In the past month at www.scifi.com. Ellen Datlow has published four top-notch stories. The best of them is "The Dragons of Summer" by Robert Reed. The world in which this tale takes place is one on which dragons used to live. Their skeletons and fossils are everywhere. A man named Barrow finds one so well preserved that its eggs are still viable. Reed gives us a interesting group of characters, all after these eggs, and all of which comes to a very satisfactory end.

"Changing the Guard" by Matthew Claxton starts off with a revolution and the death of a tyrant who rules from a huge dirigible. Claxton shows what usually happens with revolutions. "Clownette" by Terry Dowling is a chilling tale about a persistent stain on a hotel room wall. What happens to the narrator is very surprising. The last story I read was "Luciferous" by Bruce Sterling. Don't expect a cyber-punk story, this one is pretty funny. We get a look at the life and loves of three fireflies and a spider. Their conversation is priceless.

I really have to go back and read the other stories from 2004 when I make my Hugo Nominations list.