Search Worlds Without End

An all-original anthology of short fiction exploring what may be the most fascinating and certainly bloodiest of all American wars--the Civil War--by the bestselling authors of dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction.

• Preface - essay by Michael Bishop
• Introduction - essay by Richard Gilliam
• Death Fiend Guerillas - short story by William S. Burroughs
• Zulei, Grace, Nimshi, and the Damnyankees - novelette by Anne McCaffrey
• Hell Creek - short story by Karl Edward Wagner
• The Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Jaw short story by Nancy A. Collins
• Darker Angels - novelette by S. P. Somtow
• Roll Call - novelette by Jerry Ahern and Sharon Ahern
• The Crater - novelette by Doug Murray
• Sons - short story by Charles L. Grant
• Butternut and Blood - short story by Kathryn Ptacek
• Strawman - short story by Nancy Holder
• A Dress For Tea) - short story by Wendy Webb
• Foragers - short story by Richard Lee Byers
• Spoils of War - short story by Owl Goingback
• Red Clay, Crimson Clay - short story by Brad Linaweaver
• Beneath A Waning Moon - short story by Brad Strickland
• The Master's Time - short story by Anya Martin and Stephen L. Antczak
• Terrible Swift Saw - short story by Gregory Nicoll
• Two Yellow Pine Coffins - novelette by Robert Sampson
• The Third Nation - novelette by Lee Hoffman
• Beast - novelette by George Alec Effinger
• The Face - short story by Ed Gorman
• Colour - novelette by Michael Moorcock
• Caroline and Caleb - novella by Richard Gilliam
• Grabow and Collicker and I - short story by Algis Budrys
• The Unknown Soldier - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Contents:

• Scholarly Marauders: An Introduction - essay by James O'Barr
• Bed & Breakfast - novelette by Gene Wolfe
• Chatting With Anubis - short story by Harlan Ellison
• The Ripening Sweetness of Late Afternoon - short story by Douglas Clegg
• A Wreath for Marley - novelette by Max Allan Collins
• Smart Guy - short story by Darrell Schweitzer
• The Great Escape - short story by Ian Watson
• Hell is for Children - short story by Nancy Holder
• Dropoff - short story by Brian Herbert and Marie Landis
• Canto (Evocare!) - poem by James S. Dorr
• Tunnels - short fiction by Rick Hautala
• Hell Is a Personal Place - (1987) - short story by Brian Lumley
• The Kingsbury Technique - (1996) - short fiction by Wayne Allen Sallee and Sean Doolittle
• The Bridge Over the River Styx - short story by Jody Lynn Nye
• Islington - short story by Ian McDonald
• Get on Board the D Train - novelette by Gary Gygax
• Epiphany - short story by Rick R. Reed
• Screams at the Gateway to Fame - novelette by Ray Garton
• Elegy for a Maestro - poem by Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg
• Above It All - short story by Robert J. Sawyer
• The Burdens - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• A Taste of Heaven - short story by James Lovegrove
• Ferryman - short story by Doug Murray
• Return to Gehenna - short story by Storm Constantine
• Dark Society - short story by Brian W. Aldiss
• Office Space - short story by Richard Lee Byers
• Among the Handlers or, The Mark 16 Hands On Assembly of Jesus Risen, Formerly Snake-o-rama - novelette by Michael Bishop

Twenty-two tales of erotic obsession:

• Introduction - essay by T. E. D. Klein
• Lunch at the Gotham Café - novelette by Stephen King
• The Psycho - short story by Michael O'Donoghue
• Pas de Deux - short story by Kathe Koja
• Bright Blades Gleaming - novelette by Basil Copper
• Hanson's Radio - short story by John Lutz
• Refrigerator Heaven - short story by David J. Schow
• Ro Erg - short story by Robert Weinberg
• Going Under - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• Hidden - short story by Stuart M. Kaminsky
• Prism - short story by Wendy Webb
• The Maiden - novelette by Richard Laymon
• You've Got Your Troubles, I've Got Mine... - novelette by Bob Burden
• Waco - short story by George C. Chesbro
• The Penitent - novelette by John Peyton Cooke
• Driven - short story by Kathryn Ptacek
• Barbara - short story by John Shirley
• Hymenoptera - short story by Michael Blumlein
• The End of It All - novelette by Ed Gorman
• Heat - short story by Lucy Taylor
• Thin Walls - short story by Nancy A. Collins
• Locked Away - short story by Karl Edward Wagner
• Loop - novelette by Douglas E. Winter

Contents:

