Search Worlds Without End

This novelette originally appreared in Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1993. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection (1994), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

This short story originally appeared in Omni, November 1987. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Omni Best Science Fiction One (1992), edited by Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collections Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1988. It can also be found in the anthologies Nebula Awards 24 (1990), edited by Michael Bishop, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (2008), edited by John Joseph Adams and Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top (2012) edited by Ekaterina Sedia. It is included in the collecitons Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

ARCHAIC

From the Great Midsee to the two Calfrei's, the year 2906 saw Nordland in upheaval. There were rumors of war as the pseudo-Sioux pushed south from the Indian confederation in a strange alliance with the yellow-skinned wizards of Hunan, far to the North...and for the first time since the Disaster of a thousand years earlier, all of Nordland seemed poised on the bring of annihilation. Into the middle of the war stirrings came Kelwin the Broon, finder - and occassionally manufacturer - of archaics, the tantalizing treasures that were all the remained of the world before Disaster. Aided only by his apprentice, Base, and armed with his wits and his half-knowledge of things better forgotten, it was his task to stop the war before the visitation of another Disaster...

"Reading one of his stories is a trip through different seasons, different doors..."

Neal Barrett, Jr. answers (sometimes) to a number of names: Odd, Weird, Gonzo, and, as a former collection points out: Slightly Off Center. Barrett is all of the above, and more. From readers who have followed his career come accolades such as brilliant, unique, sheer genius. Other writers respect his status as a master of words, his ability to weave rhythm and poetry into his tales.

Barrett jumps in and out of genres at will, or simply invents one of his own. He likes to bring his favorite characters together, and see what they'll do. In "Sallie C." he puts The Wright Brothers, young Erwin Rommel and Sheriff Pat Garrett in a shabby hotel out west."Highbrow" finds generations of devoted workers building a half-mile high statue of Richard Nixon."Tony Red Dog" describes the trials and tribulations of the only Apache in the New York mob.

Neal Barrett, Jr. has made a special effort to give us a number of dark, funny, and hopefully impossible views of the future. Present in this collection are "Under Old New York," "Radio Station St. Jack," and the much heralded "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus."

Clearly, Nostrodamus missed the boat. Read and enjoy...

Table of Contents:

• In the Shadow of the Worm - (1964) - novelette
• To Plant a Seed - (1963) - novella
• The Stentorii Luggage - (1960) - novelette
• A Walk on Toy - (1971) - novelette
• The Flying Stutzman - (1978) - novelette
• Nightbeat - (1975) - short story
• Hero - (1979) - novelette
• Survival Course - (1974) - short story
• Grandfather Pelts - (1970) - short story
• Diner - (1987) - short story
• Sallie C. - (1986) - short story
• Winter on the Belle Fourche - (1989) - short story
• Stairs - (1988) - short story
• Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - (1988) - novelette
• Highbrow - (1987) - short story
• Perpetuity Blues - (1987) - novelette
• Tony Red Dog - (1989) - novelette
• The Last Cardinal Bird in Tennessee - (1992) - short story
• Hit - (1992) - short story
• Cush - (1993) - novelette
• Under Old New York - (1991) - novelette
• Rhido Wars - (2001) - novelette
• Slidin' - (2008) - short story
• Radio Station St. Jack - (2008) - novelette
• Tourists - (2004) - short story
• Getting Dark - (2006) - short story
• The Heart - (2006) - short story
• Limo - (2009) - short story

This novelette originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, May 1987. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

The work of novelist and short-story writer Neal Barrett, Jr., runs the gamut from science fiction, westerns, and historical novels to off-the-wall but well-received mainstream fiction, and this collection brings together 11 previously uncollected short stories, many of which first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Best of the West, and The New Frontier. It also features the novella "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" and presents the reader with a distinct mix of science fiction and western, which is Barrett at his offbeat best. Here readers will discover Billy the Kid, Erwin Rommel, and the Wright brothers all sharing a dilapidated hotel on the edge of nowhere in "Sallie C," see how business is done with art-loving extraterrestrials in the "Trading Post," and meet Maggie McKenna, a country girl whose auctorial aspirations are aided by an alien temporarily stranded on Earth, in "Perpetuity Blues."

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - essay by Terry Bisson
• Perpetuity Blues - (1987) - novelette
• Diner - (1987) - shortstory
• "A Day at the Fair" - (1981) - shortstory
• Sallie C. - (1986) - shortstory
• High Fashion (excerpt from The Hereafter Gang) - (1991) - shortfiction
• Cush - (1993) - novelette
• Class of '61 - (1987) - shortstory
• Trading Post - (1986) - novelette
• Winter on the Belle Fourche - (1989) - shortstory
• Stairs - (1988) - shortstory
• Mummies (excerpt from The Hereafter Gang) - (1991) - shortfiction
• Under Old New York - (1991) - novelette
• Highbrow - (1987) - shortstory
• Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - (1988) - novelette
• The Model Shop (excerpt from The Hereafter Gang) - (1991) - shortfiction

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Best of the West (1986), edited by Joe R. Lansdale. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection (1987), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

The work of novelist and short story writer Neal Barrett, Jr. spans the field from science fiction, westerns, and historical novels to "off-the-wall" mainstream fiction. His work is weird and wonderful, and defies any category or convention. He simply does what he does, and no one seems able to stop him.

