by Sulivan, Tricia; Nevill, Adam; Tchaikovsky, Adrian; McDougall, Sophia; Tidhar, Lavie
“I suppose,” Sarisha said, listlessly.
Uncle Jarun blew the lamp, and withdrew. At the door, he stopped. “Sarisha?”
“Yes?”
“She’d still be proud of you – whatever you turn out to be.”
“You can’t know that,” Sarisha said, but she thought of Mother’s squeezing her hand, and of the odd expression on her face.
A smile. A pained smile, but still a smile.
“I know,” Uncle Jarun said, and he closed the door, leaving her in darkness with the memory of Mother’s touch on her skin.
Follow this link to read the author notes
George
V.C. Linde
A stone guardian watches three women
stand at an empty grave to imagine
the men who had died.
A son, a brother, a father.
The small parcel of ephemera is delivered
in uniform late in the morning to a well-swept doorstep.
Handed to a step removed, to the past, the childhood,
he was not long enough a man to count,
not enough for it to last
the soft turn of memorised pages and photographs
crashes the final candle
then the flame is only seen as an inverse
reflection on tired minds.
And so she went away with a parcel –
one that was never seen.
Sixty-seven years.
I can return to the place they never saw him
with flowers and the resonance of a family
that just might have existed.
About the Authors
Nina Allan’s stories have appeared regularly in the magazines Black Static and Interzone, and have featured in the anthologies Catastrophia, House of Fear, Strange Tales from Tartarus, Best Horror of the Year #2 and Year’s Best SF #28. A first collection of her fiction, A Thread of Truth, was published by Eibonvale Press in 2007, followed by her story cycle The Silver Wind in 2011. Twice shortlisted for the BFS and BSFA Award, Nina’s next book, Stardust, will be available from PS Publishing in autumn 2012. She lives in Hastings, East Sussex, where she is currently at work on a novel.
Aliette de Bodard lives in Paris in a flat filled with computers and Lovecraftian plants that dream of taking over the living room. When not working as a Computer Engineer, she writes speculative fiction: her trilogy of Aztec noir fantasies Obsidian and Blood have been published by Angry Robot; and her short fiction has appeared in venues such as Interzone, Asimov’s and Clarkesworld. “The Bleeding Man” is a story about motherly love and inheritance, and how it’s not always the most obvious or desirable things that get passed on to one’s children…
Finn Clarke has dual Canadian-British citizenship and juggles her time between Dartmoor and Quebec. Her stories have appeared in a range of magazines from Descant to Big Pulp and her first collection, Grim Tales of Hope, was published in December 2008. Finn is fairly sure she hasn’t been invaded by anyone else’s personality – although her family doesn’t necessarily see this as a good thing – and is currently writing a thriller that is far more exciting than her actual life.
Emma Coleman has lived in Northampton all her life, which perhaps goes some way to explaining why her fiction tends to focus on the bizarre, quirky, and darker aspects of human nature. Emma joined the Northampton SF Writers Group in 2007, and has been honing her skills ever since. “Home” is her first published story.
Jan Edwards lives near the Peak District National Park with her husband, Peter Coleborn. She has a BA in English Literature, and was short listed in 2011 for a BFS Award. Publication credits include: Mammoth Book of Dracula, Dark Horizons, Alt-Dead, and Estronomicon. For details about Jan’s writing, visit http://janedwards-writer.blogspot.com. She says of “Damnation Seize My Soul”: “What began as an historical piece on Viking-era female pirates was suddenly overrun by the swashbuckling Gráinne Ní Mháille and Branwen’s dark tale from the Mabinogi. Quite when Mercedeys Benks stepped into the arena is a question best not asked.”
Andrew Hook has had around 100 short stories published in various magazines and anthologies. Recent work has appeared in Black Static, Post Scripts, Needle Magazine, Unspoken Water and The Monster Book For Girls. Last year he was one of the judges for the World Fantasy Awards, and his fourth slipstream collection, Nitrospective, was published by DogHorn. This year he is co-editing a magazine with his partner, Sophie Essex, titled Fur-Lined Ghettos. He can be found at www.andrew-hook.com.
