He noticed how she called him by his childhood name. Danny this and Danny that. It was also the only name Caroline had ever had for him. But more than that, he was taken by her story. To argue with his mother about such a fairytale seemed too cruel, even for her.
He barely noticed the small shadow that had fallen into place not more than a foot or two away from her, a dark hollow shaking with the wind, perhaps thrown out of the body of wheat, vibrating as if barely whole or contained, its edges ragged, discontinuous. At first he thought it was one of the large crows that had finally landed to escape the fierce winds above, ready to take its chances with the winds blowing along the ground, but its feathers so damaged, so torn, Dan couldn’t see how it could ever fly again.
Until it opened its indistinct eyes, and looked at him, and he knew himself incapable of understanding exactly what he was seeing. If he were Van Gogh he might take these urgent, multi-directional slashes and whorls and assemble them into the recognisable face of his sister Caroline, whose eyes had now gone cold, and no more sympathetic or understandable than the other mysteries that travelled through the natural and unnatural world.
His mother wept so softly now, but he was close enough to hear her above the wind, the hollowed-out change in her voice as this shadow gathered her in and took her deep into the field.
And because he had no right to object, he knew that this time there would be no phone call, there would be no search.
Notes on Contributors
Timothy Parker Russell lives in the Yorkshire Dales and is a sixth-form student. His interests include books, music and participating in motor sport.
Reggie Oliver has been a professional playwright, actor, and theatre director since 1975. His publications include the authorised biography of Stella Gibbons, Out of the Woodshed, and five collections of stories of supernatural terror, of which the latest, Mrs Midnight (Tartarus 2011) won the Children of the Night Award for ‘best work of supernatural fiction in 2011’. Tartarus has also reissued his first collection The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and will shortly reissue his second collection The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler, as well as his latest (and sixth) collection Flowers of the Sea. His novel, The Dracula Papers I: The Scholar’s Tale (Chômu 2011), is the first of a projected four. His stories have appeared in over forty anthologies.
Christopher Fowler is the multi award-winning author of over thirty novels and twelve short story collections including ten Bryant & May mysteries. His collection ‘Red Gloves’ featured twenty-five new stories to mark his first twenty-five years in print. He recently wrote the ‘War of the Worlds’ videogame for Paramount with Sir Patrick Stewart, and won the Green Carnation prize for his memoir Paperboy. He currently writes for the Independent on Sunday and the Financial Times. He lives in King’s Cross, London.
Rhys Hughes was born in 1966 and began writing fiction from a young age. His first book, the now legendary Worming the Harpy, was published by Tartarus Press in 1995. He has published many volumes since then, chiefly collections of short-stories but also a few novels, in several languages.
Mark Valentine’s latest books are At Dusk (Ex Occidente Press, 2012) and Selected Stories (The Swan River Press, 2012). A collection of his tales featuring Ralph Tyler, occult detective (and other stories), Herald of the Hidden, is due from Tartarus Press in 2013. He has also written biographies of Arthur Machen and Sarban, and edits Wormwood, a journal of the literature of the fantastic, decadent and supernatural.
Anna Taborska was born in London, England. She is an award-winning filmmaker and writer of horror stories, screenplays and poetry. Anna has written and directed two short fiction films, two documentaries and a one-hour TV drama, ‘The Rain Has Stopped’. Her stories have been published in a number of anthologies in the UK and the US, and her debut short story collection, ‘For Those who Dream Monsters’ is due out in late 2013.
John Gaskin, formerly Professor of Naturalistic Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, retired in 1997 to travel, ‘live more widely’, and write stories. Amongst other books he has published two short story collections: The Dark Companion (2001) and The Long Retreating Day (2006).
Corinna Underwood is a British author who emerges within and without her stories. When she isn’t holding a pen you may find her sowing seeds in wild and secret places.
www.ambiguousmedia.net
Rosalie Parker grew up on a farm in Buckinghamshire and has now settled in the Yorkshire Dales. Working first as an archaeologist, she has returned to her first love of books, and is a publisher and writer.
Jason A. Wyckoff was born, schooled and lives still in Columbus, Ohio, USA, with his wife and their pets. His first published work is the collection Black Horse and Other Strange Stories (Tartarus Press, 2012).
Mark J. Saxton was born in 1967 and lives in the north west of England with his wife, numerous hats and an infinite amount of records and books. A published writer of short fiction and non-fiction, he is currently dabbling in larger, darker projects.
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy lives in Bangalore, India. He is a freelance writer. His short fiction has appeared in Pratilipi, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and the Lovecraft eZine.
R.B. Russell is a publisher and writer, living in the Yorkshire Dales. He has had three short story collections published Putting the Pieces in Place, Literary Remains and Leave Your Sleep and a novella Bloody Baudelaire).
Stephen Holman was born in Hastings, England in 1962 and migrated to the US in 1984 where he has since had a diverse career as a painter, writer, performance artist and animation director. He has created and designed several children’s television series (including ‘The Bite-Sized Adventures of Sam Sandwich’ for Disney and ‘Phantom Investigators’ for Warner Bros) and has staged his performance work across the US, Europe and Japan. His art work can be seen on his website: www.stephenholmanart.com
Steve Rasnic Tem is a past winner of the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy awards. His two books from 2012 were the novel Deadfall Hotel and the noir collection Ugly Behavior (New Pulp Press). 2013 will see three new Tem collections: Onion Songs (Chomu), Celestial Inventories (ChiZine), and Twember (NewCon Press).
Contents
Contents
DARK WORLD
Ghost Stories
INTRODUCTION
COME INTO MY PARLOUR
MISTAKE AT THE MONSOON PALACE
THE SWINGER
AN INCOMPLETE APOCALYPSE
FIRST NIGHT
WOLVERSHIEL
THE ARNDALE PASS
ORACLE
THE HOUSE ON NORTH CONGRESS STREET
NOTHING BUT THE WAVES
THE OLD BRICK HOUSE
THE PASCHAL CANDLESTICK
NINTH ROTATION
WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS
Notes on Contributors
Dark World Page 18
