In this first mystery in a new series, Beau is asked by the Duchess of York for his help in finding the killer of the cantankerous Countess of Wrayburn, who has been fatally poisoned.

    Sometimes set in the contemporary or historical world, sometimes pure fantasy or an imagined "history," these are striking, fresh, finely crafted works that demonstrate the best the short story form has to offer. Among the authors included are Delia Sherman, Peter Beagle, Greer Gilman, Paul Di Filippo, Jeffrey Ford, Gregory Maguire, and Lucius Shepard.

    Paul Wilson, and Chelsea Quinn Yarboro serve up a veritable feast of fear. For the first time ever, Dark Delicacies, the world's foremost horror bookstore, lends its famous name and imprimatur to an anthology designed to please the palate of the genre's most discriminating fans. Throughout, the editors—Del Howison (co-owner of Dark Delicacies) and leading horror anthologist Jeff Gelb—present perfectly crafted, freshly original horror-fiction fare that is as terrifying as it is chillingly delicious.

    Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?Listening Length: 1 hour and 56 minutes

    But what is really going on at the farm? And what about the five much younger children known as the Babies, frail as butterflies?

    The world had been moving so quickly lately and Neville was finding it almost impossible to keep up.Doodling is an engaging comic fantasy which relates the events that befall Neville after he finds himself abandoned by the world and adrift in the middle of an asteroid field. Douglas Adams meets Lewis Carroll (with just a touch of Gulliver's Travels) as Neville wanders through his new home, meeting a variety of eccentric characters and experiencing some most unexpected adventures.

    . . Razor sharp . . . piercingly profound." Once again, Ellison's writing defies all labels. These seventeen stories by a modern master are an "assembled artifact" of anger and faith - as bittersweet as a"jalapeno-laced cinnamon bear." The sixteen stories collected here are spread over the farthest stretches of time and space, but even the bleakest of them is warmed by a passionate faith in the endurance of life and its ultimate possibilities.

    But it was neither the first nor the last. This anthology presents 23 rare vampire stories written between 1867 & 1940. B&W illus.

    A failed writer meets an ageing gin-queen who claims he was once visited by an angel; a little girl finds a delirious, dying explorer from the Congo at the bottom of her back garden; a night-club is terrorized by a strange libidinous hand; and a young Victorian lady sails to India to find her fiance Cecil horribly transformed...

    Robard Hewes has driven across the country in the service of a destructive passion. Sam Newell is seeking the missing piece of himself. When these men converge, on an uncharted island in the Mississippi, each discovers the thing he's looking for--amid a conflagration of violence that's as shocking as it is inevitable."This is one of those books that hit you hard...a story filled with breathing characters and genius-crafted dialogue between moments of consummate description.... I can't be unbiased. I'm mad for this book."--Elizabeth Ashton, Houston Chronicle

    Here are 17 startlingly original masterpieces of the macabre—gruesome tales of madness, vengeance and heart-stopping horror in a world of Indians and aliens, of gunmen, ghouls and Elvis impersonators. Experience a modern-day dinosaur round-up, learn the shocking truth about the hideous curse that killed Doc Holliday... and ride a 40-foot rattlesnake in a bizarre post-nuclear rodeo. All this and more awaits you in a remarkable anthology of evil that gives the western a black hat and a bad name.Contents:Introduction: The Cowpunk Anthology, by Joe R. Lansdale and Pat LoBrutto.Black Boots, by Robert R. McCammon.Thirteen Days of Glory, by Scott Cupp.Gold, by Lewis Shiner.The Tenth Toe, by F. Paul Wilson,Sedalia, by David J. Schow.Trapline, by Ardath Mayhar.Trail of the Chromium Bandits, by Al Sarrantonio.Dinker's Pond, by Richard Laymon.Stampede, by Melissa Mia Hall.Empty Places, by Gary L. Raisor.Tony Red Dog, by Neal Barrett, Jr.The Passing of the Western, by Howard Waldrop.Eldon's Penitente, by Lenore Carroll.The Job, by Joe R. Lansdale.I'm Always Here, by Richard Christian Matheson."Yore Skin's Jes's Soft 'N Purty..." He Said, by Chet Williamson.Razored Saddles, by Robert Petitt.

    Morlan, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen and many others. Supplementing the stories are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, Edward Bryant's witty roundup of the year's fantasy films, and a long list of Honorable Mentions —all of which adds up to an invaluable reference source, and a font of fabulous reading.

