Twisted Tails IX: Wunderkind

I suppose the first thing I need to do is define what Wunderkind means for this book. I'm pretty sure you've come across the word somewhere so you know a “normal” Wunderkind is a precocious child with mental capacities that are just a wee bit beyond amazing. A wonder (wunder). Here the Wunderkind is a good deal more than just bright. Our Wunderkind is capable of doing…things. He or she has talents that go far beyond learning the calculus at age three, or reading an entire set of encyclopedias at the rate of a book a day, or learning the alphabet on his or her way down the birth canal. No, this Wunderkind is extra special in the world of the Wunderkind.

Here you will find stories—10 of them in all—about folks with strange, unusual, sometimes dangerous talents that challenge the very fabric of the Universe. Some of our precious Wunderkind are all grown up, as children are prone to do if they are lucky enough to survive, while others are still on their way to their frightening adulthood. Whether adult or adolescent or youngster or toddler or infant, they are all…Wunderkind.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Through the Eyes of a Child by Joe Powers

2. Stinkhole From Beyond the Stars by Sam Bellotto Jr.

3. That Kid by Biff Mitchell

4. Tommy Two by J. Richard Jacobs

5. Eye of the Beholder by Carrol Fix

6. Anyone Nice by Chet Gottfried

7. Prodigious by Mark Ayling

8. Eidolon Redoubt by Geoff Nelder

9. Ralphie's End by John Klawitter

10. Felix by W. A. Fix