Obsession: Tales of Irresistible Desire
Page 29
They brought in a young, wounded pilot then, and his eyes were cold and hard and the color of grave dirt. I spoke to him and he wouldn’t speak back, but I kept at it, and finally he yelled at me, and said he didn’t want to live, that he had seen too much terror to want to go on, but I kept talking to him, and soon he was chattering like a machine gun and we had long conversations into the night about women and chess and the kind of beers we were missing back home. And he told me his hopes for after the war, and I told him mine. Told him how I would get out of my bed and go back to the front lines to help the refugee children, and after the war I would help those who remained.
A month later they let me out of the bed to wander. I think often of the old man now, especially when the guns boom about the camp and I’m helping the children, and sometimes I think of the young man and that I may have helped do for him with a few well-placed words what the old man did for me, but mostly I think of the old one and what he said to me the night before he finished his life. It’s a contradiction in a way, him giving me life and taking his own but he knew that my life was important to the children. I wish I had turned and spoken to him, but that opportunity is long gone.
Each time they bring the sad, little children in to me, one at a time, and I feed them and hold them, I pray the war will end and there will be money for food and shelter instead of the care of soldiers and the making of bullets, but wishes are wishes, and what is, is.
And when I put the scarf around the children’s necks and tighten it until I have eased their pain, I am overcome with an even simpler wish for spare bullets or drugs to make it quicker, and I have to mentally close my ears to the drumming of their little feet and shut my nose to the smell of their defecation, but I know that this is the best way, a warm meal, a moment of hope, a quick, dark surrender, the only mercy available to them, and when I take the scarf from their sad, little necks and lay them aside, I think again of the old man and the life he gave me back and the mercy he gives the children through me.
About the Authors
Kim Antieau is the author of many novels, including most recently The Fish Wife, Blue Tail, and Deathmark. She and her husband Mario Milosevic live in the Pacific Northwest and Desert Southwest.
Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century. His most recent novels are A Drop of the Hard Stuff, featuring Matthew Scudder, and Getting Off, starring a very naughty young woman. Several of his books have been filmed, although not terribly well. He’s well known for his books for writers, including the classic Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. In addition to prose works, he has written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Michael Blumlein is the author of numerous novels, including The Movement of Mountains, The Healer, and The Domino Master. He is also the author of the award-winning story collection, The Brains of Rats. His second collection—What The Doctor Ordered: Tales of the Bizarre and the Magnificent—will be released later this year. In addition to writing, Dr. Blumlein is a practicing physician. You can visit him online at www.michaelblumlein.com.
Pat Cadigan is the author of numerous acclaimed short stories and five novels. Her first novel, Mindplayers, was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and her second and third novels—Synners and Fools—both won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her collection, Patterns, was honored with the Locus Award. Cadigan’s work has also been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The author lived in Kansas City for many years, but has resided in London, England since 1996.
Storm Constantine is a British science fiction and fantasy author, primarily known for her Wraeththu series. Since the late 1980s Constantine has written more than 20 novels, plus several non-fiction books. She features in the Goth Bible and is often included in discussions of alternative sexuality and gender in science fiction and fantasy; many of her novels include same-sex relationships or hermaphrodites or other twists of gender. Magic, mysticism and ancient legends (like the Grigori) also figure strongly in her works.
Elizabeth Hand (www.elizabethhand.com) is the multipleaward-winning author of twelve novels and three collections of short fiction. Her most recent novel, Available Dark, was named as one of the Top Ten Best Mystery/Thrillers of the year by Publishers Weekly. A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Author, Hand is also a longtime book critic and essayist who frequently contributes to the Washington Post, Salon, Village Voice, and DownEast Magazine, among many others. She has two children and divides her time between Maine and North London.
Four-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Nancy Holder has published seventy-five books and more than two hundred short stories and essays. She has written or co-written dozens of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Saving Grace, and Angel projects. Novels from her series, Wicked, appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Her two new dark young adult dark fantasy series (with Debbie Viguié) are Crusade and Wolf Springs Chronicles. She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She lives in San Diego with her daughter, Belle, and their growing assortment of pets. Visit her at nancyholder.com.
