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Even the Queen, & Other Short Stories
Included are these stories:
"Even the Queen": Virtually every new technology spawns Luddites who insist it's a bad thing. In this case, an entire cult is involved.
Winner, 1992 Nebula Award and 1993 Hugo Award, Best Short Story.
"At the Rialto": A look at a scientific conference held in Chaos Central, and an attempt to explain the link among quantum physics, mid-life romance, and the Frederick's of Hollywood bra museum.
Winner, 1989 Nebula Award, Best Short Story.
"Death on the Nile": The story of a vacation to Egypt gone seriously wrong.
Winner, 1994 Hugo Award, Best Short Story.
"Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday": Armageddon by committee.
"Close Encounter": Yes, everyone hates hospitals. They're just hating them for the wrong reasons.
"Even the Queen": Virtually every new technology spawns Luddites who insist it's a bad thing. In this case, an entire cult is involved.
Winner, 1992 Nebula Award and 1993 Hugo Award, Best Short Story.
"At the Rialto": A look at a scientific conference held in Chaos Central, and an attempt to explain the link among quantum physics, mid-life romance, and the Frederick's of Hollywood bra museum.
Winner, 1989 Nebula Award, Best Short Story.
"Death on the Nile": The story of a vacation to Egypt gone seriously wrong.
Winner, 1994 Hugo Award, Best Short Story.
"Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday": Armageddon by committee.
"Close Encounter": Yes, everyone hates hospitals. They're just hating them for the wrong reasons.
3 pages, Audio Cassette
First published December 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
944 people want to read
About the author
Connie Willis
256 books4,695 followersConstance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.
Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch," found in the short story collection of the same name.
Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.
Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch," found in the short story collection of the same name.
Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 17, 2025
I’m not gonna lie, at first, I found myself sympathising with the Cyclists Movement. I’ve definitely fallen for the idea that suffering = virtue. But they lost me when they claimed that having periods is a way of maintaining your femininity. It’s like, no matter how much liberation women gain over their own bodies, they’re still policed by the idea that there’s a “certain way” to be a woman. patriarchy. She also points out that they are “brainwashed” by the patriarchy because they don’t subscribe to certain identities of womanhood, which ironically takes away choice and becomes another form of oppression.
All in all, this was a short, clever and funny satirical read.
All in all, this was a short, clever and funny satirical read.
June 24, 2010
2.5 stars. Connie Willis is an excellent writer and her stories are original and well plotted. I think the reason that I do not rate them higher is that I am a big fan of "emotionally" powerful stories (a few examples of these would be "Hell is the Absense of God" by Ted Chiang, "Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card and "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke) and Willis' don't generally have that "startling" aspect to them that makes you think about them long after you are done reading them. Therefore, I think the stories are decent but not great.
I appear to be in the minority here because the the stories in this colleciton have garnered the following awards:
Even the Queen: Winner of Hugo and Nebula Award
At the Rialto: Winner of Nebula Award/Nominee Hugo
Death on the Nile: Winner of the Hugo Award/Nominee Nebula
I appear to be in the minority here because the the stories in this colleciton have garnered the following awards:
Even the Queen: Winner of Hugo and Nebula Award
At the Rialto: Winner of Nebula Award/Nominee Hugo
Death on the Nile: Winner of the Hugo Award/Nominee Nebula
January 6, 2011
Somewhat uneven, but overall I enjoyed these stories. All of them were funny and thought provoking.
"Even the Queen" was best the first time I read it, but I still enjoyed it this time through. Even when technology solves a major problem, someone is going to rebel. It'll probably be teenage girls, and it will all be their mother's fault.
"At the Rialto" is a chaotic look at a gathering of scientists interested in Quantum Physics. This one shows off Willis's madcap side. If you enjoyed Willis's Bellwether, you'll like this story.
"Death on the Nile" has some of the pieces of what I loved so much about her novel Passage. It's a look at the line between life and death. Or a vacation so bad it feels like you're on that line.
