Search Worlds Without End

Robert and Janet Patterson and their young daughter, Krissy, went looking for the perfect getaway vacation spot. They found it in a backwoods Florida town. Far away from civilization. Quiet and peaceful. And terribly isolated.

Robert and Janet should have listened to the local legends. They should have heeded the warnings about the black water lagoons. And they should have listened to their daughter when she told them about the whispers in the woods. Because now, it's too late. Krissy's disappeared, and whatever took their little girl is coming back for more....

A beautiful ghost appears to a troubled teen and shows her the heartbreaking secrets of her family's past

Fifteen-year-old Teresa has fallen in love--with a ghost. The handsome man that she's passed on the street a few times captures her attention, and she thinks he notices her too. But when the man suddenly appears inside her home, hovering in the air and passing through solid furniture, Teresa realizes this isn't going to be a typical crush. The ghost is Brother Rush, a man tied to Teresa's past, who has come to show her the ways her life has special meaning, and that her problems at school and at home are not what they seem.

The lushness of language and the landscape, wild contrasts, and pure storytelling magic abound in this anthology of Caribbean writing. Steeped in the tradition of fabulism, where the irrational and inexplicable coexist with the realities of daily life, the stories in this collection are infused with a vitality and freshness that most writing traditions have long ago lost. From spectral slaving ships to women who shed their skin at night to become owls, stories from writers such as Jamaica Kincaid, Marcia Douglas, Ian MacDonald, and Kamau Brathwaite pulse with rhythms, visions, and the tortured history of this spiritually rich region of the world.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Nalo Hopkinson
• What the Periwinkle Remember (excerpt from Madam Fate) - (1999) - shortfiction by Marcia Douglas
• Yurokon - (1970) - shortstory by Wilson Harris
• Spurn Babylon - shortstory by Tobias S. Buckell
• Just a Lark (or the Crypt of Matthew Ashdown) - novelette by Roger McTair
• Tears for Érsulie Frèda: Men without Shadow - shortstory by Claude-Michel Prévost
• The Village Cock - (1996) - shortstory by H. Nigel Thomas
• Shadows Move in the Britannia Bar - (1999) - shortstory by Ismith Khan
• My Mother - (1983) - shortstory by Jamaica Kincaid
• Mad Fish - (1999) - shortstory by Olive Senior
• Widows' Walk - (1986) - novelette by Opal Palmer Adisa
• Once on the Shores of the Stream Senegambia - novelette by Pamela Mordecai
• In the Beginning - shortstory by Lillian Allen
• Uncle Obadiah and the Alien - (1996) - shortstory by Geoffrey Philp
• My Grandmother's Tale of the Buried Treasure and How She Defeated the King of Chacachacari and the Entire American Army with Her Venus-Flytraps - (2000) - novelette by Robert Antoni
• Pot O' Rice Horowitz's House of Solace - (1991) - shortstory by Ian McDonald (b. 1933)
• The Glass Bottle Trick - shortstory by Nalo Hopkinson
• Buried Statues - (1967) - shortstory by Antonio Benítez-Rojo
• Soma - (2000) - shortstory by Camille Hernandez-Ramdwar
• My Funny Valentine - shortstory by Kamau Brathwaite
• Devil Beads - shortstory by Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell
• Contributors' Notes - essay by uncredited

This novelette origianlly appreared in Asimov's Science Fiction, April 1993. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection (1994), edited by Gardner Dozois.

A beautiful woman scarred by a hateful past. A compassionate cop haunted by a childhood blighted by poverty.

Violence brought them together. An unspeakable abomination may tear them apart.

Bruno Frye nightly succumbs to the malicious lullaby of the whispers. Losing himself in the nightdreams of their rustling cries, he is deafened by whispers more piercing than any scream. In the dark recesses of his mind no act is too violent, no deed too shocking...

