In space, no one can hear you burp.

Sci-fi for foodies? Perhaps. The novelette's protagonist supplies exotic foods to restaurants throughout the galaxy. When he discovers a creature thought to be mythical, a different kind of hunger besets him and it's no longer business as usual.

Although this parody/pastiche can stand on its own as a story, to fully understand the parody and the elements it references, its author urges you to also read the work that prompted it: "The Soul Eater," sci-fi's take on "Moby Dick," by one of the genre's grand masters, Mike Resnick.

Former Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine (www.fmam.biz) and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E (www.mystericale.com/), Barry Ergang's fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. He is a winner of a Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society for the best flash fiction story of 2006.