The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires (1996)
Brian Stableford
I first encountered Brian Stableford's work in the Grainger (aka Hooded Swan) ) series
of science fiction novels done by DAW in the early 70s. In the recent past, he
has done more fantasy and horror that anything else. This original novel
is rather offbeat in comparison to his usual work. It follows the adventures
of a time-traveling professor and includes appearances by Dracula, Sherlock Holmes,
Oscar Wilde and a bunch more of the late Victorian mainstays so familiar to most readers.
Silicon Embrace (1996)
John Shirley
Aliens have been watching us for a long time. But now they are
finally ready to go public with the help of the US government.
But they need the right spin. Faraday, an experienced ad man is hired.
Because civilization in 2017 has changed -- there is the Famine, the new
American Civil War, the sparring fundamentalist groups, the survivalist warlords, etc.
Add to the mix a alien splinter group to whom a kid named Anatole becomes
oddly important and an alternative-media guy named Quinn and his band of peculiar companions.
A secret Nevada military base will serve as one meeting point for those
from officialdom, anarchy, and general bewilderment while an East Coast prison is another.
And then there's a manic, frowsy tramp called the Street Sweeper...
About the only adjective that seems inapplicable to John Shirley's work is tame.
Slippage (1997)
Harlan Ellison
This mix of 25 items are all previously uncollected. One story is by Donald E. Westlake,
along with an essay and teleplay written by Harlan Ellison. This editon includes 4 items
which do not appear in the Houghton Mifflin edition which is titled
Slippage: Previously Uncollected, Precariously Poised Stories.
It collects the following items:
Introduction: The Fault in My Lines
The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore
Anywhere But Here, with Anybody But You
Crazy as a Soup Sandwich
Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep
The Pale Silver Dollar of the Moon Pays Its Way and Makes Change [version 1]
The Pale Silver Dollar of the Moon Pays Its Way and Makes Change [version 2]
The Lingering Scent of Woodsmoke
The Museum on Cyclops Avenue
Go Toward the Light
Mefisto in Onyx
Where I Shall Dwell in the Next World
Chatting with Anubis
The Few, the Proud
The Deadly "Nackles" Affair
Nackles [as by Curt Clark] by Donald E. Westlake
Nackles [teleplay]
Sensible City
The Dragon on the Bookshelf [written with Robert Silverberg]
Keyboard
Jane Doe #112
The Dreams a Nightmare Dreams
Pulling Hard Time
Scartaris, June 28th
She's a Young Thing and Cannot Leave Her Mother
Midnight in the Sunken Cathedral
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Books slated for future release include:
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
edited by Mark V. Ziesing which features weird and dark stories about
books and book collectors. Contributors include Thomas Ligotti, Brian Stableford,
A.A. Attanasio, Patrick O'Leary, and several others.
A Handbook of American Prayer by Lucius Shepard is planned once the author finally turns in his manuscript.
Back in the USSA (1997)
Kim Newman & Eugene Byrne
After a 1917 revolution, the US became a socialist super-power opposed to
the other one, Czarist Russia. Not really a novel, this episodic adventure
spans the years between 1912 and 1989 (all but one of the stories were
published originally in the British magazine Interzone)
We meet a mixture of real and fictional characters. Trying to figure out
the story context is half the fun. In the book you'll run across
Norman Bates, Harlan Ellison, Jake and Elwood Blues, Randall Flagg,
Harry Truman and Isaac Asimov.
A familiarity with "Apocalypse Now" will add to the flavour of "Teddy Bears' Picnic"
while "Abdication Street" tips its hat to the UK TV series, "Coronation Street."
It collects the following stories:
In the Air (1989)
Ten Days That Shook the World (1912-1917)
Tom Joad (1937)
Teddy Bears' Picnic (1965-1969)
Citizen Ed (1945-1984)
Abdication Street (1972)
On the Road (1998)
Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Side (1998)
John Shirley
Split in two parts, Black Butterflies contains 8 stories set in "This World"
(aka reality) and 8 stories set in "That World" (the surreal, the supernatural),
2 of which are original to the collection. Apparently John Shirley wanted the
trade paperback format rather that hard cover in order to be affordable by his fans.
Story highlights include "Barbara," a story about a woman carjacked
by two punks who shows them the true meaning of the word sociopath.
Then there is "How Deep the Taste of Love," an exploration of sexual fantasies
by a recent widower with someone he picks up in a bar.
It collects the following stories:
This World
Barbara
War and Peace
You Hear What Buddy and Ray Did?
Answering Machine
The Rubber Smile
The Footlite
Cram
What Would You Do For Love
That World
Delia and The Dinner Party
Pearldoll
Woodgrains
The Exquisitely Bleeding Heads Of Doktur
Palmer Vreedeez
Flaming Telepaths
How Deep the Taste of Love
Aftertaste
Black Hole Sun, Won't You Come
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