This is not, and never has been, about you. Any of you. This is not, and never has been, about good and bad. This makes no sense to you, I know. I have taken all who are worthy. There will be no further messages. Twenty-one short stories by Brett Alexander Savory, featuring three tales original to this collection. Praise for No Further Messages "Savory deserves to make a great impression on both our highly mutable genre and the reading public." —Peter Straub "A stylish and intelligent writer. File under Original and Startling." —Ramsey Campbell "If you gave me 10 words to describe Brett Savory's writing style, I'd only need 5: Like A House On Fire." —Craig Davidson
“A completely unique take on life in hell. Snappy dialog and a bizarre backdrop set this adventure tale apart from the pack.” —Christopher Moore, New York Times–bestselling author of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Why have certain denizens of Hell taken to throwing farm animals through innocent folks’ kitchen windows? How long does it take a dead, desiccated gas attendant to walk out to his pumps? What sort of relationship do the Lord of the Underworld and Hell’s Head Torturer have besides the obvious professional one? What kind of air conditioning units do they use down there? Do they listen to Cyndi Lauper? What is Hell’s official currency, and by what criteria did The Big Red Fella choose it? Can pigs eat cereal with a spoon? What nameless beast dwells in the flame pit near the hole to Upside? What is Upside, for that matter, and why should you care anyway? Within the pages of this book, you will find the answers to these pressing questions, as well as answers to other, significantly less pressing questions . . . “A raucous blood-and-guts pulper, complete with hardboiled mugs like PigBoy, Tom China, and Portnoy Spavin. By setting his hero’s mysterious quest in Hell itself, Brett Alexander Savory has started a whole new genre: Actual Underworld Noir.” —Stewart O’Nan, author of Snow Angels and Faithful, co-written with Stephen King “Distinctive and bizarre—and I mean that in a good way—this is a fine ride through some very unusual territories.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and Only Forward
“A completely unique take on life in hell. Snappy dialog and a bizarre backdrop set this adventure tale apart from the pack.” —Christopher Moore, New York Times–bestselling author of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Why have certain denizens of Hell taken to throwing farm animals through innocent folks’ kitchen windows? How long does it take a dead, desiccated gas attendant to walk out to his pumps? What sort of relationship do the Lord of the Underworld and Hell’s Head Torturer have besides the obvious professional one? What kind of air conditioning units do they use down there? Do they listen to Cyndi Lauper? What is Hell’s official currency, and by what criteria did The Big Red Fella choose it? Can pigs eat cereal with a spoon? What nameless beast dwells in the flame pit near the hole to Upside? What is Upside, for that matter, and why should you care anyway? Within the pages of this book, you will find the answers to these pressing questions, as well as answers to other, significantly less pressing questions . . . “A raucous blood-and-guts pulper, complete with hardboiled mugs like PigBoy, Tom China, and Portnoy Spavin. By setting his hero’s mysterious quest in Hell itself, Brett Alexander Savory has started a whole new genre: Actual Underworld Noir.” —Stewart O’Nan, author of Snow Angels and Faithful, co-written with Stephen King “Distinctive and bizarre—and I mean that in a good way—this is a fine ride through some very unusual territories.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and Only Forward
I'm harping on the family and loved ones and living rooms and personal space and the home here because a good many of the stories by Brett, Seth and Gary in this book touch on those themes. 'Touch on' might be too weak a term, come to think of it. 'Reach into' is better. 'Probe the way a surgeon does for a lump' is better still. A lot of these stories hurt. They hurt real bad. This is not a bad thing. Hurt can affirm life, and remind us we're not alone."--Michael Marano, from his introduction
In In and Down, Michael and Stephen are young brothers growing up with no female influence in their lives. Through their father's emotional absence and abuse, they come to believe women do not truly exist. One of the boys draws into himself, looking for answers to the confusion in his life, and throughout this descent, he experiences his past as though through a distorted carnival mirror. When he emerges from his inner journey, he is forced to confront a secret that has been buried deep inside for over thirty years.
This is not, and never has been, about you. Any of you. This is not, and never has been, about good and bad. This makes no sense to you, I know. I have taken all who are worthy. There will be no further messages. Twenty-one short stories by Brett Alexander Savory, featuring three tales original to this collection. Praise for No Further Messages "Savory deserves to make a great impression on both our highly mutable genre and the reading public." —Peter Straub "A stylish and intelligent writer. File under Original and Startling." —Ramsey Campbell "If you gave me 10 words to describe Brett Savory's writing style, I'd only need 5: Like A House On Fire." —Craig Davidson
For twenty years this award-winning compilation has been the nonpareil benchmark against which all other annual fantasy and horror collections are judged. Directed first by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and for the past four years by Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, it consistently presents the strangest, the funniest, the darkest, the sharpest, the most original--in short, the best fantasy and horror. The current collection, marking a score of years, offers more than forty stories and poems from almost as many sources. Summations of the field by the editors are complemented by articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint and Jeff VanderMeer highlighting the best of the fantastic in, respectively, media, music and comics as well as honorable mentions--notable works that didn't quite make the cut but are nonetheless worthy of attention. The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: 20th Annual Collection is a cornucopia of fantastic delights, an unparalleled resource and indispensable reference that captures the unique excitement and beauty of the fantastic in all its gloriously diverse forms, from the lightest fantasy to the darkest horror.
For twenty years this award-winning compilation has been the nonpareil benchmark against which all other annual fantasy and horror collections are judged. Directed first by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and for the past four years by Datlow and Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, it consistently presents the strangest, the funniest, the darkest, the sharpest, the most original—in short, the best fantasy and horror. The current collection, marking a score of years, offers more than forty stories and poems from almost as many sources. Summations of the field by the editors are complemented by articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint, and Jeff VanderMeer, highlighting the best of the fantastic in, respectively, media, music, and comics, as well as honorable mentions—notable works that didn’t quite make the cut, but are nonetheless worthy of attention. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection is a cornucopia of fantastic delights, an unparalleled resource and indispensable reference that captures the unique excitement and beauty of the fantastic in all its gloriously diverse forms, from the lightest fantasy to the darkest horror.
This will help us customize your experience to showcase the most relevant content to your age group
Please select from below
Login
Not registered?
Sign up
Already registered?
Success – Your message will goes here
We'd love to hear from you!
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.