| David Lee Summers |
| David Lee Summers is a writer and editor with a background in astronomy. He discovered a variable star in 1987 and has developed control systems for robotic telescopes. Currently, he is the editor of the science fiction and fantasy magazine Hadrosaur Tales. Dave's novels, The Pirates of Sufiro and Children of the Old Stars are available in trade paperback editions from all on-line bookstores. His short story, "The Slayers" was featured in the August 2001 issue of Realms of Fantasy. His poetry has appeared in Scifaikuest and M�bius. |
| On the Mediterranean
by David Lee Summers (First appeared in Blood Samples 3) The vampire grew tired of his home in the Carpathians and shipped his coffin, with himself packed inside, aboard a schooner bound for France. Before reaching France, the vampire felt the call of blood and began attacking the ship's crew. While drinking the blood of the first mate, the vampire looked up and saw the ship's captain. "Avast there," said the captain. "Don't ye realize we could be rich men? If you made my crew into vampires, we could be invincible pirates." "I am rich and I'd give everything just to walk the decks of this ship in the sunlight. It's greed that dooms us to walk in darkness." "Greed is the way of the world, my friend," said the captain, winking. The vampire grabbed the captain by the throat. "Turn this ship around. If you're typical of this modern world, I'd rather live alone in the mountains, after all." |
| On the Ramjet
by David Lee Summers (First appeared in Blood Samples 4) In the 20th century I learned about R.W. Bussard and his dream of building a ship called a ramjet that could travel at incredible speeds making the stars accessible. I waited more than a thousand years for someone to turn Bussard's dream into reality. As soon as it was possible, I bought a ticket to a star 11 light years away. After all, what's a trip of 11 years to a vampire that had lived over a millennium? Once aboard, I met the ship's engineer � a sublime woman who loved the stars and always wanted to be among them, but detested a mortality that would not allow her to see even more distant stars. A year out from Earth, the crew continued to puzzle over a case of anemia among the passengers while my love reveled in her newfound immortality among the stars, blissfully free of the dangers of sunlight. |
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