The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legend about the abduction of many children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany. Famous versions of the legend are given by the Brothers Grimm and, in English, by Robert Browning.
Pied refers to patches of two or more colors, typical dress for minstrels and entertainers in the middle ages.

This is a full, unabridged version.

IMAGINE THAT THE SOUTH HAD WON THE CIVIL WAR. From the ashes of a divided nation came the Confederate States of America-the capitol is Richmond, and the races are equal but very, very separate. For President Spencer Jefferson Lee-the great-great-grandson of both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee-it's politics as usual.

Combining personal reminiscence with deft literary analysis, incisive biographical sketches, and, sometimes, literary gossip, these essays give new perspectives on the famous--such as Harold Bloom, Robert Penn Warren, Robert Frost, and Stephen Spender--and recover the charms of the near-forgotten--such as Dudley Fitts, Winfield Townley Scott, Merrill Moore and John Hall Wheelock. Slavitt writes with self-deprecating humor of his own literary education, and uses his impressive experience and erudition to illuminate the whims of poetic influence, passion, and reputation. With a refreshing honesty and considerable poise, he gives readers an enlightening view of the vast and ever-changing literary universe.

Julian: A Christmas Story - a  review from The Guardian (U.K):

It's 2176 and, following a global technological collapse, the United States has reverted to a pre-electronic age of limited scientific understanding and Puritan social mores. The Sixty States of the Union are ruled by a coalition, the Church of the Dominion, headed by the autocratic President Deklan Comstock. The Union comprises three social groups: the aristos; the "leasing class" of tradesmen; and indentured labourers. Julian tells the rites-of-passage story of low-born Adam Hazzard and his friendship with the nephew of the president, the aristo Julian Comstock, relating how Adam's social conditioning is subtly undermined by Julian's heretical ideas: Darwinism, Einsteinism and DNA. The first-person narrative maintains an uneasy balance between reverence for the status quo and a fearful acknowledgment of the wonders of the past, while the text eschews sensationalism in favour of a thoughtful account of personal change and a skilled evocation of a feudal future.

As Robert J. Sawyer says of Wilson in the introduction to this fine novella, "He's sui generis: a hard-SF writer with the soul of a poet."

The Language Pattern Game for all !
It is not connected with stage hypnosis. It is connected with doctors helping people overcome their dependencies, like smoking, drinking or drugs.

"I created Zebu to help me teach my classes in Ericksonian Hypnosis.  the level of proficiency that my students developed was nothing short of phenomenal, and it's all due to this card game.  Playing Zebu is learning at its best, because the whole time is spent listening to and using the language patterns ... and it's entertaining!  What could be better?