"Close Encounter" has some of the hospital humor that came to light in Passage. This story had some great moments, and I loved the conclusion, but it wasn't as strong as the first three stories.
"Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday" was a funny look at the committee planning for the end of the world. It was a little flat-- one joke that was drawn out into a (quite short) story.
If you are a Willis fan, you want to read these stories. If you've considered giving some of her funnier books a try, these aren't a bad place to start. They don't have the complexity of her longer work, but that should be obvious from the format.
"Even the Queen" was best the first time I read it, but I still enjoyed it this time through. Even when technology solves a major problem, someone is going to rebel. It'll probably be teenage girls, and it will all be their mother's fault.
"At the Rialto" is a chaotic look at a gathering of scientists interested in Quantum Physics. This one shows off Willis's madcap side. If you enjoyed Willis's Bellwether, you'll like this story.
"Death on the Nile" has some of the pieces of what I loved so much about her novel Passage. It's a look at the line between life and death. Or a vacation so bad it feels like you're on that line.
"Close Encounter" has some of the hospital humor that came to light in Passage. This story had some great moments, and I loved the conclusion, but it wasn't as strong as the first three stories.
"Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday" was a funny look at the committee planning for the end of the world. It was a little flat-- one joke that was drawn out into a (quite short) story.
If you are a Willis fan, you want to read these stories. If you've considered giving some of her funnier books a try, these aren't a bad place to start. They don't have the complexity of her longer work, but that should be obvious from the format.
December 10, 2010
"Even the Queen" is absolutely brilliant. I was present in the hall when Connie Willis accepted the Hugo for this wonderful short story and her speech was classic. (I don't want to quote her because it might spoil the story for those who haven't read it.)
Her writing is effortless, realistic, exquisitely detailed without talking down to the reader, and just plain brilliant.
And to make it even better, she's a delightful and approachable author. It's a win-win for her fans!
Her writing is effortless, realistic, exquisitely detailed without talking down to the reader, and just plain brilliant.
And to make it even better, she's a delightful and approachable author. It's a win-win for her fans!
November 3, 2024
I thought there was a copy of this classic and very funny story online but apparently not. There is a podcast audio version:
https://escapepod.org/2017/12/28/esca...
Many reprints, and I do own a copy or two: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.c...
5 stars! Enjoy. Not to be missed! Won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best short story. Her very best, in my opinion.
I haven't seen this collection.
https://escapepod.org/2017/12/28/esca...
Many reprints, and I do own a copy or two: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.c...
5 stars! Enjoy. Not to be missed! Won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best short story. Her very best, in my opinion.
I haven't seen this collection.
January 13, 2012
Even the Queen: ****
At the Rialto: *****
Death on the Nile: *****
Close Encounter: ****
Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday: ****
All and all, they were all enjoyable short stories. I listened to these stories as I did some house cleaning. There were a few times that I had to rewind it a little bit and pay closer attention to what was going on, but in general I could just let it roll.
At the Rialto: *****
Death on the Nile: *****
Close Encounter: ****
Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday: ****
All and all, they were all enjoyable short stories. I listened to these stories as I did some house cleaning. There were a few times that I had to rewind it a little bit and pay closer attention to what was going on, but in general I could just let it roll.
Read
January 13, 2018I listened to this story via podcast (see episode description below). My only regret is not hearing Connie herself read this as I expect it would have been laugh-out-loud funny. A tiny bit dated as it was written 25 years ago but entirely apropos to our times.
Escape Pod 608: Even the Queen
12/28/17 by Escape Pod
Web player: http://podplayer.net/#/?id=44883164
Episode: http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/E...
Author : Connie Willis Narrator : Veronica Giguere Host : Divya Breed Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 1992. Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story. Candid discussions of the existence of sex and reproductive systems. Some cursing. Even the Queen By […] The post Escape Pod 608: Even the Queen appeared first on Escape Pod.
Escape Pod 608: Even the Queen
12/28/17 by Escape Pod
Web player: http://podplayer.net/#/?id=44883164
Episode: http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/E...
