"The Fire When It Comes" is a fantasy short story by American writer Parke Godwin. It was first published in the January 1981 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Plot summary
A young couple rents an apartment that is haunted by the ghost of an actress.
Reception
"The Fire When It Comes" won the 1982 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella,1982: the 8th World Fantasy Convention, at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved September 4, 2018 and was a finalist for the 1981 Nebula Award for Best NoveletteThe Fire When It Comes, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved September 4, 2018 and the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.1982 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAward.org; retrieved September 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews considered it to be "dandy", judging it to be the best story in Godwin's 1984 identically-named collection The Fire When It Comes.THE FIRE WHEN IT COMES, by Parke Godwin, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews, published April 20, 1984; retrieved September 4, 2018 Mike Ashley called it 'powerful'.Science Fiction Rebels: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1981 to 1990, by Mike Ashley; published 2016 by Oxford University Press
References