• The Question of the Sword - poem by Jane Yolen
• The God-Sword - novelette by Diana L. Paxson
• Lassorio - short story by Eric Van Lustbader [as by Eric Lustbader ]
• Controlling the Sword - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Surgeon's Steel - novelette by Diana Gabaldon
• Prayer of the Knight of the Sword - short story by Nancy Holder
• Echoes of the One Sword - poem by T. Winter-Damon
• Grass Dancer - short story by Owl Goingback
• All We Know of Heaven - short story by Peter Crowther
• Passing - novelette by Charles de Lint
• Nights of the Round Table - poem by Lawrence Schimel
• Here There Be Dragons? - short story by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Goldie, Lox, and the Three Excalibearers - novelette by Esther M. Friesner
• Silver, Stone, and Steel - short story by Judith Tarr
• The Other Scabbard - short story by Brad Linaweaver
• Hope's Edge - poem by Daniel H. Scheltema
• The Waking Dream - novelette by Jill M. Morgan [as by J. M. Morgan ]
• The Scout, the Slugger and the Stripper - short story by Randy Miller
• The Weapon - short story by Ardath Mayhar
• The Sword in the Net - short story by Brad Strickland
• Once and Future - poem by Terry Tappouni
• Once and Future - short story by Mercedes Lackey
• Sword Practice - novelette by Jody Lynn Nye
• Where Bestowed - short story by Susan Dexter
• Demon Sword - novelette by Bill Fawcett
• Troubled Waters - novelette by Susan Shwartz
• Literary Cubism Saves the Universe - poem by Joe Haldeman
• Duty - novelette by Gary Gygax
• The Epilogue of the Sword - short story by Darrell Schweitzer

Twenty-four short stories follow themes of human boundaries pushed to the limits, bringing readers into the lives of men and women who dabble in satanic worship, sexual manipulation, and other dark vices.

• Introduction - essay by Joe Bob Briggs
• Light of Thy Countenance - short story by Alan Moore
• The Contract - short story by Brian Herbert and Marie Landis
• Blood Knot - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• Interrogator Frames - short story by Rob Hardin
• The Real World - novelette by Brooks Caruthers
• Choke Hold - short story by Lucy Taylor
• Blackpool Rock - novelette by Philip Nutman
• Forgotten Promises - short story by Edward E. Kramer
• Coming of Age - short story by Douglas Clegg
• High Heels from Hell - short story by Mike Lee
• The Energy Pals - novelette by Howard Kaylan
• The Agony Man - short story by Don Webb
• Brainchild - novelette by Rex Miller
• Furies in Black Leather - short story by Nancy A. Collins
• You Hear What Buddy and Ray Did? - short story by John Shirley
• Playing Dolls - short story by Melissa Mia Hall and Douglas E. Winter
• Facets of Solitaire - novelette by Christopher Golden
• The Picture of Jonathan Collins - short story by Karl Edward Wagner
• Happy Couple - short story by Danielle Willis
• Mysterious Elisions, Riotous Thrusts - short story by Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg
• Stations of the Cross - short story by David Aaron Clark

It is the twenty-third century, and large space habitats have evolved where individual societies exist without formalized government-a galactic federation called Free Space. These are stories of the men and women of this new era, visions of adventure, social speculations, and downright arguments about freedom and responsibility.

Free Space offers fiction from Hugo and Nebula Award winners such as Poul Anderson, Gregory Benford, and Robert J. Sawyer, and particularly from winners of the Prometheus Award of the Libertarian Futurist Society, such as Victor Koman, Daffyd ab Hugh, and L. Neil Smith. In addition, there is work from William F. Buckley, Jared Lobdell, John Barnes and a number of other writers, making Free Space a big, rich, varied compendium of politically-engaged science fiction adventure.

Contents:

• Introduction (Free Space) - essay by Brad Linaweaver and Edward E. Kramer
• Crisis in Space - short story by William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Nerfworld - novelette by Dafydd ab Hugh
• Day of Atonement - short story by J. Neil Schulman
• No Market for Justice - short story by Brad Linaweaver
• Kwan Tingui - short story by William F. Wu
• Madam Butterfly - novelette by James P. Hogan
• Early Bird - novelette by Gregory Benford
• Of What Is Past, or Passing, or to Come II - poem by Ray Bradbury
• Tyranny - novelette by Poul Anderson
• The Killing of Davis-Davis - novelette by Peter Crowther
• Demokratus - novelette by Victor Koman
• The Hand You're Dealt - short story by Robert J. Sawyer
• How Do You Tell the Dreamer from the Dream? - short story by Wendy McElroy
• If Pigs Had Wings - short story by William Alan Ritch
• A Matter of Certainty - novelette by L. Neil Smith
• Planet in the Balance - short story by John DeChancie
• The Performance of a Lifetime - novelette by Arthur Byron Cover
• The Last Holosong of Christopher Lightning - short story by Jared Lobdell
• Between Shepherds and Kings - short story by John Barnes
• Free at Last - poem by Robert Anton Wilson

