deborahj, when I first met her, warmly recommended Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics . I noted her recommendation, mentally adding it to my neverending to-read list. When we met again, last week, she asked whether I've read it already. I laughed at her wild optimism. I haven't even gotten around to buying it, and that usually takes place (if you make a statistic study of the books on my bookshelves) about three years before I read the book. So deborahj had no choice, and she dug up a sample story from Cosmicomics on the net, and made me read it. Now it's your turn. Read it ! (It's good. Really. I'm not just saying that.)