36 stories deal with Tabloid headlines and manage to create brilliant stories revolving around those scourges of supermarket shelves. Of the 36 authors that make an appearance, some of the more famous are Laura Resnick, John DeChance, Thomas Monteleone, Alan Dean Foster, Greg Cox, Esther Friesner, Jody Lynn Nye, and Mike Resnick. Of the 36 stories, the best by far are The Bride of Bigfoot by Lawrence Watt-Evans, the wonderfully delightful tale of one Bigfoot's search for true love. Royal Tiff Yields Face of Jesus, by Esther Friesner, a story about Charles and Dianna that turned out to be a little too close to the truth in some ways, and Stop Press by Mike Resnick a brilliant bit of fun that details just how hard it is to make up those silly headlines. The only reason this volume gets 4 out of 5 stars and not the full five is because some of the stories really drag and could have been left out. But the clinkers are few and far between. Over all this is a really great anthology!

The title sounds like one of those headlines you might read off a tabloid. The cover is silly and strange, and its supposed to be. Because this is a SF anthology devoted to tabloid tales, the kinds of stories we always hear or read about but never take seriously. Beyond the garish cover and title, are some suprisingly good and some suprisingly funny short stories. Then again, with Martin Greenberg and Esthner M. Friesner teaming up to edit this anthology, maybe not so surprising.There are thirty six stories to choose from, some by well recognized authors such as Alan Dean Foster, Harry Turtledove, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Mike Resnick and Jody Lynn Nye. As with all anthologies, the quality of the stories varies, but there are some real delights in here. "2,437 UFOs Over New Hampshire" by Allen Steele gives a look into the lives of whole town of "alien abductee". "Is Your Coworker a Space Alien?" by "Bob" bes Shahar is a hysterical look into the workplace and the 'normal' folk that inhabit it.This isn't the serious side of SF, but these tales can still make you think. They have fun extrapolating on the impossible. Elvis clones, aliens, bigfoot, all the kind of things that you look at in the local tabloid and think "yeah, right." It's appeal is the strange, the idiosyncratic and the screwball. If you enjoy reading scandal sheets, or just want a book that doesn't take itself seriously, this might be just the anthology to curl up with. Just watch out that those pesky aliens don't make off with your chocolate chip cookies!...

This guy Greenberg -- is there a subject somewhere in the world he hasn't made into a short fiction anthology? My God, this is beyond extreme! A bunch of fantasy writers try to out-weird the tabloids? This should be stupid, but it's surprisingly good. The expected stories about Elvis, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster et al. abound, and there isn't a clunker in the bunch. For cryin' out loud, give this a shot!