New York Times bestselling authors Neil Gaiman, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and 23 more masters of fantasy deliver spellbinding stories of Arthurian knights, innocent maidens, sorcerers, and sword masters who have been touched by the power of the Holy Grail...

• The Question of the Grail - (1992) - poem by Jane Yolen
• The Cup and the Cauldron - (1992) - short story by Mercedes Lackey
• That Which Overfloweth - (1992) - short story by Andre Norton
• Chalice of Tears, or I Didn't Want that Damned Grail Anyway - (1992) - short story by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Feast of the Fisher King - (1992) - novelette by Diana L. Paxson
• The Gift of Gilthaliad - (1992) - short story by Brad Strickland
• Curse of the Romany - (1994) - short story by Ilona Ouspenskaya
• Dagda - (1992) - poem by James S. Dorr
• The Sailor Who Sailed After the Sun - (1992) - short story by Gene Wolfe
• Water - (1992) - novelette by Lee Hoffman
• What You See... - (1992) - short story by Alan Dean Foster
• Storyville, Tennessee - (1994) - novelette by Richard Gilliam
• Somewhere in Her Dying Heart - (1992) - poem by Lisa Lepovetsky
• Hell-Bent for Leather - (1994) - short story by Jeremiah E. Phipps
• Atlantis - (1992) - novella by Orson Scott Card
• Invisible Bars - (1992) - short story by Dean Wesley Smith
• That Way Lies Camelot - (1992) - novelette by Janny Wurts
• Hitchhiking Across an Ancient Sea - (1992) - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Visions - (1992) - short story by Lawrence Watt-Evans
• The Awful Truth in Arthur's Barrow - (1992) - novelette by Charles L. Grant [as by Lionel Fenn]
• Reunion - (1992) - short story by Brian M. Thomsen
• Quest Now - (1992) - poem by Margo Skinner
• Chivalry - (1992) - short story by Neil Gaiman
• Falling to the Edge of the End of the World - (1994) - short story by Bruce D. Arthurs
• Greggie's Cup - (1992) - short story by Rick Wilber
• The Grail Legend: An Afterword - (1992) - essay by Fritz Leiber

Based on the kinetic sculptures of Lisa Snellings, Strange Attraction is a carnival ride of dark fantasy and horror. These 24 tales and poems explore the night-side of the looming Ferris wheel and its many inhabitants. But things aren't always what they seem on this ride and surprises await all who stand in line, waiting to experience the wheel for themselves. The ride is open. Admit one. The signed limited edition includes a section of art plates of the artist's interpretations of the stories that interpreted her sculpture. Strange Attraction surely contains wheels within wheels.

Contents:

• Foreword - essay by Edward E. Kramer
• Gopher in the Gilly - essay by Harlan Ellison
• By Turns - short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Many Worlds Are Born Tonight - short story by Charles de Lint
• Harlequin Valentine - short story by Neil Gaiman
• Something October - short story by Lisa Snellings
• Maya - poem by James S. Dorr [as by James Dorr ]
• Fallen Angel - short story by Robert J. Sawyer
• Subtle Knowing - novelette by Chet Williamson
• Occurrence at Owl Street Ridge - novelette by John Shirley
• Tithes of Mint and Rue - novelette by Michael Bishop
• Thunderbolt's Daguerreotypes - poem by Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg
• Pocketsful of Diamonds - short story by Gene Wolfe
• The Fire-eater's Tale - short story by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb
• Mr. Twisted - short story by Edward Bryant [as by Ed Bryant]
• A Lap Dance with the Lobster Lady - novelette by S. P. Somtow
• The Serpent Queen - short story by Nancy A. Collins
• The Call of the Wheel - poem by Jason Miller
• The Whole of the Wideness of Night - novelette by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• Chump Hoist - short story by Brad Linaweaver
• Ten-in-One - short story by Fred Olen Ray
• Peace of Mind - short story by Richard Lee Byers
• Death Has Lost Its Charm for Me - poem by Ray Bradbury
• Deep Blue - novelette by David Niall Wilson
• Appeasing the Darkness - short story by Darrell Schweitzer
• Days of the Wheel - short story by Peter Crowther

There is a dark king who rules our dreams from a place of shadows and fantastic things. He is Morpheus, the lord of story. Older than humankind itself, he inhabits -- along with Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium, his Endless sisters and brothers -- the realm of human consciousness. His powers are myth and nightmare -- inspirations, pleasures, and punishments manifested beneath the blanketing mist of sleep.