    R. Martin Ill. Alicia AustinThe George Business by Roger Zelazny Ill. Geofrey DarrowOne Winter in Eden by Michael Bishop Ill. Val & John LakeyA Drama of Dragons by Craig Show Gardner Ill. Gini Shurtleff Silken Dragon by Steven Edward McDonald Ill. Ron MillerDragon Lore by Steve Rasnic Tem Ill. Victoria PoyserEagle Worm By Jessica Amanda Salmonson Ill. Glen EdwardsThe Dragon of Dunloon by Arthur Dembling Ill. Dileen MarshIf I die Before I Wake by Greg Bear Ill. Greg BearAs Above, so Below by John M. Ford Ill. Judy King RienietsCock Fight by Jane Yolen Ill. T. WindlingFrom Bach to Broccoli By Richard Kearns Ill. Geofrey DarrowDragon Touched by Dave Smeds Ill. Michael Hague

    P. Lovecraft and Charles Dickens. A commercial success, the collection earned Ray the appellation of the “Belgian Poe” and announced a new talent, even though this first book had been but the culmination of an already lengthy writing career as a journalist and short-story writer. A year later, however, the author would be arrested on charges of embezzlement and serve two years of a six-year sentence in prison, where he would write some of his best stories.Something of a prequel to such story collections to come as Cruise of Shadows or Circles of Terror (both forthcoming from Wakefield Press), Whiskey Tales finds Ray testing different genres, but already steadfastly opposed to the psychological novel and embracing the modes of adventure and horror adopted by such contemporaries as Pierre Mac Orlan and Maurice Renard. Taking us from ship’s prow to port, from tavern to dead-end lane, these early tales are ruled by the spirits of whiskey and fog, each element blurring the borders between humor and horror, the sentimental and the sinister, and the real and the imagined.A handful of these stories first appeared in English in various issues of Weird Tales back in the 1930s, but the majority of this collection has never before been translated. This first complete English-language edition includes eleven additional contemporary stories not found in the original French edition, and will be the first in many volumes of Jean Ray’s books that Wakefield Press will be bringing out over the coming seasons.

    Henry of science fiction… stories that range from the wryly humorous to the deadly serious, but are always unforgettable.Contents:ix · Introduction · Robert Bloch · in 1 · “Arena” · nv Astounding Jun ’44 31 · Imagine · pp F&SF May ’55 33 · It Didn’t Happen · ss Playboy Oct ’63 47 · Recessional · vi Dude Mar ’60; Portfolio, gp 49 · Eine Kleine Nachtmusik · Fredric Brown & Carl Onspaugh · ss F&SF Jun ’65 69 · Puppet Show · ss Playboy Nov ’62 81 · Nightmare in Yellow · vi Dude May ’61; Five Nightmares, gp 85 · Earthmen Bearing Gifts · vi Galaxy Jun ’60 89 · Jaycee · vi Nightmares and Geezenstacks, Bantam, 1961 91 · Pi in the Sky · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Win ’45 121 · Answer · vi Angels and Spaceships, Dutton, 1954 123 · The Geezenstacks · ss Weird Tales Sep ’43 133 · Hall of Mirrors · ss Galaxy Dec ’53 141 · Knock · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec ’48 153 · Rebound [“The Power”] · vi Galaxy Apr ’60 157 · Star Mouse [Mitkey] · ss Planet Stories Spr ’42 179 · Abominable · vi Dude Mar ’60; Portfolio, gp 183 · Letter to a Phoenix · ss Astounding Aug ’49 193 · Not Yet the End · vi Captain Future Win ’41 197 · Etaoin Shrdlu · nv Unknown Feb ’42 221 · Armageddon · ss Unknown Aug ’41 227 · Experiment · vi Galaxy Feb ’54; Two Timer, gp 229 · The Short Happy Lives of Eustace Weaver I, II, & III [“Of Time and Eustace Weaver”] · ss EQMM Jun ’61 237 · Reconciliation · vi Angels and Spaceships, Dutton, 1954 239 · Nothing Sirius · ss Captain Future Spr ’44 257 · Pattern · vi Angels and Spaceships, Dutton, 1954 259 · The Yehudi Principle · ss Astounding May ’44 271 · Come and Go Mad · nv Weird Tales Jul ’49 315 · The End [“Nightmare in Time”] · vi Dude May ’61; Five Nightmares, gp