Author : Connie Willis Narrator : Veronica Giguere Host : Divya Breed Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 1992. Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story. Candid discussions of the existence of sex and reproductive systems. Some cursing. Even the Queen By […] The post Escape Pod 608: Even the Queen appeared first on Escape Pod.
March 7, 2017
Llegó a mí por una alma caritativa que sabía que podría disfrutarlo y no le erró. Tiene el toque justo de ironía tocando temas cotidianos y siempre presentes. Y recuerden que siempre la culpa es de la madre..y que también daba para más.
May 2, 2016
Muy bueno. Bravo.
Eso sí, abstenerse mujeres sensibles y que no encuentran nada gracioso las bromas (y más ironías) sobre la femeneidad, qué es machismo encubierto y qué no, además de tener una típica discusión nuera-suegra.
Lo malo que le vi es que me quedé con ganas de más, por eso 4 estrellas. Es cortísimo, casi un suspiro, pero me arrancó un par de carcajadas por su forma de ver el mundo.
Eso sí, abstenerse mujeres sensibles y que no encuentran nada gracioso las bromas (y más ironías) sobre la femeneidad, qué es machismo encubierto y qué no, además de tener una típica discusión nuera-suegra.
Lo malo que le vi es que me quedé con ganas de más, por eso 4 estrellas. Es cortísimo, casi un suspiro, pero me arrancó un par de carcajadas por su forma de ver el mundo.
November 13, 2025
I remember this one like a peach — soft in memory, ripened by time. It was 1996 when I first stumbled upon Robert Coover’s world, sitting cross-legged on a friend’s floor with two high school buddies, the air thick with the smell of instant coffee and adolescence.
We were too young to know what metafiction meant, too naïve to sense how fiction could bend time like light through a prism.
However, Coover’s stories — even in their cryptic, elliptical forms — felt like whispers from a realm where storytelling was both game and gospel. A decade later, in 2006, when Going for a Beer: Selected Short Fictions came into my hands, it arrived not as a rediscovery, but as a quiet continuation of something begun long ago — the same stories, older now, refracted through the prism of a changed reader.
Coover’s fiction is an endless carnival of narrative invention. He takes the ordinary — a man, a marriage, a moment — and stretches it till it fractures into shimmering fragments of irony, myth, and memory. The title story, “Going for a Beer,” is a masterpiece of temporal compression, where life itself becomes a seamless montage of events: the protagonist goes for a beer and finds himself swept through years of marriage, fatherhood, divorce, and death — all without punctuation, as if time itself were a single, collapsing sentence.
Reading it feels like watching one’s life flicker by too fast to grasp — funny, tragic, and profoundly human.
Coover’s genius lies in his audacious play with form. He dismantles the mechanics of narrative and rebuilds them in impossible shapes — short stories that read like stage plays, fairy tales retold with the cruelty of realism, myths rewritten by the chaos of modernity.
In “The Babysitter,” one of his most celebrated stories, a seemingly domestic evening fractures into countless versions of itself — a Möbius strip of fantasy, fear, and forbidden desire. The reader becomes complicit in its voyeurism, turning the page with equal parts dread and fascination. By the end, you’re unsure what truly happened — only that you’ve been altered by the act of imagining.
What makes Going for a Beer more than a retrospective is its emotional rhythm — the way Coover’s mischief is haunted by melancholy. His humor, as biting as it is brilliant, always circles back to a sense of loss: the futility of language, the absurdity of desire, the fleetingness of stories themselves. “All narratives are doomed,” he once wrote, “but that is their beauty.”
Reading him during the quiet, locked-down months of the pandemic, I felt that sentence echo in my bones. The world itself had become a Coover story — time melting, reality doubling, irony indistinguishable from tragedy.
And yet, there is joy here. Coover’s prose moves like jazz — riffs, ruptures, sudden silences. He writes with a kind of delighted blasphemy, mocking God, genre, and grammar alike. His characters — clowns, lovers, tricksters, even the reader — stumble through a universe where meaning is always slipping away, but beauty, somehow, still glimmers.
