Part 31 (2/2)
Lily sighs. ”Yeah, I know. Makes me sick, that's all.”
”You don't need to tell me that. Come on, let's get this over with. Did Mark go to get the room ready?”
”Yeah.”
”Okay. What'd the owner say her name was?”
”Stella.”
”Okay. Here, give me the leash. Stella, come. Come on, Stella.”
The voice is sad, gentle, loving, and you want to follow it, but you fight every step, anyway, until Lily and her friend have to drag you past the cages of other dogs, who start barking and howling again, whose cries are pure terror, pure loss. You can hear cats grieving, somewhere else in the building, and you can smell the room at the end of the hall, the room to which you're getting inexorably closer. You smell the man named Mark behind the door, and you smell medicine, and you smell the fear of the animals who've been taken to that room before you. But overpowering everything else is the worst smell, the smell that makes you bare your teeth in the muzzle and pull against the choke collar and scrabble again, helplessly, for a purchase you can't get on the concrete floor: the pervasive, metallic stench of death.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS.
PETER BELL is a historian, living in York, England. He is a member of the Friends of Arthur Machen and the Ghost Story Society. He writes for The Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter, and the magazines Wormwood and Faunus. His stories have appeared in All Hallows; Supernatural Tales; Swan River Press's Haunted Histories series; the Ash-Tree Press anthologies, Acquainted with the Night, At Ease with the Dead, Shades of Darkness, and Exotic Gothic II; and in the Ex-Occidente Press anthology Cinnabar's Gnosis; a Homage to Gustav Meyrink. A collection of his stories The Light of the World & Other Strange Tales is to be published in 2010 by Ex-Occidente Press. An article on Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates is in the forthcoming Twenty-First Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels since 2000.
MARIE BRENNAN is the author of the Onyx Court series of London-based historical faerie fantasies: Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie, and the upcoming A Star Shall Fall, as well as the Doppelganger duology of Warrior and Witch. She has published nearly thirty short stories in venues such as On Spec, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and the acclaimed anthology series Clockwork Phoenix. More information can be found on her web site: .
MIKE BROTHERTON is the author of the science fiction novels Spider Star (2008) and Star Dragon (2003), the latter being a finalist for the Campbell award. He's also a professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming, a Clarion West graduate, and founder of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers (.
JESSE BULLINGTON is the author of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and the upcoming The Enterprise of Death, as well as several short stories and articles. He lives in Colorado and can be found online at .
STEPHANIE BURGIS is an American writer who lives in Wales with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their son, and their dog. Her YA Regency fantasy novel The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Book One: A Most Improper Magick will be published in 2010. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines, including Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Fantasy Magazine. To find out more, please visit her web site:AMANDA DOWNUM lives near Austin, Texas, in a house with a spooky attic, and works at a bookstore in addition to writing, cat-herding, and falling off rocks. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Weird Tales. The Drowning City, first of the Necromancer Chronicles, is available from Orbit Books; the second volume, The Bone Palace, is forthcoming in 2010. For more information on Amanda or her writing, visit .
STEVE DUFFY's stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in Europe and North America. Two new collections of his short fiction, The Moment of Panic (which includes the International Horror Guild award-winning tale, ”The Rag-and-Bone Men”) and Tragic Life Stories, will be published in 2010. He lives in North Wales.
KAREN EVERSON is a jack-of-all-arts. She has published fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Recent publications include ”Support You Local Werewolf,” another Olwen story, in Esther Friesner's anthology Strip Mauled. Her current writing projects include a fantasy novel, Crown of Shadows, and a paranormal romance centered on Olwen and her family. In addition to her writing, Karen runs Moongate Designs, a small business showcasing her art and needlework designs. She lives in Michigan with her other great pa.s.sions: her husband Mark, her daughter Caitlyn, and numerous pets.
JEFFREY FORD is the author of the novels, The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Gla.s.s, and The Shadow Year. His short stories have been collected into three books-The Fantasy Writer's a.s.sistant, The Empire of Ice Cream, and The Drowned Life. He lives in South Jersey and teaches Writing and Literature at Brookdale Community College.
LAURA ANNE GILMAN started out on the editorial side of publis.h.i.+ng, but went freelance in 2003. Her urban fantasy Staying Dead (Luna) came out in 2004, followed by Curse The Dark, Bring It On, Burning Bridges, Free Fall, and Blood From Stone. The first in a spinoff series, Hard Magic, was published in May 2010. The first book in The Vineart War trilogy, Flesh and Fire (Pocket), was published in October 2009. The second book, Weight of Stone, will be available October 2010. She is also the author of the Grail Quest YA trilogy for HarperCollins (2006), and as ”Anna Leonard” writes paranormal romances (The Night Serpent and the forthcoming The Hunted). She also writes short fiction, and as part of Book View Cafe (), is involved in expanding the definition of publis.h.i.+ng beyond traditional models. More information available at lauraannegilman.net GEOFFREY H. GOODWIN is a writer who lives near Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. He has two degrees in literature and has spent most of his life working in bookstores and comic book shops. Geoffrey's fiction has appeared in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Rabid Transit, and Prime's Phantom anthology, among others. He has also contributed nonfiction to Books.l.u.t, Weird Tales, and Tor.com.