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His novella, Bubba Hotep, was made into an awardwinning film of the same name, as was Incident On and Off a Mountain Road. Both were directed by Don Coscarelli. His works have received numerous recognitions, including the Edgar, eight Bram Stoker awards, the Grinizani Prize for Literature, American Mystery Award, the International Horror Award, British Fantasy Award, and many others. His most recent novel is Devil Red, the eighth featuring Hap and Leonard. All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky, his first novel for young adults was recently published.
Tanith Lee was born in 1947, in London, England. She worked at various jobs until in 1974-75 DAW Books began to publish her sf and fantasy, beginning with The Birthgrave. Since then she has published over ninety books and over three hundred short stories, written for TV and BBC Radio. Her latest novels are available from the Immanion Press and reprints—such as Flat Earth sequence and The Birthgrave Trilogy—via Norilana Books. Much of her work will soon be available in ebook form via Orion, and other houses. She lives on the Sussex Weald with her husband writer/ artist/photographer/model maker John Kaiine.
Although his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories brought Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) regard as one of the fathers of sword and sorcery, he excelled in all fields of speculative fiction, writing award-winning work in horror, fantasy, and science fiction. His work continues to influence and inspire writers today. In addition to multiple Hugo, Nebula, Derleth, Lovecraft, and World Fantasy Awards, Fritz Leiber received the Grand Master of Fantasy (Gandalf) Award in 1975, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1976, the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and the Grand Master Nebula Award in 1981.
Charles de Lint is a full-time writer and musician who presently makes his home in Ottawa, Canada, with his wife MaryAnn Harris. His most recent books are Under My Skin and Eyes Like Leaves. His first album, Old Blue Truck, came out in early 2011. For more information about his work, visit his website at www.charlesdelint. com. He’s also on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.
Catherine Lundoff is the award-winning author of Crave: Tales of Lust, Love and Longing, Night’s Kiss, A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories, and Silver Moon: A Werewolf Novel. She is also the editor of Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories and co-editor, with JoSelle Vanderhooft, of Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic. In her other lives, she’s a professional computer geek who sometimes teaches writing classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.
Stewart O’Nan was born and raised and lives with his family in Pittsburgh. His thirteen novels include Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. In January, Viking published his latest, The Odds.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) w
as an author, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe, one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story, is considered the inventor of the genre of detective fiction and credited with contributing to the then-emerging genre of science fiction. A master of the macabre, his influence on horror and dark fantasy is incalculable.
Laura Resnick is the author of the popular Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, whose recent releases include Vamparazzi, Unsympathetic Magic, and Doppelgangster. She has also written traditional fantasy novels such as In Legend Born, The Destroyer Goddess, and The White Dragon, which made the “Year’s Best” lists of Publishers Weekly and Voya. An opinion columnist, frequent public speaker, and the Campbell Award-winning author of many short stories, she is on the Web at www.LauraResnick.com.
John Shirley (john-shirley.com) is the award-winning author of more than forty novels including Everything Is Broken, published earlier this year. Many of his multitude of short stories have been compiled in eight story collections, the most recent of which is In Extremis: The Most Extreme Stories of John Shirley. He has been called the “post-modern Poe” and is considered seminal to sf’s cyberpunk subgenre. (An omnibus edition of his classic A Song Called Youth cyberpunk trilogy has just been released.) As a screenwriter he is best known as co-writer of The Crow; as a musician he fronted several bands and written lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult.
Steve Rasnic Tem’s latest novel is Deadfall Hotel from Solaris. Crossroads recently released the ebook version of In Concert, collecting all his collaborations with wife Melanie Tem. Fall 2012 will see publication of Ugly Behavior, collecting the best of his noir fiction, from New Pulp Press. And in 2013, ChiZine will publish Celestial Inventories, collecting the best of his recent contemporary fantasy and slipstream fiction.
Lee Thomas is the Bram Stoker Award- and the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of the books Stained, Parish Damned, The Dust of Wonderland, and In the Closet, Under the Bed. His latest novel, The German, was released to critical acclaim in March 2011. Forthcoming titles include Torn from Cemetery Dance and the short story collection Like Light for Flies.
Conrad Williams is the author of the novels Head Injuries, London Revenant, The Unblemished (winner of the International Horror Guild Award), One (winner of the British Fantasy Award), Decay Inevitable, Blonde on a Stick, and Loss of Separation. He ghost wrote Princess Spider: True Experiences of a Dominatrix and is the editor of the anthology Gutshot. His short stories are collected in Use Once Then Destroy and Open Heart Surgery. He lives in Manchester, UK, with his wife and three sons. Recent or forthcoming story appearances include Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead, Subterranean, Weird Tales, and The Mammoth Book of Body Horror.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to all the editors who first published these stories.
