Gathering the Bones

by Dann, Jack; Campbell, Ramsey; Etchison, Dennis

• ISBN13: 9780765301796
• ISBN10: 0765301792
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-16
• Publisher: Tor Books

Summary

A Chilling new anthology of all-original tales of horror Includes New Stories by: Ray Bradbury Graham Joyce Peter Crowther Kim Newman Sara Douglass Thomas Tessier M. John Harrison Gahan Wilson The anthology market these days is awash with small, themed works focused on very specific markets, like vampire erotica and tales of werewolves, or it features best of the year reprints. It has been years since anyone has dared to bring out a broad-reaching anthology that seeks to define the current state of the genre with all original tales from both masters and hot new writers.

Author Biography

Jack Dann has written or edited over fifty books, including the international bestseller The Memory Cathedral, which is published in over ten languages and was #1 on The Age Bestseller list. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "A grand accomplishment," Kirkus Reviews thought it was "An impressive accomplishment," and True Review said, "Read this important novel, be challenged by it; you literally haven't seen anything like it." His novel The Silent has been compared to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; Library Journal chose it as one of their 'Hot Picks' and wrote: "This is narrative storytelling at its best-so highly charged emotionally as to constitute a kind of poetry from hell. Most emphatically recommended."

Dann's work has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Castaneda, J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Mark Twain. He is a recipient of the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Australian Aurealis Award (twice), the Ditmar Award (twice), and the Premios Gilgames de Narrativa Fantastica award. He has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). His novel, Bad Medicine (retitled Counting Coup in the US), has been described by The Courier Mail as "perhaps the best road novel since the Easy Rider Days." His latest book is the retrospective short story collection Jubilee, which The West Australian called "a celebration of the talent of a remarkable storyteller." He is also the co-editor of the groundbreaking anthology of Australian stories, Dreaming Down-Under, which won the World Fantasy Award in 1999.

Jack Dann lives in Melbourne, Australia and "commutes" back and forth to Los Angeles and New York.

Ramsey Campbell is described in the Oxford Companion to English Literature as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer.” He has won more awards than any other writer in the field. He lives on Merseyside with his wife, Jenny.

Dennis Etchison has been called “the most original living horror writer in America.” His writing has won both the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award. He is also the editor of The Museum of Horrors, which won the World Fantasy Award. He has written screenplays for John Carpenter and Dario Argento as well as serving time as a staff writer for HBO’s original series, The Hitchhiker. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Introduction	15	(17)
Dennis Etchison
Ramsey Campbell
Jack Dann
The Hanged Man of Oz	17	(14)
Steve Nagy
The Bone Ship	31	(11)
Terry Dowling
Li'l Miss Ultrasound	42	(17)
Robert Devereaux
The Intervention	59	(18)
Kim Newman
Blake's Angel	77	(10)
Janeen Webb
The Obedient Child	87	(6)
George Clayton Johnson
Sounds Like	93	(16)
Mike O'Driscoll
The Wind Sall Blow For Ever Mair	109	(14)
Stephen Dedman
``The Mezzotint''	123	(12)
Lisa Tuttle
The Lords of Zero	135	(11)
Tony Richards
Smoke City	146	(16)
Russell Blackford
Moments of Change	162	(11)
Thomas Tessier
The Big Green Grin	173	(5)
Gahan Wilson
Both And	178	(16)
Gary Fry
Love Is a Stone	194	(9)
Simon Brown
Memento Mori	203	(8)
Ray Bradbury
The Mistress of Marwood Hagg	211	(14)
Sara Douglass
The Right Men	225	(9)
Michael Marshall Smith
The Raptures of the Deep	234	(6)
Rosaleen Love
Out Late in the Park	240	(6)
Steve Rasnic Tem
Bedfordshire	246	(24)
Peter Crowther
Mr. Sly Stops for a Cup of Joe	270	(8)
Scott Emerson Bull
Finishing School	278	(10)
Cherry Wilder
Jennifer's Turn	288	(7)
Fruma Klass
Mother's Milk	295	(12)
Adam L. G. Nevill
No Man's Land	307	(14)
Chris Lawson
Simon Brown
The Watcher at the Window	321	(9)
Donald R. Burleson
Coming of Age	330	(9)
Joel Lane
Picking Up Courtney	339	(13)
Tim Waggoner
Watchmen	352	(13)
Aaron Sterns
Gardens	365	(10)
Melanie Tem
Under the Bright and Hollow Sky	375	(24)
Andrew J. Wilson
The Dove Game	399	(24)
Isobelle Carmody
Tiger Moth	423	(12)
Graham Joyce
About the Authors	435	(10)
About the Editors	445

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Excerpts

The Hanged Man of Oz BY STEVE NAGY Knee-high grass dominated the scene, thick blades uprooting the foundation of a sagging cabin, pushing aside cobbles in the shaded road. Trees circled the clearing and an abandoned orchard lay behind the cabin, straight rows masked by weeds and windrows of dead leaves and forgotten fruit. A pastoral display except for the people posed throughouttwo middle-aged men, one dressed as a hobo, the second clad in a dirty threadbare uniform; an old woman sporting too much rouge and mascara, skinny legs visible beneath the hem of a little girl's dress; and a dead man, hanging from a tree, his feet twitching at odd moments in time with some unheralded tune raised by the wind whistling through the forest. * * * Obsession is an art form. And if you're lucky it's contagious. Denise and I got together for dinner and drinks at her place. Our first date, although we saw each other in the apartment hall every day. I lived in 2B. She had moved into 2C in February. I'd made great strides, starting with an occasional nod and shared rides to work. I'd eventually thrown out an off-the-cuff comment about her hair, which she'd shorn from its ponytail length to a flapper-style skullcap. Guys should notice changes like that; it's an easy way to score points. After that first compliment, the progression from casual to intimate was natural. We left in the morning at the same time, talked about our days, compared notes on work. If you practice something enough, anything is possible. I knew the boy-next-door routine better than when to observe national holidays. And the Fourth of July doesn't change from year to year. Besides dinner and drinks, Denise made me sit down and watchThe Wizard of Oz. "You've seen this before, Michael?" "Lots of times," I said. "Not lately, though. Isn't it usually on around Easter?" "Until recently," Denise said. "Ted Turner bought the rights and pulled it for theatrical release." Oz? God save me. I already regretted the date and struggled to keep an interested expression as Denise gave me the inside scoop. It was like a psychotic version ofEntertainment Tonight. When I was in college I worked at a greasy spoon as a busboy. The chef was a compact Italian named Ricky Silva who came across as uneducated, unhealthy and gullible. I stayed late one night, and I found Silva pouring over a stamp collection in a back booth. I questioned him about it, saying something crass because the idea of Silva as a philatelist didn't match my preconceptions. He told me there were an infinite number of worlds. Each existed next to the other, always overlapping and occasionally intertwining. Learning about his deeper reality forced me to change my opinion of him. Denise and Oz were like that. The places she went and the things she did contained wholly unexpected layers. Up until now I'd only seen her "hallway" face. But I wasn't in Kansas anymore. The trivia litany went like this: Buddy Ebsenthe original Tin Manalmost died from pneumonia, suffering a bad reaction to aluminum dust from his makeup, which let Jack Haley jump into his metal shoes. The Cowardly Lion's costume was so hot Bert Lahr passed out at least a dozen times. The Munchkins raised so much holy hell on the set that Chevy Chase mined that aspect forUnder the Rainbow. Shirley Temple led the pack for Dorothy's role. Probably because everyone considered Judy Garland too old and a poor box-office draw. The movie lost money, costing about $4.6 million and earning only $4 million the first time out. St

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