Dartmoor, with its mists, bleak winter weather and overwhelming sense of isolation, is the perfect place to build a prison. It's not a place many would choose to live - yet the Governor of Dartmoor Prison did just that. When Herbert Russell retired, he bought All Hallow's Hall - a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the moor, and lived there all his life.

Now he's dead, and his estranged family are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the morning the family decide to leave All Hallow's Hall once and for all, their young son Timmy goes missing.

The mist is full of evil things - dark, twisted beings that think only of their own hunger - but Clare has clawed her way through. She and Dorran are alive against all odds, though relief is only temporary. Dorran is sick, and declining fast. The only way to save him lies in the mysterious Evandale Research Station, supposedly one of the few remaining places safe from the predators that lurk in the shadows. But the station is a three days' journey away, and it's unlikely their small group can endure that long out in the dark.

Because the danger they're facing comes not only from the ravenous hollow ones... but from each other.

This terrible new world has left scars, and the people left behind in it are nearly unrecognizable. As Clare fights to protect her ragtag family, she begins to realize a horrible truth: not everyone can be saved. And sometimes the worst monsters wear a human smile.

The Mantle that separates the kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall. And life will drastically change for both kingdoms.

Born with a deadly magic she cannot control, Kyara is forced to become an assassin. Known as the Poison Flame in the kingdom of Lagrimar, she is notorious and lethal, but secretly seeks freedom from both her untamed power and the blood spell that commands her. She is tasked with capturing the legendary rebel called the Shadowfox, but everything changes when she learns her target's true identity.

Darvyn ol-Tahlyro may be the most powerful Earthsinger in generations, but guilt over those he couldn't save tortures him daily. He isn't sure he can trust the mysterious young woman who claims to need his help, but when he discovers Kyara can unlock the secrets of his past, he can't stay away.

Kyara and Darvyn grapple with betrayal, old promises, and older prophecies--all while trying to stop a war. And when a new threat emerges, they must beat the odds to save both kingdoms.

FIRST CONTACT!

The three thousand-year-old thearchy which rules the planet Aseneshesh faces certain disaster as the Chani civilization is racked by famine and rebellion -- a famine caused by the alien "messengers," who are willing to trade grain for Chani blood, and nothing else.

Young Curin is ordered by his master, the Lord Protector of the Thearchy, to carry a secret message to the distant highlands. It is a perilous journey in the best of times, and for an unworldly scholar, it is certain death.

But Curin's adventure among the lionlike people of his planet is a revelation, and he will learn, ultimately, that nothing is as he believed it to be: not his world, not his master. not his mission... not even his god, not even himself.

We're the D'Artigo sisters: savvy half-human, half-Fae ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. My sister Camille is a wicked-good witch with three sexy husbands. My sister Menolly is a vampire married to a wildly hot werepuma. And me? I'm Delilah, a two-faced werecat and Death Maiden. The Supe Community is in danger, and now it's up to us to unravel a mystery to which we may not want the answers...

When two vampiric software engineers approach us about a missing colleague, we don't expect to find much. But then Grandmother Coyote steps in and our simple missing persons case rapidly devolves into a nightmare of debauchery, slavery, and corporate greed. Now, we must infiltrate and destroy an underground organization of influential men, led by the mysterious Lowestar Radcliff, before they discover we're on to them. But one misstep puts our whole operation and our lives in peril, and I must unleash my powers as a Death Maiden, even if it means destroying someone I love.

When teenage queen Lia inherits her corrupt uncle's bankrupt kingdom, she brings a new spymaster into the fold... Xania, who takes the job to avenge her murdered father.

Faced with dangerous plots and hidden enemies, can Lia and Xania learn to rely on each another, as they discover that all is not fair in love and treason?

In a world where the throne means both power and duty, they must decide what to sacrifice for their country -- and for each other.

Magic was dormant -- never dead...