Barrett's ability to stir fantasy and reality into a delightful souffle redefines the term "magic realism." His 1991 novel, The Hereafter Gang, shows a master at work, a writer who has total control of his craft. His first venture into the field of mystery/suspense (Pink Vodka Blues, 1992) earned him critical acclaim, and a movie deal with producer David Brown.

There are eleven stories in this collection:

• Buckstop
• Deviations
• A Day at the Fair
• Tony Red Dog
• Four Times One
• Greyspun's Gift
• The Last Cardinal Bird in Tennessee
• Interstate Dreams
• Stairs
• Uteropolis II
• "Sorry, But--"

Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September 1988. It is included in the collections Slightly Off Center: Eleven Extraordinarily Exhilarating Tales (1992), Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

The essence of a truly null-Earth logic may never be as clearly defined as in this novel-length package of interplanetary surprises. Consider this marooned astronaut. His spaceship and supplies are swallowed in one gulp by something beneath the featureless plain of an unknown world. The natives are not hostile but they seem incurious. He is welcome to use their free railroad system - the "alimentary express" of a world-grinding Wormway. Those he regards as sane are considered to be crazy. The culture techniques he is sure are crazy turn out to be quite normal - by that world's standards. He fathers a child without ever touching the mother. It's when he does spring that he gets his most startling surprise. Stress Patten is a deceptively easy novel. Delightful reading, it will turn out to be something you will not forget in a hurry.

On a hot summer Texas afternoon, Cindy Nance introduces young Doug Hoover to the two great secrets of life. Doug likes the first secret a lot. The second, that guys grow up and go to work, doesn't appeal to him at all. A series of meaningless marriages and do-nothing jobs prove Cindy was right. Turned off by the present, Doug tries to recapture the joys of his past Captain Marvel and cinnamon squares, Dr. Pepper and window-peeking fun.

Nothing goes right until Doug meets Sue Jean, the culmination of a lifetime enchantment with mean-eyed Southern girls, his all-time carhop queen. Reality takes a hard right and never slows down. Doug, Sue Jean, and readers who can hang on tight are swept through an indescribable romp that gives new meaning to life, death, and roadside romance.

Captain Lars Haggart was a soul waiting to be reborn...but before that blessed event he had been inducted into the Arm of God Regiment fighting for the beleaguered Churchers on a newly colonized planet. Their foe - demons who could pop into existence, slay and pop out of existence the next instant. The demons were winning that war, sending their Unborn opponents back to limbo, driving the living colonists toward extermination.

But this was no fantasy, no business of the religious imagination. The fight was real, blood was blood, and swords cut sharp, for the Unborn were very much alive. Haggart was aware that this was frighteningly contradictory but first he had to fight the demons on their own terms - learn how to appear behind their lines and do to them what they were doing to the humans.

An unusual science fiction novel of a space colony in deepest trouble and of aliens who knew planetary secrets that were never on anyone's Holy Book.

This short story originally appeared in the collection Slightly Off Center: Eleven Extraordinarily Exhilarating Tales (1992). It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection (1993). The story is included in the collection Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

The Gorgon came from some time line far across the multiple worlds. It moved among men, looking always as though it was one of them.

But it was not a man; it was a destroyer! This creature would willingly destroy the universe, in all its alternate world-lines. It could not tolerate other forms of life, could not permit them to exist.

The first a world knew of the beast in its midst was when its citizens began dying, horribly, and then it was already too late.

This short story originally appered in the anthology The New Frontier (1989), edited by Joe R. Lansdale. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection (1990), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000) and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2012).

Highwood

On the tree world, the war of the sexes was endless - and inexplicable.

Annihilation Factor

Intervention from outside the Milky Way.

The Gates of Time

The last Earthman vs. the Empire that died before Earth was born.

Dwellers of the Deep

What! A science fiction novel about science fiction fans? And why not? Or - like it says in this novel: "Do you really think that a group of science fiction fans could save this planet? Could understand this situation to save it?" "I most certainly do," she says. "Who else?" Who else, indeed? Not since Frederic Brown's "What Mad Universe" has there been a novel like this.

On the day that Aldair found that his world had abruptly turned upside down, his history-changing quest began. And he did not even then know that it was to be a quest.

Aldair had been a true acolyte of the Faith when it happened. And then he found himself an accursed outcast, the one against whom all hands were raised.

His only friends were those who had been his most vicious enemies. His only course led to the lands of horror. And his final goal had to be that most forbidden of all lands, the dwelling place of the dead, that island of total terror known as Albion.

"I have done more than my share of wandering. In a few short years, I have been slave, scholar and master of ships. I have played no small part in the death of two great empires. I have nearly been eaten whole by the shapeless thing that guards the Great River. I have even soared above the earth like a large ungainly bird."

