Search Worlds Without End

A bone-chiller about a Hollywood studio that would make anyone a star for a terrifying price

Dalmatton Studios was building an empire on the fading dreams of Hollywood hopefuls. Struggling actors and actresses were turning up n starring roles in the most lavish, most expensive productions in town. Even the critics were amazed. No one had ever seen a sexier Marilyn. Or a more brutal Manson.

L. A. Times reporter Marnie Eilers sensed a scoop when she heard about the revolutionary technique. Jim DeKalb, the actor she lived with, wanted to investigate too. He wanted to try Dalmatton's amazing "method." It was very simple: electronically replace your thought patterns with those of the person you want to becomesL Farrah Fawcett-Majors or Robert Redford, for example.

THE RESULTS WERE SPECTACULAR:

OVERNIGHT FAME

OVERNIGHT TERROR

Orbiting a distant red sun, the planet Darkover was settled long ago by human colonists and then cut off from the rest of civilization. Over millennia of isolation, it gave rise to a rich culture ruled by a telepathic aristocracy, but was also home to nonhuman races, both hostile and friendly. As kingdoms rose and fell, the enhanced psychic gifts called laran, channeled through starstone gems, transformed not only individual lives, but the entire world.

In the spirit of a masqued revel, here is a gala presentation of tales set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's beloved world of the Bloody Sun. Some of these stories are humorous, others dark, some gritty, and others whimsical or romantic, but all reflect the richness and breadth of adventures to be found on Darkover.

This volume includes stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Jane M. H. Bigelow, Evey Brett, Leslie Roy Carter and Margaret L. Carter, India Edghill, Rosemary Edghill, Rebecca Fox, Steven Harper, Shariann Lewitt, Meg Mac Donald, Ty Nolan, and Marella Sands.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction and Acknowledgments - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Nightcrawlers - novelette by Robert R. McCammon
• Somebody Like You - short story by Dennis Etchison
• Samhain: Full Moon - poem by Ardath Mayhar
• I Have Made My Bones Secure - poem by Ardath Mayhar
• Third Wind - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• Redbeard - short story by Gene Wolfe
• The Turn of Time - short story by David B. Silva
• Soft - short story by F. Paul Wilson
• House Mothers - short story by J. N. Williamson
• Party Time - short story by Mort Castle
• Everybody Needs a Little Love - short story by Robert Bloch
• Angel's Exchange - short story by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• Down by the Sea Near the Great Big Rock - short story by Joe R. Lansdale
• The First Day of Spring - short story by David Knoles
• Czadek - short story by Ray Russell
• The Old Men Know - short story by Charles L. Grant
• The Substitute - short story by Gahan Wilson
• The Alteration - short story by Dennis Hamilton
• Trust Not a Man - short story by William F. Nolan
• Long After Ecclesiastes - (1983) - poem by Ray Bradbury
• A Short, Incandescent Life - essay by Ray Russell
• My Grandmother's Japonicas - short story by Charles Beaumont
• Charles Beaumont: The Magic Man - (1967) - essay by William F. Nolan
• Master of Imagination - (1984) - interview of Richard Matheson by J. N. Williamson

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1987) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Popsy - (1987) - short story by Stephen King
• Second Sight - (1987) - short story by Ramsey Campbell
• The Yard - (1987) - short story by William F. Nolan
• The New Season - (1987) - short story by Robert Bloch
• The Near Departed - (1987) - short story by Richard Matheson
• Ice Sculptures - (1987) - short story by David B. Silva
• Wiping the Slate Clean - (1987) - short story by G. Wayne Miller
• The Litter - (1987) - short story by James Kisner
• Splatter: A Cautionary Tale - short story by Douglas E. Winter
• Deathbed - (1987) - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• American Gothic - (1987) - short story by Ray Russell
• Moist Dreams - (1987) - short story by Stanley Wiater
• Dog, Cat, and Baby - short story by Joe R. Lansdale
• Nothing from Nothing Comes - (1987) - short story by Katherine Ramsland
• If You Take My Hand, My Son - short story by Mort Castle
• Maurice and Mog - (1987) - short story by James Herbert
• Fish Story - (1987) - short story by Dennis Hamilton
• Outsteppin' Fetchit - (1987) - short story by Charles R. Saunders
• In the Tank - (1987) - short story by Ardath Mayhar
• Hidey Hole - (1987) - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• The Night Is Freezing Fast - (1987) - short story by Thomas F. Monteleone
• Buried Talents - (1987) - short story by Richard Matheson
• Lake George in High August - (1987) - short story by John Robert Bensink
• Wordsong - (1987) - short story by J. N. Williamson
• The Man Who Drowned Puppies - (1987) - short story by Thomas Sullivan
• The Boy Who Came Back from the Dead - (1987) - novelette by Alan Rodgers