He reminds me of what Milton wrote in Paradise Lost: “Chaos umpire sits, / And by decision more embroils the fray.” Coover thrives in that very chaos — not to resolve it, but to make art of it.
When I revisited Going for a Beer in 2006, it felt like meeting an old friend who still knew the secret language of my youth — only now, I understood the ache beneath the laughter.
Coover’s stories do not comfort; they disturb, seduce, and unravel. They tell us that the act of reading, like the act of living, is always a leap into uncertainty. And yet, what a leap it is.
If I had to sum up the experience, I would borrow Shakespeare’s words: “‘We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep.’
Robert Coover, in his sly, shimmering way, makes us see that dreams — and stories — are not escapes from reality, but the only ways we ever truly touch it.
We were too young to know what metafiction meant, too naïve to sense how fiction could bend time like light through a prism.
However, Coover’s stories — even in their cryptic, elliptical forms — felt like whispers from a realm where storytelling was both game and gospel. A decade later, in 2006, when Going for a Beer: Selected Short Fictions came into my hands, it arrived not as a rediscovery, but as a quiet continuation of something begun long ago — the same stories, older now, refracted through the prism of a changed reader.
Coover’s fiction is an endless carnival of narrative invention. He takes the ordinary — a man, a marriage, a moment — and stretches it till it fractures into shimmering fragments of irony, myth, and memory. The title story, “Going for a Beer,” is a masterpiece of temporal compression, where life itself becomes a seamless montage of events: the protagonist goes for a beer and finds himself swept through years of marriage, fatherhood, divorce, and death — all without punctuation, as if time itself were a single, collapsing sentence.
Reading it feels like watching one’s life flicker by too fast to grasp — funny, tragic, and profoundly human.
Coover’s genius lies in his audacious play with form. He dismantles the mechanics of narrative and rebuilds them in impossible shapes — short stories that read like stage plays, fairy tales retold with the cruelty of realism, myths rewritten by the chaos of modernity.
In “The Babysitter,” one of his most celebrated stories, a seemingly domestic evening fractures into countless versions of itself — a Möbius strip of fantasy, fear, and forbidden desire. The reader becomes complicit in its voyeurism, turning the page with equal parts dread and fascination. By the end, you’re unsure what truly happened — only that you’ve been altered by the act of imagining.
What makes Going for a Beer more than a retrospective is its emotional rhythm — the way Coover’s mischief is haunted by melancholy. His humor, as biting as it is brilliant, always circles back to a sense of loss: the futility of language, the absurdity of desire, the fleetingness of stories themselves. “All narratives are doomed,” he once wrote, “but that is their beauty.”
Reading him during the quiet, locked-down months of the pandemic, I felt that sentence echo in my bones. The world itself had become a Coover story — time melting, reality doubling, irony indistinguishable from tragedy.
And yet, there is joy here. Coover’s prose moves like jazz — riffs, ruptures, sudden silences. He writes with a kind of delighted blasphemy, mocking God, genre, and grammar alike. His characters — clowns, lovers, tricksters, even the reader — stumble through a universe where meaning is always slipping away, but beauty, somehow, still glimmers.
He reminds me of what Milton wrote in Paradise Lost: “Chaos umpire sits, / And by decision more embroils the fray.” Coover thrives in that very chaos — not to resolve it, but to make art of it.
When I revisited Going for a Beer in 2006, it felt like meeting an old friend who still knew the secret language of my youth — only now, I understood the ache beneath the laughter.
Coover’s stories do not comfort; they disturb, seduce, and unravel. They tell us that the act of reading, like the act of living, is always a leap into uncertainty. And yet, what a leap it is.
If I had to sum up the experience, I would borrow Shakespeare’s words: “‘We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep.’
Robert Coover, in his sly, shimmering way, makes us see that dreams — and stories — are not escapes from reality, but the only ways we ever truly touch it.