To some, Emri -- the adopted heir and daughter of two queens -- is a living reminder that her birth father tried to usurp the Edaran throne. But as she grapples with a diplomatic visit from her estranged cousin, Melisande, the two girls are attacked by a magical force and spirited away. They must put their differences aside when Emri comes face to face with a goddess she's always considered a myth: Lady Winter.

Trapped deep within a mountain temple alongside other young royals, they face a race against time to complete Lady Winter's trials... or die.

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher-and the victim's wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom-if it exists at all-is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects... except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer's apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as "the Faceless Man," it's up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and-as of now-deadliest subway system in the world.

At least he won't be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She's young, ambitious, beautiful... and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah-that's going to go well.

It is a fateful day when Lucas Hawthorn awakes in his own home to find Edwin Limmer standing before him. Lucas first met old man Limmer back in 1952. Only now Limmer is much younger--and the idea that someone can actually age backward in time is almost too much for Lucas and his wife, Maude, to handle.

But Limmer is here to turn the Hawthorns' Kansas home into a time-travel depot for the Whispers, mysterious beings from the future. The Whispers mission? To find the beginning of time.

So the Hawthorns land smack-dab in the middle of a drama that spans history, past and future: from ancient Troy to colonial Kentucky to a Camelot of the next millennium, where a murderous tyrant thirsts for immortality.

He just needs time...

Four dead Borg and counting. Serial killer, gang violence, or civil war? While the Special Detection Unit hunts for answers, a terrified family searchs for their disappeared daughter, and war between society's elites takes an even nastier turn. Borg and genetic technology is evolving exponentially and Frank Steele finds himself up against unfathomable enemies!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1977) - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• Sticks - (1974) - novelette by Karl Edward Wagner
• The Barrow Troll - (1975) - short story by David Drake
• The Glove - (1975) - short story by Fritz Leiber
• The Closer of the Way - (1977) - short story by Robert Bloch
• Dark Winner - (1976) - short story by William F. Nolan
• Ladies in Waiting - (1975) - short story by Hugh B. Cave
• White Moon Rising - (1977) - short story by Dennis Etchison
• Graduation - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• Mirror, Mirror - (1977) - short story by Ray Russell
• The House of Cthulhu - (1973) - short story by Brian Lumley
• Antiquities - (1977) - short story by John Crowley
• A Weather Report from the Top of the Stairs - (1973) - short story by James Sallis and David Lunde
• The Scallion Stone - (1977) - novelette by Basil A. Smith
• The Inglorious Rise of the Catsmeat Man - (1971) - short story by Robin Smyth
• The Pawnshop - (1977) - short story by Charles E. Fritch
• Le Miroir - short story by Robert Aickman
• The Willow Platform - (1973) - short story by Joseph Payne Brennan
• The Dakwa - (1977) - short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• Goat - (1971) - short story by David Campton
• The Chimney - (1977) - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• Afterword - (1977) - essay by Stuart David Schiff

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• Undertow - (1977) - novelette by Karl Edward Wagner
• Berryhill - (1976) - short story by R. A. Lafferty
• The King's Shadow Has No Limits - (1975) - short story by Avram Davidson
• Conversation Piece - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• The Stormsong Runner - short story by Jack L. Chalker
• They Will Not Hush - (1974) - short story by James Sallis and David Lunde
• Lex Talionis - novelette by Russell Kirk
• Marianne - (1975) - short fiction by Joseph Payne Brennan
• From the Lower Deep - short story by Hugh B. Cave
• The Fourth Musketeer - short story by Charles L. Grant
• Ghost of a Chance - (1978) - short story by Ray Russell
• The Elcar Special - short story by Carl Jacobi
• The Box - (1976) - short story by Lee Weinstein
• We Have All Been Here Before - short story by Dennis Etchison
• Archie and the Scylla of Hades Hole - short story by Ken Wisman
• Trill Coster's Burden - short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• Conversation Piece - (1978) - short story by Ward Moore
• The Bait - (1973) - short story by Fritz Leiber
• Above the World - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• The Red Leer - short story by David Drake
• At the Bottom of the Garden - (1975) - short story by David Campton
• Afterword essay by Stuart David Schiff

