Ben's Songs

I wish I could claim credit for this terrible pun, but the idea of being able to shift into alternate realities while waiting at the airport "because one is already between planes" is original to Changing Planes, Ursula K. Le Guin's charming and haunting collection of world-hopping vignettes. I call them "vignettes" rather than "short stories" because they mostly have more world-building than plot — and, like everything by Le Guin, a good deal of wonder, reflection, and heart.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "Second-Hand Songs" by Jonathan Turner

listen to this song
 

Mr. Underhill (not his real name)

Is not who you've been told.

He isn't so naive, or tame,

As to play the pawn in your little game;

To mess with him you must be rather bold!