Fire Watch (book)

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Fire Watch is a 1984 book of short stories by Connie Willis that touches on time travel, nuclear war, the end of the world, and cornball humour.

The title story, "Fire Watch", is about a time-travelling "historian" who goes back to The Blitz in London. He's miffed because he spent years preparing to travel with St. Paul and gets sent to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, instead. The idea of time travel used here is also used to great effect in Willis's novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.

The stories are:

• "Fire Watch"
• "All My Darling Daughters"
• "The Sidon in the Mirror"
• "Samaritan"
• "Service for the Burial of the Dead"
• "Mail Order Clone"
• "Daisy, in the Sun"
• "A Letter from the Clearys"
• "And Come from Miles Around"
• "Blued Moon"
• "Lost and Found"
• "The Father of the Bride"

This was Connie Willis's first collection. Several of the stories won or were nominated for awards:

• "Fire Watch" won both a Hugo Award for Best Novelette and a Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1983, besides other awards;
• "A Letter from the Clearys" won a Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1983;
• "The Sidon in the Mirror" was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novelette and a Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1984;
• "Daisy, in the Sun" was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1980;
• "Blued Moon" was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1985.

[edit] External links

• A review