Best of
Weird-Fiction

2002

The Emperor of Dreams


Clark Ashton Smith - 2002
    In the enchanted regions of Hyperborea, Atlantis and Xiccarph, encounter malefic magic and demonic deeds beneath the last rays of a fading sun . . . For the first time ever, this volume encompasses Clark Ashton Smith's entire career as a writer. Smith virtually stopped writing stories in 1937, for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained, but he left behind a unique legacy of fantasy fiction which is as imaginative and decadent today as when it was first published in the pulp magazines more than half a century ago.

Feesters in the Lake & Other Stories


Bob Leman - 2002
    A Window into the Fiction of Bob Leman - Introduction [Jim Rockhill]PrefaceWindowThe TehamaIndustrial ComplexThe Pilgrimage of Clifford M.Change of AddressSkirmish on Bastable StreetOlidaHow Dobbstown Was SavedThe Time of the WormBaitLoobUnlawful PossessionCome Where My Love Lies DreamingInstructionsFeesters in the LakeCover Illustration by Allen Koszowski

In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers


Caitlín R. Kiernan - 2002
    Meet Dancy Flammarion, an orphaned albino girl who talks to angels and is intent on ridding the world of monsters. But what happens when one of the monsters decides to use her for his own dark ends? In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers is award-winning fantasist Caitlin R. Kiernan's first-ever novella, giving us a glimpse into the life of Dancy Flammarion shortly before her appearance in Kiernan's critically-acclaimed second novel, Threshold. This gritty yet decadent story of ghouls, corruption, and talking bears, draws us deeply into a world of madness and betrayal, forbidden appetites and deadly intrigue, and the light that shines from the most unlikely of heroes. In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers will include a full-color dustjacket and ten black and white interior illustrations by Dame Darcy! The limited edition will also include "On the Road to Jefferson," a previously unpublished chapbook available only with the novella, with cover art by Caitlín R. Kiernan.

My Work is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror


Thomas Ligotti - 2002
    But as he prepares to even the score with those responsible for his demise, he unwittingly finds an ally in a dark and malevolent force that grants him supernatural powers. Frank takes his revenge in the most ghastly ways imaginable - but there will be a terrible price to pay once his work is done.Destined to be a cult classic, this tale of corporate horror and demonic retribution will strike a chord with anyone who has ever been disgruntled at work. Also contains the stories "I Have A Special Plan For This World" and "The Nightmare Network".

Divinations Of The Deep


Matt Cardin - 2002
    If, as Matt Cardin suggests, tehom derives from the Sumerian Tiamat, the primeval chaos dragon of Babylonian mythology, then tehom, the deep, is a primeval chaos fashioned by God into an ordered cosmos.We may speculate, therefore, that tehom, like Tiamat, predated God: that God may even be the offspring of the deep.If such were true, then we would be forced to conclude that both God and His world the ordered world of light, light, and logic exist against a background of death, darkness, and derangement.A few scattered souls claim that we can glimpse this primal chaos even now, while the cosmic charade still runs its course. At the seams of the universe, they say, a thread will sometimes become unraveled; a ray of darkness will shine through; and the light does not overcome it.Divinations of the Deep presents five such glimpses, which the reader receives at his own peril. To question the universe in this manner is always dangerous, because there is no way of knowing in advance what form the answers will take. All that is known is that their form will be the unexpected.MATT CARDIN's stories and essays have appeared in various print and on-line publications, including The Children of Cthulhu, The HWA Presents; Dark Arts, The Thomas Ligotti Reader; and Penny Dreadful. His eclectic professional history includes time spent as a videographer, mortgage broker, and high school English teacher, as well as seven years spent in the pursuit of a graduate degree in religious studies. He resides in southwest Missouri with his wife and stepson.Jacket art by Jason Van Hollander.

City of Saints and Madmen


Jeff VanderMeer - 2002
    You hold in your hands an invitation to a place unlike any you’ve ever visited–an invitation delivered by one of our most audacious and astonishing literary magicians. City of elegance and squalor. Of religious fervor and wanton lusts. And everywhere, on the walls of courtyards and churches, an incandescent fungus of mysterious and ominous origin. In Ambergris, a would-be suitor discovers that a sunlit street can become a killing ground in the blink of an eye. An artist receives an invitation to a beheading–and finds himself enchanted. And a patient in a mental institution is convinced he’s made up a city called Ambergris, imagined its every last detail, and that he’s really from a place called Chicago.…By turns sensuous and terrifying, filled with exotica and eroticism, this interwoven collection of stories, histories, and “eyewitness” reports invokes a universe within a puzzlebox where you can lose–and find–yourself again.

The Tain


China Miéville - 2002
    A man named Sholl survives by knowing the safe parts of town, and those where people go in and never come out. He’s been living on his own for a while, and decides to befriend a makeshift unit of soldiers camped out in the south of Hampstead Heath. They seem to have their wits about them, unlike other units scattered throughout London who will shoot anything that moves. He wants them to join him. Sholl has a plan to deal with the enemy....

Dead But Dreaming


Ramsey Campbell - 2002
    Lovecraft

The House on the Borderland and Other Novels


William Hope Hodgson - 2002
    Strange and compelling, these are powerful works that exercise the same fascination today as they did on Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, and all four are collected here.

By the Light of the Jukebox


Dean Paschal - 2002
    A first collection of stories tells the tales of culinary arts run amok, a drug addict's disturbing visit to an emergency room, a boy's seduction by a clockwork maiden, and a metamorphosed woman's re-experience of erotic moments from her previous life.

The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Donald Wandrei (Letters 1)


H.P. Lovecraft - 2002
    Mysteries of Time and Spirit is a collection of all the correspondence between Lovecraft and future Arkham-House co-founder Donald Wandrei.

Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue


S.T. Joshi - 2002
    P. Lovecraft was one of the most well-read authors of his time, and his personal library constitutes an intimate glimpse into his mind and imagination. This revised and enlarged edition provides comprehensive information on nearly 1000 books owned by Lovecraft. These books focus chiefly on four key areas that Lovecraft found particularly fascinating: ancient literature and history; the history and antiquities of New England; astronomy, chemistry, and other sciences; and, of course, the literature of weird fiction. S. T. Joshi has supplied full publication information, tables of contents for many titles, data on Lovecraft's discussions of the volumes in his stories, essays, poems, and letters, and a wealth of other information. To know Lovecraft's mind, one must first know his books.

Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak Supernatural Sleuth


Robert M. PriceSimon Bucher-Jones - 2002
    Zarnak was created by Carter to live and fight in the world of H.P. Lovecraft's mythos. These sixteen stories take you on the exciting supernatural adventures of Anton Zarnak. Written by Lin Carter, Robert M. Price, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Pierre Comtois, C.J. Henderson, John L. French, James Chambers, James Ambuehl, and Simon Bucher-Jones.