Introduction
One major benefit of being a writer is that you get to see your name in print. That never gets old.

But another benefit is that you get to know other writers. As it happens, I've met some fantastic people who have written some great stories, and since I don't have enough short stories of my own to fill a book, I decided to fill out this volume with stories by friends of mine.

"Beans and Marbles" is by Floris M. Kleijne, one of the few authors I look up to. (He's taller than I am.) We met at the Writers of the Future workshop in 2004, which happens to be where he wrote this story. Be warned -- this story does include coffee as part of its subject matter. (Oh, there may also be some violence and death, if you're worried about that sort of thing.)

"Betrayer of Trees" is by yours truly. I wrote the first draft of this story at Orson Scott Card's workshop in 2003. The original title was "The Horseman and the Stoneworker." The story went on to become a winner in the Writers of the Future contest.

"A Buffalito of Mars" is part of the very amusing Amazing Conroy series by Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen. I met Lawrence during the organization of the Codex Writers forum. He is not a doctor of Klingonology. I just wanted to make that clear.

"The Capacity to Appear Mindless" is by Mike Shultz, another Codex Writer. I've never met Mike in person, but online and in this story, he's very funny

"Final Flight of the Blue Bee" is by my nemesis, James Maxey. Okay, he's not really my nemesis, but I can only win one of the Codex Writers contests when he doesn't participate. Since this is a superhero story, it just felt right to call James my nemesis.

"Horizontal Rain" is by Mary Robinette Kowal, yet another Codex Writer. The setting for this story is Iceland, where Mary worked as a professional puppeteer.

"In Memory" is my Writers of the Future published finalist story. The first part of the story was originally written as an exercise for my creative writing class from Caleb Warnock. It was my first sale.

"Loose in the Wires" is by John Brown, still another Codex Writer. I did not know John in high school. That might seem like a random statement, but it's not: he was a year ahead of me at Bountiful High School.

"Love Spells" is by Barbara A. Barnett, one of my classmates at the 2007 Odyssey Writing Workshop.

"The Man Who Moved the Moon" was the first story I wrote after Orson Scott Card's workshop. It was a Phobos Award winner and was published in the final Phobos anthology.

"Pastry Run" is by Nancy Fulda, who I got to know because she also had a story in the final Phobos anthology.

"Resonance" is a novelette by me. I now think the title is too drab, and maybe it should have been called "The Great Space Elevator Race."

"Suck of Clay, Whir of Wheel" is by Pat Esden. I met Pat in the Hatrack River writing forums before she joined the Codex Writers.

"Sunday" is by Alethea Kontis. I met Alethea at Orson Scott Card's workshop in 2003. Since then--and I take full credit for this--she has sold a hilarious picture book called ALPHAOOPS!: THE DAY Z WENT FIRST, she has been on the New York Times bestseller list for THE DARK-HUNTER COMPANION, and she's sold various short stories to various markets.

The final story, "Upgrade," is mine.

Now that you've met my friends, it's time to read their stories (with a few of mine scattered throughout the book.) Enjoy!