Table of Contents:

• Preface - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• The Dead Line - (1979) - short story by Dennis Etchison
• Heading Home - (1978) - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• King Crocodile - novelette by David Drake
• The Door Below - short story by Hugh B. Cave
• Point of Departure - short story by Phyllis Eisenstein
• Firstborn - short story by David Campton
• The Horses of Lir - short story by Roger Zelazny
• Woodland Burial - short story by Frank Belknap Long
• The River of Night's Dreaming - novella by Karl Edward Wagner
• Who Nose What Evil - (1979) - short story by Charles E. Fritch
• Comb My Hair, Please Comb My Hair - short story by Jean Darling
• A Fly One - (1979) - short story by Steve Sneyd
• The Button Molder - (1979) - novelette by Fritz Leiber
• The Final Quest - poem by William F. Nolan
• Afterword - essay by Stuart David Schiff

Table of Contents:

• Preface - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• A Night on the Docks - (1982) - short story by Freff
• Into Whose Hands - novelette by Karl Edward Wagner
• Out of Copyright - (1980) - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• Elle Est Trois, (La Mort) - novelette by Tanith Lee
• Come to the Party - short story by Frances Garfield
• The Warrior Who Did Not Know Fear - (1982) - novelette by Gerald W. Page
• Fair Trade - (1982) - short story by William F. Nolan
• I Never Could Say Goodbye - short story by Charles L. Grant
• The Devil You Say! - short story by Lawrence Treat
• Diploma Time - short story by Frank Belknap Long
• What Say the Frogs Now, Jenny? - short story by Hugh B. Cave
• Tell Us About the Rats, Grandpa - short story by Stephen Kleinhen
• The Beholder - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• Creative Coverage, Inc. - novelette by Michael Shea
• The Dancer in the Flames - (1982) - short story by David Drake
• The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close - novelette by Russell Kirk

Table of Contents:

• Preface (1985) - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• Substitution Trick - (1985) - short story by Connie Willis
• Dreams in Amber - (1985) - short story by David Drake
• Footprints in Perdu - (1985) - short story by Hugh B. Cave
• The Last "One Mo' Once Golden Oldies Revival" - (1985) - short story by F. Paul Wilson
• A Country Home - (1985) - short story by Wade Kenny
• Of Time and Kathy Benedict - (1984) - novelette by William F. Nolan
• Deadspace - (1985) - novelette by Dennis Etchison
• Cabin Number Six - (1985) - short story by Jerry Sohl
• Father's Day - (1985) - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• The East Beaverton Monster - (1985) - short story by Alan Ryan
• The Horse - (1985) - short story by Libby Tinker
• Return of the Dust Vampires - (1985) - short story by Sharon N. Farber
• For These and All My Sins - (1984) - short story by David Morrell
• Beyond Any Measure - (1982) - novella by Karl Edward Wagner

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1987) - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• The Bones Wizard - (1984) - short story by Alan Ryan
• Leaks - (1987) - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• Everything to Live For - (1987) - short story by Charles L. Grant
• Bogy - (1987) - short story by Al Sarrantonio
• The Fool - (1987) - novelette by David Drake
• Repossession - (1987) - short story by David Campton
• The Years the Music Died - (1987) - short story by F. Paul Wilson
• The Woman in Black - (1984) - short story by Dennis Etchison
• My Name Is Dolly - (1987) - short story by William F. Nolan
• Toad, Singular - (1987) - short story by Juleen Brantingham
• Sleeping Booty - (1987) - short story by Richard Wilson
• Privacy Rights - (1987) - short story by J. N. Williamson
• One for the Horrors - (1983) - short story by David J. Schow
• The Black Clay Boy - (1987) - short story by Lucius Shepard
• Where Did She Wander? - (1987) - short story by Manly Wade Wellman