“Medusa’s Child” © copyright 1991 by Kim Antieau. First Publication: Final Shadows, ed. Charles L. Grant (Doubleday Foundation, 1991).
“Hot Eyes, Cold Eyes” © copyright 1978 by Lawrence Block. First Publication: Gallery, 1978.
“Hymenoptera” © copyright 1995 by Michael Blumlein. First Publication: Dark Love, ed. Nancy A. Collins, Martin H. Greenberg & Edward E. Kramer. (Roc/Hodder & Stoughton, 1995).
“She’s Not There” © copyright 1995 by Pat Cadigan. First Publication: Killing Me Softly, ed. Gardner Dozois. (HarperPrism, 1995).
“My Lady of the Hearth” © copyright 1998 by Storm Constantine. First Publication: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers: Magical Tales of Love and Seduction, ed. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling. (HarperPrism, 1998).
“Calypso in Berlin” © copyright 2005 by Elizabeth Hand. First Publication: SciFiction 07.13.05, ed. Ellen Datlow. (SciFi.com, 2005).
“Lady Madonna” © copyright 1991 by Nancy Holder. First Publication: Obsessions, ed. Gary Raisor. (Dark Harvest, 1991).
“In the Cold, Dark Time” © copyright 1991 by Joe R. Lansdale. First
Publication: Obsessions, ed. Gary Raisor. (Dark Harvest, 1991). “Nunc Dimittis” © copyright 1983 by Tanith Lee. First Publication: The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror, ed. Charles L. Grant. (Dodd, Mead, 1983).
“The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” © copyright 1949 by Fritz Leiber, Jr. First publication: The Girl with the Hungry Eyes and Other Stories (Avon). Reprinted with permission of Richard Curtis Associates, Inc.
“Tallulah” © copyright 2010 by Charles de Lint. First Publication: Dead End: City Limits, ed. David B. Silva & Paul F. Olsen. (St. Martin’s, 1991).
“The Snake Woman’s Lover” © copyright 2006 by Catherine Lundoff. First publication: Garden of the Perverse, edited by Sage Vivant & M. Christian (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006).
“Land of the Lost” © copyright 2010 by Stewart O’Nan. First Publication: Stories: All-New Tales, ed. Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio. (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2010).
“The Oval Portrait,” Edgar Allan Poe. First publication: Broadway Journal, April 26, 1845.
“The Hound Lover” © copyright 1996 by Laura Resnick. First Publication: Phantoms of the Night, ed. Richard Gilliam & Martin H. Greenberg. (DAW, 1996).
“Barbara” © copyright 1995 by John Shirley. First Publication: Dark Love, ed. Nancy A. Collins, Martin H. Greenberg & Edward E. Kramer. (Roc/Hodder & Stoughton, 1995).
“Close to You” © copyright 1991 by Steve Rasnic Tem. First Publication: Bones #1, Fall 1996.
“An Apiary of White Bees” © copyright 2007 by Lee Thomas. First Publication: Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, ed. Ellen Datlow. (Tor, 2007).
“The Light that Passes Through You” © copyright 1998 by Conrad Williams. First Publication: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers: Magical Tales of Love and Seduction, ed. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling. (HarperPrism, 1998).
Other Books Edited by Paula Guran
Embraces
Best New Paranormal Romance
Best New Romantic Fantasy
Zombies: The Recent Dead
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2010
Vampires: The Recent Undead
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011
Halloween
New Cthulhu: The Recent
Weird Brave New Love
Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2012
Table of Contents
OBSESSION:Tales of Irresistible Desire
Contents
Medusa’s Child
Barbara
Calypso In Berlin
My Lady of the Hearth
Close to You
Nunc Dimittis
Land of the Lost
Tallulah
Hymenoptera
Hot Eyes, Cold Eyes
Lady Madonna
The Snake Woman’s Lover
She’s Not There
An Apiary of White Bees
The Girl with the Hungry Eyes
The Light that Passes Through You
The Oval Portrait
The Hound Lover
In the Cold, Dark Time
About the Authors
Acknowledgements
Other Books Edited by Paula Guran