Alien Pregnant by Elvis

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Esther M. Friesner (Editor / Contributor), David Drake (Contributor)

A fiction anthology featuring 36 amazing tabloid tales from a rock band with Satan as its manager to 2,437 UFOs in New Hampshire. Written by some of the zaniest minds in science fiction and fantasy--such as Dennis McKiernan and Kristine Kathryn Rusch--these better-than-true originals are sure to grab readers' imagination.

Introduction: Alien Pregnant by Elvis • essay by Esther M. Friesner

The Source of It All • short story by Dennis L. McKiernan [as by Dennis McKiernan]

The Bride of Bigfoot • short fiction by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Close-Up Photos Reveal JFK Skull on Moon! • short story by Barry N. Malzberg

Marilyn, Elvis, and the Reality Blues • short story by James Brunet

Those Rowdy Royals! • short story by Laura Resnick

My Husband Became a Zombie and It Saved Our Marriage • short story by Karen Haber

Rock Band Conjures Satan as Manager • short story by Deborah Wunder

2,437 UFOs Over New Hampshire • novelette by Allen Steele

Pulitzer Kills Publishing Maggot • short story by Mark W. Tiedemann [as by Mark Tiedemann]

Elvis at the White House • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Number of the Beast • short story by Jeff Hecht

De Gustibus • short story by Anthony R. Lewis [as by Anthony Lewis]

Is Your Coworker a Space Alien? • short story by Rosemary Edghill (variant of Is Your Coworker a Space Alien) [as by Eluki bes Shahar]

A Beak for Trends • short story by Laura Frankos

Hitler Clone in Argentina Plots Falklands Reprise • short story by John DeChancie

Group Phenomena • (1985) • short story by Thomas F. Monteleone

Unextinctions • (1992) • poem by Bruce Boston and Roger Dutcher

How Alien He Really Was • short story by Bruce Boston

NASA Sending Addicts to Mars! • short story by Alan Dean Foster

Vole • short story by John Gregory Betancourt

In Search of the Perfect Orgasm • short story by Dean Wesley Smith

Saving Sam's Used UFOs • short story by Kate Daniel

Danny's Excellent Adventure • short story by Greg Cox

Royal Tiff Yields Face of Jesus! • short fiction by Esther M. Friesner

Magnetic Personality Triggers Nail-Biter's Near-Death Ordeal! • short story by T. Winter-Damon

They'd Never— • short story by Harry Turtledove

Loch Ness Monster Found—in the Bermuda Triangle • short story by David Vierling

Racehorse Predicts the Future! • short story by Josepha Sherman

Printer's Devils • short story by Gregory Feeley

Cannibal Plants from Heck • short story by David Drake

Psychic Bats 1000 for Accuracy! • short story by Jody Lynn Nye

Caveat Atlantis • short story by Richard Gilliam

Frozen Hitler Found in Atlantean Love Nest • short story by Rosemary Edghill [as by G---r G---n]

Those Eyes • short story by David Brin

Stop Press • short story by Mike Resnick

Martian Memorial to Elvis Sighted • short story by George Alec Effinger

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Humor, Speculative Fiction

319 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Peggi Warner-Lalonde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. Deborah Wunder's story especially explains so much about some music groups. ;-)

[Otis Campbell · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Now, don't go thinkin' this is a serious sci-fi tome about the deep cosmos. This book is a giant, hilariously stupid tribute to them trashy supermarket tabloids your grandmama used to buy just for the coupons. The editors gathered up thirty-six of the zaniest sci-fi and fantasy writers in the business—like Harry Turtledove, David Brin, and Alan Dean Foster—and told 'em to write a short story based entirely on a fake tabloid headline. You’ve got stories about JFK's skull bein' found on the moon, a rock band gettin' managed by Satan himself, Hitler's frozen body turnin' up in an Atlantean love nest, and yes, an extraterrestrial space-gal carryin' the King of Rock 'n' Roll's alien hybrid baby! Because there are thirty-six different writers in this one pot, the stories jump all over the place. Some of 'em are pure, belly-laugh out loud funny, while others try to play the ridiculous premise completely straight, which makes it even weirder. It’s like a box of assorted chocolates, except half of 'em are filled with moonshine and the other half are filled with cayenne pepper. Take Harry Turtledove’s story, "They'd Never—". It’s about a bunch of real aliens who invade a tabloid newspaper office and telepathically probe the reporters. But the big joke is that nobody in the real world will ever believe the newspaper staff actually got visited by aliens because they work for a trashy tabloid. That’s just clever right there. Yes theys a few rotten apples in the bushel. Now, when you put thirty-six stories into a single 320-page paperback, they can't all be prize-winners. A handful of these tales feel like the writer came up with the joke in five minutes, scribbled it down on a napkin, and called it a day. If you try to read 'em all in one single sitting, it’ll turn your brain to absolute mush. It don't have no high-falutin' literary merit, but it's the perfect book to keep in the outhouse or on the nightstand for when you just want a five-minute chuckle before you hit the hay.

[Heather Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious collection of “tabloid tales”; every title is a tabloid headline with lots of Elvis’ (Elvi?) and aliens and JFKs’ and Marilyns’ in various stories. “Stop Press” a short story by Mike Resnick was my favorite of the whole collection of stories. Fun read and totally ridiculous!

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good anthology with an original theme. I especially liked "Cannibal Plants from Heck" by David Drake and "Martian Memorial to Elvis Sighted" by George Alec Effinger. Really funny!

[Henrik Rostoft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent anthology of scifi and humour

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly fun read. As with any compilation of short stories, I liked some more than others.