Pratchett also wrote a short series about tiny
people known as Nomes. They are introduced in
Truckers(1990), where we discover that they live
hidden in a department store, although their secret
is in jeopardy and they may have to move. The
Nomes series resembles the BORROWERS SERIESby
Mary Norton or the Littles books by John Peterson.
They move to a quarry in Diggers(1991), but win-
ter catches them by surprise since they have never
been exposed to snow before. In Wings(1991) they
decide to try to emigrate to another planet.
Pratchett also collaborated with NeilGAIMAN
for one novel, Good Omens(1990), a spoof of the
film and book THE OMENand its various imitators.
The devil conceives a son and sends him to be
raised on Earth, but the forces of evil lose track of
where he is. Raised by a family of very good people,
he is not at all what his father expected. Given the
success of the Discworld books, which have also
led to companion guides, calendars, and other
items, it is unlikely that Pratchett will stray too far
from that world in the future. He has managed to
keep the concept reasonably fresh by moving from
one set of characters to another and to different
parts of his imaginary world, and to date at least
the freshness of the humor has been generally
quite dependable.
“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” Harlan Ellison
(1967)
Kostner is a desperate man who had hoped to alter
his situation by winning big in Las Vegas but who
instead finds himself down to his last silver dollar.
He decides to risk it in the only machine in the
casino that takes that particular coin and is sur-
prised when he wins the jackpot of $2,000 and
even more surprised because it was not jackpot
bars that he saw but very blue eyes that disap-
peared only when other people arrived on the
scene. He takes his winnings and then returns to
play another dollar, with the exact same results,
much to the consternation of the floor manager. It
is only then that his thoughts are touched by those
of Margaret Jessie, better known as Maggie.
Maggie grew up grindingly poor and became
hardened, determined to escape poverty. She was a
flashy, attractive woman who hustles money how-
ever she can get it, with sex or guile. She was visit-
ing Las Vegas with her less-than-appealing boyfriend
when she impulsively began playing the very same
machine and suffered a fatal stroke as she was
pulling the lever. Maggie was so immersed in the de-
sire for money that her spirit literally passed into the
machine, where it has been waiting for a suitable
soul to turn up. Still unsure whether or not this is
real, he plays a third time and wins his third jackpot.
By the time he has won his 19th jackpot, the
casino management is decidedly unhappy with
him, although their own experts assure them that
he is not cheating in any way. Only Kostner knows
what is really happening, and he is not about to
tell, even if he thought anyone would believe him.
After all, he really needs the money. The casino
suggests that he take a break and offers him a room
for the night, and he falls into an exhausted sleep
in which Maggie comes to him in a dream profess-
ing love. But the following morning, when he plays
the machine again for the first time, she strikes
through it, killing him and imprisoning him inside
the machine. Ellison had warned us that she was a
hard, bitter woman, and now he reveals the in-
evitable consequences.
The story illustrates some of the forces that
keep us separate from one another, and on another
level it is also a low-key indictment of the lifestyle
found in Las Vegas, the constant quest for easy
money, and the desire for easy solutions to compli-
cated problems.“Prey”Richard Matheson (1969)
Richard MATHESONhas written for television and
the movies so extensively that it should come as no
surprise that most of his stories evoke very sharp
images. He has also produced some of the most in-
tensely suspenseful stories in the field, classics such
as “Duel” and “LITTLE GIRL LOST.” This particular
story made up one of the segments of the film Tril-
ogy of Terror(1975).
Amelia is a young woman living alone, mildly
estranged from her dominating mother, who has
recently purchased an elaborate doll for her new
boyfriend. The doll is an African warrior with a
fierce expression and a miniature spear, and the
enclosed gift card indicates that he is a hunting280 “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”