And the rest of the pages are blank.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Richard Thomas and Dark House Press for believing in this book, and to Alban Fischer and George Cotronis for their fantastic art.
Thank you to Linda Epstein for helping me when the story was ugly and full of holes.
Thank you to my friends for your support, especially my Wolfpack. Lena, Mike, Katrin, Joe, Justin, Anya, and Scott, I love you all.
Thank you to the writers who inspire me every day—Livia Llewellyn, Helen Marshall, Laird Barron, and John Langan.
Thank you to E. Catherine Tobler and Kristi DeMeester for always being willing to beta read.
Thank you to my family for their love and support.
And to the readers: without you, the words mean nothing at all.
DAMIEN ANGELICA WALTERS’ work has appeared or is forthcoming in various anthologies and magazines, including The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2015, Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume One, Cassilda’s Song, The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu: New Lovecraftian Fiction, Nightmare Magazine, Black Static, and Apex Magazine. She was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award for “The Floating Girls: A Documentary,” originally published in Jamais Vu. Sing Me Your Scars, a collection of short fiction, was released in 2015 from Apex Publications. Find her on Twitter @DamienAWalters or on the web at http://damienangelicawalters.com.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM DARK HOUSE PRESS
“Stephen Graham Jones is at the apex of his game.”
—LAIRD BARRON, author of The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
THIS COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN STORIES TAPS INTO THE HORRORS AND FEARS OF THE SUPERNATURAL AS WELL AS THE EVERYDAY. INCLUDED ARE TWO ORIGINAL STORIES, SEVERAL RARITIES AND OUT OF PRINT NARRATIVES, AS WELL AS A FEW “BEST OF THE YEAR” INCLUSIONS. STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES IS A MASTER STORYTELLER. WHAT DOES HAPPEN AFTER THE PEOPLE LIGHTS HAVE GONE OFF? CRACK THE SPINE AND FIND OUT.
“Inventive, quirky, unexpected and masterful.”
—JONATHAN MABERRY, author of Bad Blood
In print for the first time, Tuvim’s seminal lost work
JOSHUA CITY IS ONE OF SEVEN MAJOR CITY-STATES, A POST-APOCALYPTIC ALTERNATE REALITY WHERE WATER IS SCARCE AND TECHNOLOGY IS AT MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY SOVIET LEVELS. AS THE NOVEL OPENS, THE BAIKAL SEA HAS BEEN POISONED, CAUSING A MAJOR OUTBREAK OF A LEPROSY-LIKE DISEASE CALLED NECROSIS. AGAINST THIS BACKDROP OF INCREASING VIOLENCE AND OPPRESSION, WE SEE THE LIVES OF SEVERAL CHARACTERS PLAY OUT.
“A cautionary tale, historical artifact, and literary work of the highest artistry.”
—OKLA ELLIOTT & RAUL CLEMENT, from the introduction
“Will move the ground beneath your feet. Brace yourself.”
—NIK KORPON, author of Stay God
EXIGENCIES IS AN ANTHOLOGY OF 22 ORIGINAL NEO-NOIR STORIES BY EMERGING AND ESTABLISHED AUTHORS THAT BLEND LITERARY FICTION FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION, HORROR, AND CRIME IN ORDER TO EXPLORE AN EXIGENCY—A DESIRE OR NEED, A CRISIS, A TIPPING POINT. THE WRITING IS A HYBRID OF PAGE-TURNING NARRATIVES, LAYERED INTROSPECTION AND IMMERSIVE SETTINGS, SHOWCASING SOME OF THE BEST NEW WRITERS OF NEO-NOIR.
“A collection that will skulk across the footplate of literature for many years to come.”
—CRAIG WALLWORK, author of The Sound of Loneliness
“Dark, disturbing, and exquisitely written.”
—ROB HART, author of New Yorked
VILE MEN IS A COLLECTION OF DARK, SEDUCTIVE, POWERFUL, AND TOUCHING SHORT STORIES TOLD WITH A LYRICAL VOICE THAT LULLS READERS INTO SUBMISSION WITH ITS ELEGANT, ENLIGHTENED PROSE. INCLUDING SEVERAL ORIGINAL STORIES, JONES-HOWE’S WORDS DANCE TRANCELIKE ON THE PAGE BEFORE CLENCHING READERS TIGHTLY BY THE WINDPIPE AND WHISPERING EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT.
“Rebecca Jones-Howe fearlessly tackles the ugliness most of us manage to hide.”
—MERCEDES M. YARDLEY, author of Pretty Little Dead Girls
Paper Tigers Page 22