Show Me Yours – Robert Reed

I know what you’re thinking: Wasn’t the actor who played Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch named Robert Reed, and isn’t he dead? But you’ll quickly surmise that this is an entirely different Robert Reed. This one wrote a very nasty little story about a man who is a dog and who gets his comeuppance for said doggish behavior. Of course, some reading this may say “But aren’t all men dogs? And isn’t the idea of men getting their comeuppance for behaving this way really the realm of Fantasy?” Of course, anyone thinking this may well be right. The story was published in the May 2006 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction .

There is a creepy sexuality exposed in the first half of this story – nothing explicit (which I guess adds to the creepiness more than it does the sexualness) but somehow disturbing nonetheless. There is a jump of some decades within the story which was, I think, handled quite well (that is, as opposed to getting me all confused). You don’t see the ending coming (certainly the cretin didn’t see it coming) and there is a strong revenge motive revealed, so this is in some ways like a mystery or crime story though there is one fantasy element that perhaps means it was published where it most properly belongs. A very good read.