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1989) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Stories for All Seasons - (1989) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Drifter - (1989) - short story by Ed Gorman
• Reflections - (1989) - short story by Ray Russell
• The Happy Family - (1989) - short story by Melissa Mia Hall and Douglas E. Winter
• Dew Drop Inn - (1989) - short story by D. W. Taylor
• Refractions - (1989) - short story by Thomas Millstead
• The Spelling Bee - (1989) - short story by Adobe James
• Better Than One - (1989) - short story by Paul Dale Anderson
• Ever, Ever, After - (1989) - novelette by Graham Masterton
• Prometheus' Declaration of Love for the Vulture - (1989) - poem by Alan Rodgers
• The "New" Horror - (1989) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Long Lips - (1989) - short story by R. Patrick Gates
• Sinners - (1989) - short story by Ralph Rainwater, Jr.
• Sunday Breakfast - (1989) - short story by Jeannette M. Hopper
• Third Rail - (1989) - short story by Wayne Allen Sallee
• Coochie-Coo - (1989) - short story by Mark McNease
• The Wulgaru - (1989) - short story by Bill Ryan
• The Luckiest Man in the World - (1989) - short story by Rex Miller
• The Boneless Doll - (1989) - poem by Joey Froehlich
• Concerns of the Mind and Spirit - (1989) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• The Skull - (1989) - short story by Diane Taylor
• On 42nd St. - (1989) - short story by William F. Nolan
• Safe - (1989) - short story by John Maclay
• All but the Ties Eternal - (1989) - short story by Gary A. Braunbeck
• Pop Is Real Smart - short story by Mort Castle
• When the Wall Cries - short story by Stanley Wiater
• Return to the Mutant Rain Forest - (1989) - poem by Bruce Boston and Robert Frazier
• Creatures of Terror - (1989) - essay by J. N. Williamson
• The Willies - (1989) - short story by James Kisner
• The Drinking Party - (1989) - short story by K. Marie Ramsland
• Chosen One - (1989) - short story by G. Wayne Miller
• Them Bald-Headed Snays - (1989) - short story by Joseph A. Citro
• Motherson - (1989) - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• Kill for Me - (1989) - short story by John Keefauver
• Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites - (1989) - short story by Dan Simmons
• The Orchid Nursery - (1989) - poem by Amanda Russell
• Of Absence, Darkness, Death: Things Which Are Not - (1989) - poem by Ray Bradbury

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by J. N. Williamson
• The Pack - short story by Chet Williamson
• Children - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Sea Gulls - short story by Gahan Wilson
• The Coming of Night, The Passing of Day - short story by Ed Gorman
• Please Don't Hurt Me - short story by F. Paul Wilson
• Splatter Me an Angel - short story by James Kisner
• Untitled Still Life with Infinity Perspective - short story by Rex Miller
• Pratfall - short story by John Maclay
• The Heart of Helen Day - short story by Graham Masterton
• Nothing But the Best - short story by Brian McNaughton
• Somewhere - poem by Denise Dumars
• Milestone's Face - short story by Gary Brandner
• Julia's Touch - short story by David T. Connolly
• Savages - short story by Darrell Schweitzer
• The Collapse of Civilization - short story by Ray Russell
• Animal Husbandry - short story by Bruce Boston
• Sounds - short story by Kathryn Ptacek
• Whispers of the Unrepentant - poem by T. Winter-Damon
• Obscene Phone Calls - short story by John Coyne
• The Children Never Lie - short story by Cameron Nolan
• The Other Woman - short story by Lois Tilton
• Love, Hate, and the Beautiful Junkyard Sea - short story by Mort Castle
• Sources of the Nile - short story by Rick Hautala
• Collaborationists - short story by J. N. Williamson
• My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic - short story by Dan Simmons
• The Secret - (1956) - short story by Steve Allen
• Afterword - essay by John Maclay

