ALAN DEAN FOSTER “At Sea.” First appeared in Warrior Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg & John Helfer (Daw, paperback original; 1st printing, 2000. Collected in Exceptions to Reality (Del Rey, paperback original, 2008).

   The entire story takes place on a commercial fisherman’s boat, which is, as the title says, at sea. There is a captain, his son, the regular crew, and a few extras who it is soon clear are effectively in charge. A mobster, we shall call him, and a few members of his gang. A transfer of goods is soon to take place, not a legal one by any means.

   Suddenly five horses appear. From where, no one seems to know. Then with the horses are five women, tall and beautiful Four are blonde; one is a redhead. They have names such as Herfjötur amd Skeggjöld. A scuffle breaks out. A brief scuffle. The ladies take their leave. End of tale.

   This is a very entertaining story, but it has one big flaw. It’s too short, If you don’t now how this story is going to turn out, you should be ashamed of yourself. But what you also count on is that it’s well written. There’s no doubt about that. Alan Dean Foster could write stories such as this all day long, and I’d read them all.