Surrender to him now.

A stunning collection of visions, wonders, horrors, hallucinations, and revelations from Clive Barker, Barbara Hambly, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, Nancy A. Collins, and sixteen other incomparable dreamers -- inspired by the groundbreaking, bestselling graphic novel phenomenon by Neil Gaiman.

Contents:

• Preface - essay by Frank McConnell
• Masquerade and High Water - short story by Colin Greenland
• Chain Home, Low - novelette by John M. Ford
• Stronger Than Desire - short story by Lisa Goldstein
• Each Damp Thing - novelette by Barbara Hambly
• The Birth Day - short story by B. W. Clough
• Splatter - short story by Will Shetterly
• Seven Nights in Slumberland - short story by George Alec Effinger
• Escape Artist - short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• An Extra Smidgen of Eternity - short story by Robert Rodi
• The Writer's Child - short story by Tad Williams
• Endless Sestina - poem by Lawrence Schimel
• The Gate of Gold - short story by Mark Kreighbaum
• A Bone Dry Place - short story by Karen Haber
• The Witch's Heart - novelette by Delia Sherman
• The Mender of Broken Dreams - short story by Nancy A. Collins
• Ain't You 'Most Done? - novelette by Gene Wolfe
• Valóság and Élet - short story by Steven Brust
• Stopp't-Clock Yard - novelette by Susanna Clarke
• Afterword: Death - essay by Tori Amos

Any book in which William F. Buckley Jr. cohabits with camp king Forrest J Ackerman is nothing if not diverse. Indeed, the theme of entombment takes many shapes in the 21 stories and one poem (Ackerman's goofy intro defies classification) that comprise this satisfying anthology that embraces a variety of genres and prose styles. Some of the tombs, like a jukebox containing someone's ashes in Michael Bishop's witty "Epistrophy" or the belly of a fantastic whale in Stewart von Allmen's "He on Honeydew," are literal. Others, as in Buckley's "The Temptation of Wilfred Malachey," are more metaphorical, dealing with characters trapped by fate or their own natures. Most stories have some touch of horror; although in Charles de Lint's "Heartfires" and Ian McDonald's "The Time Garden," the mythic and the frightening become delightfully homey. Some authors inject elements of science fiction (Ben Bova, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Colin Greenland); some call on the supernatural (Lisa Tuttle, Nancy A. Collins, S.P. Somtow); some conjure exotic adventure (Michael Moorcock, Storm Constantine); and some stick to realism (Larry Bond and Chris Carlson's "Burial at Sea" is an emotionally effective story about a submarine accident). This is agreeable grab bag of claustrophobic, mortifying pleasures.

• Tomb Swift - essay by Forrest J. Ackerman
• In Trust - short story by Ben Bova
• The Amber Room - novelette by Ian Watson
• The Butterfly Effect - novelette by Kathleen Ann Goonan
• Epistrophy - short story by Michael Bishop
• No Ordinary Christian: A Tale of the Far Magrib - novelette by Michael Moorcock
• White Lady's Grave - short story by Lisa Tuttle
• Burial at Sea - short story by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson
• The Unchained - short story by Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg
• The Time Garden: A Faery Story - novelette by Ian McDonald
• He on Honeydew - short story by Stewart Wieck [as by Stewart von Allmen ]
• City Deep - short story by Jeremy Dyson
• But None I Think There Do Embrace - short story by S. P. Somtow
• Tales of Britannica Castle: Ginansia's Ravishment - novelette by Christopher Fowler
• Heartfires - short story by Charles de Lint
• Drowning With Others - short story by Gary A. Braunbeck
• Station of the Cross - short story by Colin Greenland
• Queen of Knives - short story by Neil Gaiman
• God's Bright Little Engine - short story by Stephen Gallagher
• The Darkest Doctrine - short story by Brad Linaweaver
• The Land of the Reflected Ones - short story by Nancy A. Collins
• The Temptation of Wilfred Malachey - novelette by William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Blue Flame of a Candle - novelette by Storm Constantine