Belsen Express
"Belsen Express" is a 1975 horror fiction short story, by Fritz Leiber. It first appeared in his collection The Second Book of Fritz Leiber.
Synopsis
George Simister is a racist bigot, but also has a fear of Nazis. As he commutes to work each day, he begins to notice that his journey is apparently recapitulating elements of the Holocaust, including a destination sign which he thinks says "Belsen". After traveling in an uncomfortably full bus permeated by exhaust fumes, he arrives at his office, where he dies of what one doctor believes to be carbon monoxide poisoning.
Reception
"Belsen Express" won the 1976 World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction[1] and the August Derleth Award for short fiction.[2]
SF Signal called it "spooky stuff", rating it three stars out of five.[3]
References
- ^ The 2nd World Fantasy Convention, at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved March 12, 2020
- ^ Fritz Leiber, by Malcolm Edwards and John Clute, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; last updated February 7, 2019; retrieved March 12, 2020
- ^ REVIEW: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan, by John DeNardo; at SF Signal; published April 20, 2010; retrieved March 12, 2020
External links
- Belsen Express title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- v
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- "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal" by Robert Aickman (1975)
- "Belsen Express" by Fritz Leiber (1976)
- "There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding" by Russell Kirk (1977)
- "The Chimney" by Ramsey Campbell (1978)
- "Naples" by Avram Davidson (1979)
- "Mackintosh Willy" by Ramsey Campbell (1980, tie)
- "The Woman Who Loved the Moon" by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1980, tie)
- "The Ugly Chickens" by Howard Waldrop (1981)
- "The Dark Country" by Dennis Etchison (1982, tie)
- "Do the Dead Sing?" by Stephen King (1982, tie)
- "The Gorgon" by Tanith Lee (1983)
- "Elle Est Trois, (La Mort)" by Tanith Lee (1984)
- "The Bones Wizard" by Alan Ryan (1985, tie)
- "Still Life with Scorpion" by Scott Baker (1985, tie)
- "Paper Dragons" by James Blaylock (1986)
- "Red Light" by David J. Schow (1987)
- "Friend's Best Man" by Jonathan Carroll (1988)
- "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" by John M. Ford (1989)
- "The Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser (1990)
- "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (1991)
- "The Somewhere Doors" by Fred Chappell (1992)
- "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1993, tie)
- "This Year's Class Picture" by Dan Simmons (1993, tie)
- "The Lodger" by Fred Chappell (1994)
- "The Man in the Black Suit" by Stephen King (1995)
- "The Grass Princess" by Gwyneth Jones (1996)
- "Thirteen Phantasms" by James Blaylock (1997)
- "Dust Motes" by P. D. Cacek (1998)
- "The Specialist's Hat" by Kelly Link (1999)
- "The Chop Girl" by Ian R. MacLeod (2000)
- "The Pottawatomie Giant" by Andy Duncan (2001)
- "Queen for a Day" by Albert E. Cowdrey (2002)
- "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford (2003)
- "Don Ysidro" by Bruce Holland Rogers (2004)
- "Singing My Sister Down" by Margo Lanagan (2005)
- "CommComm" by George Saunders (2006)
- "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert (2007)
- "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss (2008)
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- "(emet)" by Lauren Ring (2022)