Irrational numbers (Doubleday science fiction)

Effinger passed away in April 2002. He was at one time married to Barbara Hambly, and they remained good friends; she's mentioned that she plans to complete at least one of the projects left unfinished at the time of his death.All the stories herein first appeared between 1973 - 1975; this collection first appeared in 1976. The only conjecture I can offer as to why it became hard to find in Effinger's lifetime is that while the stories are all excellent, they're mostly disquieting as well."And Us Too, I Guess" first appeared in the anthology _Chains of the Sea_. The viewpoint alternates between the 1st person narrative of Dr. Davis, a scientist, and the 3rd person narrative of Paul Moran, a factory worker. Both men have unsatisfactory lives. Davis is rebuilding his career - not for the first time - after a disaster (apparently) not of his own making. Moran, on the other hand, definitely has a hand in the making of his own disaster: his unsatisfactory marriage.Neither man knows the other, but they share a common passion: breeding mollies, a particular breed of tropical fish. On the day the story opens, both find that all their pets have died - and upon seeking replacements, that *all* mollies everywhere appear to have died in a single night. Then a few days later, another species - an obscure fungus - is found dead, and an ominous pattern of tragedy begins to unfold."At the Bran Foundry" first appeared in _New Dimensions 3_. The annual Key Club outing - 18 teenagers with 2 fathers along, narrated by one of the boys - may first seem to have fantastic elements only in that 1) fathers, not mothers, are acting as chaperones, and 2) the kids are holding still for a tour of the Jennings Raisin Bran Corporation. But anomalies appear thick and fast as the lecture rolls on, both in the things we see, and those we don't."Biting Down Hard on Truth" first appeared in _Orbit 15_. Mac, Willie, and Sam (Sam's Willie's wife) are the three protagonists, as 3 of the many people in a giant institution whose purpose is unclear even to them, let alone the reader. It's hard to tell at first whether this is an alternate history - the religion is Mithraism, but modified to allow female participation - or the future. Jennings, the mysterious figure who coaches sports, leads religious rituals, and lectures on various military topics, appears to be the one constant in their lives - at first."Curtains" first appeared in _The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_ (MFSF), August 1974, and appears to have the same setting as Lydectes (see below). Delta Company is a troupe (*not* troop) of soldiers on the battlefields of a future war arranged by the Representatives of Europe and North America, where "theater of war" takes on an entirely new spin, and a unit's reviews by the official critics are its first concern."Hard Times" first appeared in _Amazing Science Fiction_ in 1973. Justin, having applied for a lowly office position in Federal Services, is undergoing a battery of p