Table of Contents:

• Concerns of the Mind and Soul (Redux): An Introduction - essay by J. N. Williamson
• Wandering the Borderlands - short story by Poppy Z. Brite
• Haircut - short story by Richard Matheson
• Recall - short story by Ray Garton
• Ghost in Autumn - (2006) - short story by Christopher Conlon
• The Black Wench - (1985) - short story by Ray Russell
• FYI - short story by Mort Castle
• Phantom of the Rainbow - short story by Thomas Sullivan
• Just A Little, Just Enough - short story by Sharon Cullers
• The Net - short story by Jack Ketchum and P. D. Cacek
• Disappearing Act - short story by Barry Hoffman
• Stirrings - short story by Kealan Patrick Burke
• The Sheets Were Clean and Dry - short story by Lucy A. Snyder
• Saintkiller - short story by Joseph Nassise
• In a Hand or Face - short story by Gary A. Braunbeck
• Moths in Damp Grass - short story by Tracy Knight
• A Thousand Words - short story by Judi Rohrig
• Making Cabinets - short story by Richard Christian Matheson
• For Whom We Mourn - short story by Geoff Cooper
• Atomic Possums - short story by George Ibarra
• Mr. Handlebars - short story by Mark Powers
• In the Empty Country - short story by Ron Horsley
• Action Figures - short story by John Maclay
• How Sweet It Was - short story by Thomas F. Monteleone
• Waters Dark and Deep - short story by Tim Waggoner
• Making Faces - short story by Tom Piccirilli
• Killing Charlie - (2003) - short story by William F. Nolan
• Intent to Deceive - short story by Ed Gorman
• Outcry - short story by J. N. Williamson
• The Beautiful Shave - (1979) - short story by Ray Bradbury

After an upbringing of proper behavior and oppressive expectations, Aralorn fled her noble birthright for a life of adventure as a mercenary spy. Her latest mission involves spying on the increasingly powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae'Magi. But in a war against an enemy armed with the powers of illusion, how do you know who the true enemy is-or where he will strike next?

A delightful and engrossing fantasy debut featuring an intelligent heroine and her guardian, a royal musketeer.

In a world of soaring continents and bottomless skies, where a burgeoning new science lifts skyships into the cloud-strewn heights, and ancient blood-borne sorceries cling to a fading glory, Princess Isabelle des Zephyrs is about to be married to a man she has barely heard of, the second son of a dying king in an empire collapsing into civil war.

Born without the sorcery that is her birthright but with a perspicacious intellect, Isabelle believes her marriage will stave off disastrous conflict and bring her opportunity and influence. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third. Aided and defended by her loyal musketeer, Jean-Claude, Isabelle plunges into a great maze of prophecy, intrigue, and betrayal, where everyone wears masks of glamour and lies. Step by dangerous step, she unravels the lies of her enemies and discovers a truth more perilous than any deception.

For the Shadows, nothing can ever be the same again. Their existence revealed to the world in Of Saints and Shadows, the truth of their divided heritage revealed to themselves in Angel Souls and Devil Hearts, they must now fight the hardest battle of all -- against others of their own kind. The fragile alliance of human and vampire was shattered forever by Hannibal, among the most ancient of Shadows, who turned on them both in their hour of greatest need. Driven by blood, he thirsts for dominion, and humankind to him will always be prey.

For those Shadows who walk a different path there is only one choice to be made. Hannibal must be destroyed before he destroys them all. But his followers are many, and those who oppose him are few...