On the verge of becoming a man, John travels a river that is an admixture of time-flow and liquid metal—or possibly of magic and science—with the goal of finding out about a father whom he barely remembers.
John followed the boot tracks away from the launch. They led inland, so there was no time pressure to fight. His clothes dried out as he walked beneath a shimmering patch of burnt-goald worldwall that hung tantalizingly behind roiling clouds.

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  1. “Down the River Road” by Gregory Benford, in After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (Tor Books, January 1992).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Gregory Benford