"Finally, I have come to know the handiwork of Man, in the sad and fearful land of Merrkia, across the Misty Sea. The terrible secret of that race has come to light at last, though it is a thing I can scarcely fathom even now. And if I have learned nothing more in my travels, I can say in all truth that I am proud to be the beast I am. Aldair, late of the Venicii."

The Earth was still green and fully populated its "men" were the products of a science that might have begun with the Dr. Moreau of Wellsian legend.

Fate had chosen Aldair to seek the truth about Man. Why had Man created these new beast-races and above all where had man gone? Truly, an astonishing adventure in future projection.

For his world and ours are the same... but his lies in the future and seems destined to parallel the history of our own. Where is humanity? What legacy has true mankind left to its manlike descendants that they must relive our past?

For Aldair has been forced into the role of a future Magellan, who must travel down the coasts of unmapped continents, facing monsters, winged wizards and great dangers, to find a knowledge older than the history of his entire race.

One of the strangest adventurers in the history of science fiction. It is millennia from now and mankind has vanished from the Earth, under mysterious circumstances...

But he has left a legacy behind him: a host of intelligent species artificially enhanced by means of humanity's genetic science. Aldair is one such product, an intelligent, upright pig.

Babylon 5, designed to be a place of peace in a troubled universe, has erupted into rioting as visiting cultures clash and passions explode. Security chief Garibaldi must use all his skills to quell the violence between races. But the troubles escalate as terrifying nightmares plague everyone on board from Captain Sheridan to Vorlon Ambassador Kosh. It seems as if some "force" is touching them all...

Hooters, Hatters, and menacing evil...

Even in a mystical world where centuries ago animals were magically changed into humans, the land of Makasar is considered strange. Its two major religions are Hatters and Hooters. During the day, Hatters, wearing hats of course, wander about jabbing pointy sticks into bystanders. The night is ruled by the Hooters, who hoot and set fire to people and things. Hospitality is considered a capital crime. And Newlies, the humanized animals, are treated lower than scum.

So when Finn, the Master Lizard Maker, finds himself stranded in Makasar--along with his lover, an attractive Newlie named Letitia, and the grandest, most magical creation of his illustrious career, a talking, thinking, rather cantankerous mechanical lizard named Julia Jessica Slagg--his first thought is a quick exit.

But the Nuccis--strongman son, mad father, and ever madder grandfather--have other plans for Finn and his loyal companions. There's an odd machine in their basement that needs fixing, and who better to do it than a Master Lizard Maker? There's more here than meets the eye, however, and Finn soon realizes that the future he faces could be very dark indeed.

In a magical world where animals have been given human form and chaos can often be the nature of the day, some universal truths remain. Like the futility of war and the foolishness of leaders. And, of course, the lingering prejudice against the Newlies, the humanized animals. But Master Lizard Maker Finn has no quarrel with creatures of any sort. Just returned from a highly traumatic vacation, he wants nothing more than a period of prolonged peace with his fetching Newlie lover, Letitia, and his greatest creation, a sassy mechanical lizard named Julia Jessica Slagg.

But the Fates, in the form of the capricious Prince of Fyxedia, have other plans in store for Finn. Fyxedia's leader has commissioned Finn to build a fantastical lizard timepiece for his archrival, the mysterious King of Heldessia-an odd enough request since Fyxedia and Heldessia have been at war for 700 years. Worse, Finn has been ordered to deliver the clock himself: a mission that involves flying over the war zone in a rickety and badly patched balloon. Finn can hardly refuse the commission, but the journey is the least of his problems. For Heldessia is a land as odd as any he's encountered, and he can't help but wonder what foul plot these monarchs have in store for each other. How can one lone lizard maker, his lover, and his mechanical creation foil a plot they don't even understand--and still manage to come out of it alive?

Post Apocalypse America...

Bluevale was about all Howie had seen of the world. Even his Pa, who knew everything, didn't know much about the way it was before the war.

Scriptures said all of the unclean animals had been wiped out. Howie didn't know what that meant exactly. He'd seen horses. And stock of course. Stock looked like humans. 'Cept stock had no soul. That's why they was meat.

Howie had a good life for a boy. Then the soldiers came. And what they did to his folks made him grow up right quick. He got his revenge--'cept now the whole darn army was after him. But he had a huge country to run across... and lots of miles to stay alive.

After The Fall... America's Great Dream is over. Centuries ago it was devastated by the ultimate war. The effects still linger. Food is scarce, water even scarcer and human compassion nowhere to be found. Even so, society is slowly rebuilding itself. But is it a society whose thirst for success is built on an enormous, barbaric lie.

Silver Island... an almost legendary place to most Americans. The citadel where the government is building a new and better nation from the ashes of the war-ravaged land. Everyone envies the few children who are chosen to be sent to Silver Island to help realize that dream. At least, that's what Howie Ryder was told when his little sister became one of the Chosen. And that's what he believed before the soldiers slaughtered his parents. Six years on, Howie has discovered the horrifying truth about Silver Island. And will do anything -- anything -- to rescue his sister from its grip...