V.C. Linde lives in Derby. She says of “George” that it was “written as part of Three Random Words, a poetry project where people submitted three words which then formed the basis of a new poem. Ian Whates kindly donated ‘Resonance, Candle, Ephemera’ and “George” was born. I am delighted that it has been included here amongst such wonderful company.”
Una McCormack is the author of several Star Trek and Doctor Who novels. Her short fiction has been anthologised by Ian Whates, Gardner Dozois, and Farah Mendlesohn. The short story in this anthology, “In Tauris”, was inspired by a summer spent reading Joanna Russ and Monique Wittig.
Sophia McDougall is a novelist, playwright, artist and poet. She is the author of the bestselling Romanitas trilogy (twice shortlisted for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History), set in a contemporary world where the Roman Empire never fell. Besides modern Romans, she has also been known to write about fish robots and ghost Nazis. You can find her at:
sophiamcdougall.livejournal.com
Adam Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is the author of the supernatural horror novels Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, The Ritual, and Last Days. He lives in Birmingham and can be contacted through: www.adamlgnevill.com
Rebecca J. Payne hails from Cambridge, England. She has previously published work in Interzone and Ethereal Tales. “A Change in the Weather” was inspired by long winter nights spent listening to the ocean in Porthleven, Cornwall, where the pasties are hot and the sea monsters are very, very cold.
Rod Rees has spent his life travelling around the world, living en route in such places as Qatar, Tehran and Moscow. He is a sometime student of history, being especially interested in the oddballs who populated the Victorian era, of whom Nikolai Tesla (the lead character in “Alternate Currents”) was one of the oddballier. Rod’s first book, The Demi-Monde: Winter – first in a quartet – was published by Quercus in the UK in January 2011. The second in the series – The Demi-Monde: Spring has just been released in the UK. He lives in Daventry with his lovely wife Nelli (a jazz singer and jewellery designer) where he is writing his post Demi-Monde opus, tentatively entitled Locusts.
Tricia Sullivan is the Arthur C. Clarke Award winning author of seven science fiction novels, most recently Lightborn. She is a student with the Open University, the administrator of a mixed martial arts website, and mother to three children.
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Lincolnshire, studied and trained in Reading, and now lives in Leeds. He is known for the Shadows of the Apt fantasy series starting with Empire in Black and Gold and currently up to book 7, Heirs of the Blade. Book 8, The Air War, is out in August 2012. His hobbies include stage-fighting, and tabletop, live and online role-playing. More information and short stories can be found at:
www.shadowsoftheapt.com.
Lavie Tidhar is an Israeli author currently resident in London. He is the author of steampunk novels The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011) and The Great Game (2012), weird-lit novel Osama (2011) – which made the shortlist for the BSFA Award – linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007), several novellas and many, many more short stories.
Neil Williamson is the author of The Ephemera and editor (with Andrew J. Wilson) of Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction. He is also a member of the Glasgow SF Writers Circle. “Lost Sheep” is Neil’s second story for NewCon Press (following “The Moth” in Subterfuge, 2008). Since the editor clearly enjoys Cuddly Critte
r stories, Neil welcomes suggestions for featured animals should he ever be invited to contribute again.
Imaginings
The Way Ahead
A series of collections, each volume featuring the work of a single selected author, Imaginings brings together the very best of that author’s previously published but uncollected short fiction plus pieces wholly original to the book.
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Table of Contents
Introduction by Ian Whates
The Fall of Lady Sealight
The Age of Entitlement
Electrify Me
Alternate Currents
The Barricade
Things that Are Here Now
Loose Connections
Sleepless in R’lyeh
Damnation Seize my Soul
Home
A Change in the Weather
Bells Ringing Under the Sea
In Tauris
Lost Sheep
The Bleeding Man
George
About the Authors
Table of Contents
Introduction by Ian Whates
The Fall of Lady Sealight
The Age of Entitlement
Electrify Me
Alternate Currents
The Barricade
Things that Are Here Now
Loose Connections
Sleepless in R’lyeh
Damnation Seize my Soul
Home
A Change in the Weather
Bells Ringing Under the Sea
In Tauris
Lost Sheep
The Bleeding Man
George
About the Authors
