"Transformations", David Barr Kirtley

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 – science fantasy
<<- Realms of Fantasy December 2007 interior illustration by Rob Johnson for "Transformations"
Carrus, disguised as a red sports car, meets a boy named Alex. Carrus is a robotic soldier assigned to Earth on a covert mission during a space war. Alex likes Carrus because he is an awesome talking car that can transform himself into a huge robotic infantryman. Lonely Carrus makes a friend whom he visits over a period of years.

Alex as a young boy, teenager, and middle-aged man gets to play with a really cool car that only he knows about. This isn't a first contact or robot war story, it's more or less a guy's automotive fantasy dream. Sort of fun.

"Hot Water", Richard Parks

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 - fantasy
Lord Yamada is taken to a small Buddhist temple in the mountains to dry out after a bout of hard drinking. An angry, female, so-called demon is messing with temple's hot spring water. Young monk Hoshi fears he knows why this is happening.

Not memorably profound, but a pleasant little tale.

"The White Isle", Von Carr

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 – fairy tale
<<- Realms of Fantasy December 2007 interior illustration by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for "The White Isle"
A witchgirl lives alone on an island in a white tower. She has a shoebox of fingernails to sink ships with. When a second shipwrecked man washes up her island’s shore, she helps him and saves his life. The man, a son of a rich merchant, signals a passing ship and convinces the captain to take him and the witchgirl, whom he loves, to the mainland.

This is a story of why you might not want to bring home exotic people from faraway places. The witchgirl is interestingly not human. The purposely unexplained magic makes this a fairy tale.

"Still Point", Graham Edwards

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 – fantasy
A struggling private investigator; a behemoth in a labyrinth; a police captain existing outside time; an angelic chaperone; a creepy landlord; and The Still Point of the Turning World.

This story is overstuffed with odd details, along with some humor and some gore. The characters are rather flat. The plot was a bit too convoluted to truly work.

"Infants at the Lake of of Fire", M.K. Hobson

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2006 - fantasy
In limbo, or perhaps purgatory, a girl child gets a mentally challenged young man to help her rescue burned people from a hellish lake.

Hopefully having to go to a "different place" is good.

"Lost Wax", Leah Bobet

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2006 - fantasy
Young naïve man who cleans at a factory steals scraps of magical wax and tries casting a spell to get himself a better life.

Not sure if I get the entire meaning of what he did to himself.