After traveling the world in search of the perfect Bunco group, SAMANTHA HENDERSON settled down in Southern California. Her short fiction has been published in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Fantasy, and Chizine, and her 2008 dark Victorian fantasy Heaven's Bones was nominated for the Scribe Award. She is currently the treasurer of the Science Fiction Poetry a.s.sociation.
N.K. JEMISIN's work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, and Postscripts, and ranges across science fiction, fantasy, erotica, and sometimes a bit of all three. Her first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, first of the Inheritance Trilogy, is out now from Orbit Books. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY.
C.E. MURPHY is a writer, mostly of novels, but sometimes of comic books and short stories. Born and raised in Alaska, she now lives with her family in her ancestral homeland of Ireland, a magical land where winter never arrives. More information about her writing and witty banter with the author are available at her web site, es a poison taster. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria dreamed of chasing tornados, but lacked the skills to forecast their location. Writing, however, lets Maria control the weather. Her new Gla.s.s Series (Storm Gla.s.s, Sea Gla.s.s, and Spy Gla.s.s) combines two out of the three things Maria loves: the weather and gla.s.s. The third is dogs. Readers are invited to read more of Maria's short stories on her web site at .
MOLLY TANZER is the a.s.sistant editor of Fantasy Magazine. Her interview with Garth Nix appeared on the Fantasy Magazine site, and her nonfiction article ”On Books and Animals” appeared in Herbivore Magazine. You are always welcome to visit her at . She knits, but never with wool.
GENEVIEVE VALENTINE's fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, Fantasy Magazine, and in anthologies Federations, The Living Dead II, and Teeth. Her first novel, about a mechanical circus troupe, is coming in 2011 from Prime. She has an insatiable appet.i.te for bad movies, a tragedy she tracks on her blog at .
CARRIE VAUGHN is the bestselling author of a series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. The seventh installment, Kitty's House of Horrors, was released in 2010. T.J. in ”Wild Ride” is a character from the series. Carrie's first young adult novel, Voices of Dragons, is also due to be released in 2010. An Air Force brat, she grew up all over the U.S. but has managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. Please visit her atfor more information.
ERZEBET YELLOWBOY is the editor of Cabinet des Fees, a journal of fairy tale fiction, and the founder of Papaveria Press, a private press specializing in handbound limited editions of mythic poetry and prose. Her stories and poems have appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Jabberwocky, Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Electric Velocipede and others. Her second novel, Sleeping Helena, is scheduled for release in 2010. Visit her web site at .
PUBLICATION HISTORY.
”The Barony at Rodal” by Peter Bell. 2008 Peter Bell. Originally published in Exotic Gothic 2, Ash Tree Press, 2008. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Comparison of Efficacy Rates for Seven Antipathetics as Employed Against Lycanthropes” by Marie Brennan. 2010 Marie Brennan.
”The Pack and the Pickup Artist” by Michael Brotherton. 2010 Michael Brotherton.
”Blamed for Trying to Live” by Jesse Bullington. 2010 Jesse Bullington.
”Locked Doors” by Stephanie Burgis. 2007 Stephanie Burgis. Originally published in Strange Horizons, January 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”The Garden, the Moon, the Wall” by Amanda Downum. 2006 Amanda Downum. Originally published in Ideomancer, September 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Side-Effects May Include” by Steve Duffy. 2008 Steve Duffy.Originally published in Exotic Gothic 2, Ash Tree Press, 2008. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Deadfall” by Karen Everson. 2010 Karen Everson.
”The Beautiful Gelreesh” by Jeffrey Ford. 2003 Jeffrey Ford.Originally published in Alb.u.m Zutique, Ministry of Whimsy Press, 2003. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Werelove” by Laura Anne Gilman. 2010 Laura Anne Gilman.
”Are You a Vampire or a Goblin?” by Geoffrey H. Goodwin. 2010 Geoffrey H. Goodwin.
”Skin in the Game” by Samantha Henderson. 2010 Samantha Henderson.
”Red Riding Hood's Child” by N.K. Jemisin. 2005 N.K. Jemisin. Originally published in Fishnet, April 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Blended” by CE Murphy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. 2010 C.E. Murphy ”Gestella” by Susan Palwick. 2001 Susan Palwick. Originally published in Starlight 3, Tor Books, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Royal Bloodlines” by Mike Resnick. 1992 Mike Resnick. Originally published as a chapter t.i.tled ”The Werewolf” in Lucifer Jones, Warner Books, 1992. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Take Back the Night” by Lawrence Schimel. 1997 Lawrence Schimel. Originally published in The Drag Queen of Elfland, Circlet Press, 1997. Reprinted by permission of the author.
”Mongrel” by Maria V. Snyder. 2010 Maria V. Snyder.
”In Sheep's Clothing” by Molly Tanzer. 2010 Molly Tanzer.
”The Dire Wolf” by Genevieve Valentine. 2010 Genevieve Valentine.
”Wild Ride” by Carrie Vaughn. 2010 Carrie Vaughn, LLC.
”Inside Out” by Erzebet YellowBoy. 2010 Erzebet YellowBoy.
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