Search Worlds Without End

Contents:

• Introduction - (1998) - essay by Nancy Kilpatrick and Thomas S. Roche
• The Soft Sound of Wings - (1998) - short story by Charles L. Grant
• How Do You Think It Feels? - (1998) - short story by Neil Gaiman
• The Gargoyle's Shadow - (1998) - novelette by Katherine Kurtz
• Scylla and Charybdis - (1998) - short story by Don D'Ammassa
• Studies in Stone - (1998) - short story by Robert J. Harris and Jane Yolen
• Hagoday - (1998) - short story by Melanie Tem
• May This Be Your Last Sorrow - (1998) - short story by Charles de Lint
• Little Dedo - (1998) - short story by Nancy Holder
• The Gargoyle's Song - (1998) - novelette by Alan Rodgers
• The Luststone - (1991) - novelette by Brian Lumley
• Found Angels - (1998) - short story by Christa Faust and Caitlín R. Kiernan
• The Hour of the Sisters - (1998) - novelette by Jo Clayton
• Smiling Beasties - (1998) - short story by Wendy Webb
• Now Entering Monkeyface - (1998) - short story by Marc Levinthal and John Mason Skipp
• Tempters - (1998) - short story by Lucy Taylor
• Cenotaph - (1998) - novelette by Brian Hodge
• Bleeding Stones - (1973) - short story by Harlan Ellison
• The Gallery - (1998) - uncredited essay

Some of today's leading masters of speculative fiction, dark fantasy, and horror contribute a collection of original tales of the macabre.

Table of Contents:

• xi - Foreword (Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories From the Edge)
• 3 - The Empty Chambers - short story by Neil Gaiman
• 6 - The Company You Keep - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• 15 - Under the Needle - short story by Léa Silhol
• 22 - Scarabesque: The Girl Who Broke Dracula - novelette by Tanith Lee
• 53 - Expanding Your Capabilities Using Frame/Shift™ Mode - short story by David J. Schow
• 70 - Cat and the Cold Prince - short story by Freda Warrington
• 89 - Faces in Revolving Souls - short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• 105 - Lighten Up - short story by Jack Ketchum
• 115 - Pit Boy - short story by Elizabeth Massie
• 125 - The Country of the Blind - short story by Melanie Tem
• 140 - Ruby Tuesday - short story by Kathe Koja
• 150 - Running Beneath the Skin - short story by Brett Alexander Savory
• 169 - Grim Peeper - short story by Katherine Ramsland
• 177 - Craving - short story by Yvonne Navarro
• 187 - Violent Angel - short story by Thomas S. Roche
• 204 - ...And the Damage Done - novelette by Michael Marano
• 226 - Pop Star in the Ugly Bar - short story by Bentley Little
• 233 - Miss Singularity - novelette by John Shirley
• 267 - The Working Slob's Prayer - short story by Poppy Z. Brite
• 282 - If I Should Wake Before I Die - short story by Brian Hodge
• 301 - Honing Sebastian - short story by Elizabeth Engstrom
• 316 - The Shadows, Kith and Kin - short story by Joe R. Lansdale
• 335 - About the Editors (Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories from the Edge)

A poignant and erotic tale of eternal love: Tormented by his addiction to blood and beautiful women, the supernatural Count Vlad de Dracul is tired and angry from the centuries of being cursed to exist like a bloodthirsty animal. His heart was broken by the useless and violent death of his beloved wife Helene, 500 years prior. His existence changes dramatically when he finds Mina Murray, the re-incarnation of his Helene.

The book is a novelization of "DRACUL," the stage musical based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Carol Robins is vacationing in Bordeaux, France trying to recover from the tragic failure of her marriage and the possibility that she has been infected with a fatal disease. At a small sidewalk café she meets the enigmatic Andre and her life changes forever in a brutal and shocking way. Andre is not a man but a vampire, cruel, intent on making Carol his next kill, and she has to find a way to save herself.

Carol's bargain with the devil leads to her being dragged further and further down into the murky world of darkness, leaving her at the mercy of the merciless blood drinker. Suddenly, the impossible happens, and both mortal and immortal are swept to the edge of madness. Her one thought becomes an obsession: escape Andre and this nest of vampires!

But soon Carol is forced to return to the lair of the undead Andre because now more than just her life is on the line. In a final tension-packed life-or-death confrontation, Carol is desperate to prevent the disastrous outcome that both she and Andre foresee as inevitable.

David Lyle Hardwick was a poet who lived well over a century ago. Now, he is an undead poet, residing in Manchester, England, surviving during the day in the basement of his ancestors' stately home. He sleeps in a coffin, acting out the role of vampire. This sensitive yet unholy creature would continue his tormented existence but one night a beautiful girl named Zero appears with a stake in hand aimed at his heart. Fortunately for David, the drug-addled New Yorker fails. But now he's left with a complex puzzle: who sent her to murder him, and why?

Zero can't help him much -- she's addicted to heroin and has even bigger problems. Still, she falls for his seductive vampire power and together they set out in search of his enemies, who are not necessarily what they seem.

Both David and Zero are changing, but maybe not for the better. When a vampire's craving for blood mixes with passion and a lust for revenge, he becomes Nosferatu. And once that fury is unleashed, Zero quickly realizes that no one is safe, not mortal, not immortal, and especially not her!

Reborn takes place several years after the events of the second book, Near Death. The half human, half vampire child, Michel is now grown and on the verge of immortality. The story begins with the shocking murder of an ancient vampire, which throws this close knit group of the undead into a tailspin. They have a sense of who is responsible and with the help of the vampire Karl and his scientific methods end up sure of the murderer's identity. This monster is old and powerful and the community is torn between wanting to attack or retreat.

In the midst of chaos, Karl's partner Gerlinde is missing. He leaves the others behind and goes off along in search of her, despite warnings from his friends that the murderer will find him easy prey. But he cannot exist without his lover and eventually is confronted with an existential question that rips him apart: should he exist at all?

Julien de Villier has been a vampire for close to six centuries. He is from an era of warlords and violence. And now he's searching for a companion.

Jeanette Price is beautiful, smart, and wealthy from an inheritance combined with business acumen. She wiles away her copious free time partying.

It is London, England in the 1960s. The post-war world has gone wild and high-drama is the norm. Jeanette has plenty of melodramatic fantasies and Julien is only too happy to act them out as part of his master plan to make her undead. But Jeanette might not be the victim she appears to be, and Julien could have more than a clever rebel on his hands; Jeanette may be an enemy!