The Ultimate Show brings together four of Vaughan Stanger's published SF and fantasy stories, this time on theme of entertainment. Each of these tales pokes a probing finger into a favourite leisure-time activity,mining them for fun and horror, sometimes simultaneously. So, if you've ever stared in bemusement at a piece of conceptual art, or been the butt of a stand-up comic's joke, or crowd-surfed during a rock concert, or maybe spent a little too much time watching sport on television, these stories will appeal to you.

Nancy Fulda (Nebula Award nominee and proprietor of AnthologyBuilder.com) wrote of "Slices of Life": "My favorite from this batch is Stanger's Slices of Life, the poignant tale of an artist who turned his own death into a form artistic expression, and the woman whose heart got dragged along in his wake."

Meredith Wiggins (in The Future Fire's review of the 'Music for Another World' anthology) wrote of "Star in a Glass": "there was one (story) in particular which seemed to create a whole world through suggestion, and left me with the fervent hope that it will be expanded into a full length novel at some point. 'Star in a Glass' by Vaughan Stanger is the story of the re-forming of a 'prog-metal-ballet' band in the near future ... the details Stanger intersperses within the tantrums and trials of the band create a richly textured (if somewhat gritty) world; one which I would personally love to visit again."

This collection also features "Hand in Glove", the story of a psychotic glove puppet and its virtual successor, and "Extra Time", a story that might just make you nervous about watching televised sport.

Let the show begin!

Having trained as an astronomer and subsequently managed various research projects in the defence and aerospace industry, Vaughan Stanger now writes speculative fiction full-time. He has seen fifty-seven of his short stories published, including in the BSFA Award-winning Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Nature Futures, Interzone, and Daily Science Fiction. Many of his stories have been reprinted, including ten in foreign translations, and recorded for podcasts. His most recent collection is "Those We Leave Behind and other stories". He posts about his writing adventures at https://www.vaughanstanger.com and @VaughanStanger on BlueSky and Mastodon.