January 12, 2025
Science fiction has a tendency to be quite gritty and serious, Willis' short story 'Even the Queen' is the exact opposite. It seemed at first that this story was going to follow a relatively serious theme, we don't know who the 'cyclists' are... but they seem dangerous. They are, of course, not. Wonderfully witty, this story brings the trials and tribulations of women's menstruation to light, whilst playfully toying with the rebellious few who will, simply, never be pleased.
February 27, 2017
К вопросу о том, что фантастика бывает смешной (и немного пошлой). Представьте, что женщины избавились от давно мучившей их проблемы, ну, той самой, что есть даже у королевы. Как бы тогда все изменилось! Слава богу, сейчас слабому полу еще есть в чем завидовать сильному!
July 17, 2018
I really enjoyed these stories. They are super witty and had me smallish and laughing. The only negative would be that the works are a bit dated and if you don’t remember the early 90s then some of the jokes may be lost on you. Still worth a read though.
January 3, 2019
Read Even the Queen.
March 7, 2020
A solid collection.
September 18, 2020
Just a (very) Short Story. It was an award winner, but I was not impressed
September 26, 2024
Mostly repeats of other short stories I have read by the author or I would have rated it higher.
December 18, 2024
Fun set of short stories by Connie Willis, in her signature style. The 'Even the Queen' reads as a little dated but still worth reading.
January 18, 2013
Anthologies are, by definition, a mixed bag. Some stories/poems are great, others not so much.
The title story Even the Queen is wonderful. Discussing feminism by using humor works.
The other stories, well, not bad but definitely a step down. Which is still a higher level than those written by mere mortals not named Connie Willis.
I usually avoid audiobooks read by the author because too many people just can't get the fine points down. Ms Willis is not bad, but not professional level either.
The title story Even the Queen is wonderful. Discussing feminism by using humor works.
The other stories, well, not bad but definitely a step down. Which is still a higher level than those written by mere mortals not named Connie Willis.
I usually avoid audiobooks read by the author because too many people just can't get the fine points down. Ms Willis is not bad, but not professional level either.
June 16, 2013
Most of the stories were okay, but I did enjoy one in particular about the planning committee for the apocalypse. You'll just have to check it out. Even the Queen, being the title piece, was of course quite clever.
I recommend actually reading these stories. The author is by no means a professional reader, so the performance has a lot to do with the two-star rating. If I had read these on paper, it might have been three.
I recommend actually reading these stories. The author is by no means a professional reader, so the performance has a lot to do with the two-star rating. If I had read these on paper, it might have been three.
September 3, 2013
As another reviewer as said, all anthologies have their high points and low points. For me, the high point of this collection was 'Death on the Nile'; the rest of the set was a low point. Perhaps if I were female I would relate better to a story such as 'Even the Queen' better if I were female, but I am not. 'At the Rialto' felt laboured, and the less said about the rest, the better - I think my point has been made already.
April 20, 2010
The title of this book is just one of Connie Willis' short stories. It is hilarious and caused me to laugh so much my two cats left the room. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good laugh.
January 6, 2011
Got a chance to read the short story "even the queen" today and loved it. The entire time I was wishing i could see it on stage. The dialogue was wondful and it was wonderful to see all the family dynamics play out. It's a great story!
July 20, 2015
I didn't finish it. The narrator was too grating and the second story was confusing. Maybe it was just me, but the author was making jokes that either weren't funny or again, didn't make any sense in the context. I returned the book.
December 23, 2016
Connie Willis writes about women issues with a stimulating acerbic wit and biting satirical edge . She emphasizes in a new creative way the old adage . Don't always be too hasty to wish for things you want because you might just get it and live to regret it. ;-) .
July 19, 2009
Great!
April 28, 2016
Stuff we need to think about
December 18, 2016
The last story was by far my favorite. Super cute alien story. Connie Willis is hilarious.
October 29, 2020
While Connie Willis is better known for Christmas short stories, this audio collection contains "Death on the Nile" a much better choice for the Halloween season. I couldn't resist a relisten.
October 17, 2010
Even the Queen is a GREAT story!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews