Riders of the Dust-Gray Steppe — Richard Wolkomir

He's just a boy-he doesn't tell us his name, only that he's lame-but he's first to see the witches approach. They come across the frozen steppe, astride dire wolves, herding saber-toothed cats. Afterwards, the boy's no longer just a boy. And the town's no longer what it was.That's the first story of fifteen. How about the alien visitor to a little town in New Hampshire, who gets sloshed on Diet Pepsi? These stories cover the emotional map. However, they have this in common: from a Pleistocene western to a noir private-eye farce, involving trolls and a petulant homunculus, they transport you out of this world, and out of this time. If you like stepping away from the ordinary, these stories take you where you want to go.