The discovery of piles of bones seeming to belong to a previously unknown species of monster will help to unfold a macabre and grisly tale. - A lady is found dead in her bed, the apparent victim of a murder the coroner proves could not possibly have occurred. - A merman found by fishermen off the coast of Brighton in 1745 will reveal the truth behind one of the most terrible events of the 20th century. - A desperate man makes a bad bargain with a man in black; an extraordinarily horrible dummy exercises a frightful control over his terrified ventriloquist; a condemned murderer lives again through the eyes of an innocent child . . . These are the plots of just a few of the brilliant tales you will find in this volume as you enter the bizarre world of master storyteller Gerald Kersh. With a focus on Kersh's science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories, On an Odd Note (1958) contains thirteen of his best. This first-ever reprint features a new introduction by Nick Mamatas. Contains: Seed of Destruction, Frozen Beauty, Reflections in a Tablespoon, The Crewel Needle, The Sympathetic Souse, The Queen of Pig Island, Prophet Without Honor, The Beggars' Stone, The Extraordinarily Horrible Dummy, The Brighton Monster, Fantasy of a Hunted Man, The Gentleman All in Black, and The Eye. "Gerald Kersh had a wild imagination matched by a vivid, near-hallucinatory style. Many of his concepts are so original that they blur the distinction between fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and horror, but the cumulative impact of his short stories is horrific in the extreme." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural "Kersh tells a story, as such, rather better than anybody else." - Pamela Hansford Johnson, Daily Telegraph "Gerald Kersh has a strange, perverted sort of genius. And how he can write!" - Virginia Kirkus

VISIONS by Richard A. Lupoff is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories selected from decades of writing. The author consistently shows himself to be a master storyteller, and these short stories are fine examples, containing psychic detective tales, stories of Lovecraftian horror, and other fantasy and horror tales.

"I have long admired the things Dick Lupoff can do in the way of atmosphere and characterization in any sort of story-dark or light."-ROGER ZELAZNY "His books and stories, I can testify, having read a great many of them and published some myself, almost unfailingly display not only his intelligence and perceptivity, but also the grace and charm of his wit, the skill of his narrative technique, and the exemplary individuality of his ideas."-ROBERT SILVERBERG DREAMS marks the long-awaited completion of Richard A. Lupoff's epic trio of collections, following TERRORS and VISIONS. The stories range from Lovecraftian horror to Holmesian detection, from hard science fiction to whimsy, from semi-autobiographical recreations of past decades to images of the distant future, culminating in the stunning mini-trilogy of "Dreemz.biz," "Wyshes.com," and "Heaven.god." Whatever the genre or mood, these stories never cease to startle, delight, amaze, and-occasionally-terrify!

In the 80s, writer/wiseman Richard A. Lupoff came out with two volumes of what was to be a series: the WHAT IF? books. Each volume took a half-dozen or so years from the 60s and 70s and discussed, with Richard's 20-20 hindsight, the state of SFdom during those years. To illustrate his many points, he provided us with brilliant short stories by the best writers of the period in question, stories that DIDN'T win the Hugo that year, but maybe should have. As we know, because of politics and other often irrelevant things, the best works don't always end up winning. That's the sort of thing that is discussed in Richard's text for each year. The first two volumes were published in the 80s to great acclaim but due to some politics (or something) the third volume was never published, even though it was finalized. Fast forward to 2013 when Richard A. Lupoff, the major domo of Surinam Turtle Press, can ignore petty politics and pretty much publish what he damn well pleases. And it pleases him immensely to see WHAT IF? #3 finally see the light of day. These are the stories and authors featured in this volume. Read it and salivate. 1966 - Light of Other Days - Bob Shaw 1967 - The Star-Pit - Samuel R. Delany 1968 - The Barbarian - Joanna Russ 1969 - Sundance - Robert Silverberg 1970 - The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories - Gene Wolfe 1971 - Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - Ursula K. Le Guin 1972 - Painwise - James Tiptree, Jr. 1973 - My Brother Leopold - Edgar Pangborn

Following in the footsteps of the landmark collection, Dreaming Down-Under, this new book brings together Australia's greatest fantasy writers and cutting-edge new authors 35 new stories celebrating the wild side of Australian fantasy writing Welcome to the energy, invention and imagination of Australia's finest writers of speculative fiction - from acclaimed international bestsellers to the freshest new voices. ten years ago, Dreaming Down-Under captured the excitement of the wild side of Australian fiction and won a coveted World Fantasy Award. Now it's time to start Dreaming Again ... CONtRIBUtORS: Peter M. Ball, Lee Battersby, John Birmingham, Jenny Blackford, Russell Blackford, Adam Brown, Simon Brown, trudi Canavan, Isobelle Carmody, Paul Collins, Rowena Cory Daniells, Cecilia Dart-thornton, Rjurik Davidson, Stephen Dedman, Sara Douglass, terry Dowling, Jason Fischer, Ben Francisco, Christopher Green, Richard Harland, trent Jamieson, Margo Lanagan, Rosaleen Love, Chris Lynch, Sean McMullen, Jason Nahrung, Garth Nix, Cecily Scutt, Angela Slatter, Aaron Sterns, Dirk Strasser, Lucy Sussex, Janeen Webb, Kim Westwood and Kim Wilkins And including a previously unpublished story from the late great A. Bertram Chandler 'Dreaming Again is at once quintessentially Australian and enticingly other. If you read short fiction you'll want this collection. If you don't, this is a reason to start.' Bookseller + Publisher

"Humorous and highly amusing." - The Scotsman "A really entertaining collection of stories. The lover of fiction could not desire a more entertaining volume." - Yorkshire Post One of Richard Marsh's rarest works, Between the Dark and the Daylight (1902) contains twelve of Marsh's cleverest stories, ranging in theme from slapstick humour to Gothic horror. In "My Aunt's Excursion," the opening story of the volume, an urbanite Londoner leads his provincial aunt and her party of mostly deranged followers on a hilarious and madcap romp across London. In "Exchange is Robbery," Marsh's recurring charcters and jewellers to the aristocracy, Messrs. Golden and Ruby, discover they have been the victims of a massive jewel fraud. "The Haunted Chair," one of Marsh's strangest and most unnerving stories of horror, features an old chair at a gentlemen's club, whose owner seems capable of returning from the grave. In "A Relic of the Borgias," an ancient cameo ring appears to possess the power to kill. Other stories, like "Em" and "Nelly," reveal Marsh's softer side as a romantic novelist. This new edition, the first in over a century, features the unabridged text of the original work, along with an introduction by Prof. Paul Fox and a reproduction of the impossibly rare jacket cover of the original six shilling edition.

Book by Oppenheim, E. Phillips