The boy said nothing.
“Maybe someday we’ll be able to keep all the demons away.” He touched a finger to his nose. It had stopped bleeding. “I’m working with a woman and some other people. We’re contacting scientists. I don’t think you’d understand right now if I tried to explain, but we’re . . . trying to shut the door that the demons use.”
A distant shout: “Del!” The old man and the boy turned together. A tall, bearded figure waved from the other end of the park. He moved toward them in a jerky half-run.
“I should be going,” the bald man said. He stood, retrieved his cap from the ground, and pulled it on. “Oh, and I brought you something.” He handed the boy a thin package wrapped in foil paper. “Happy birthday, Del.”
He walked briskly away. In a moment he disappeared around the corner of a building.
P A N D E M O N I U M
2 8 3
Lew reached the boy. He breathed heavily, his face bright with sweat.
“Hey man, we’re looking all over for you,” he said. “Who were you talking to—did he bother you? Did he do anything to you?”
The boy shook his head.
“Okay, good.” He studied the spot where the man had disappeared, then looked down at the boy and noticed the present in his hand. “What do you got there? Did that guy give this to you?”
The boy handed it to him. Waited. Lew pulled off the wrapping paper.
“Fuck,” he said. It was a comic book. He studied the cover for a long moment, then looked up at the spot where the man in the ball cap had disappeared. Gone. The boy took the book from his hand. The cover showed a man in goggles shooting a bulky gun. He flipped it open, frowning.
“That’s RADAR Man,” Lew said. His voice sounded strained. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll read it to you. And there’s a ton of comics in the basement. They’re all yours.”
The boy took his brother’s hand, and they started walking back, the boy holding the comic open in his other hand as they walked.
“We gotta get you cleaned up, man,” Lew said. “But you know nobody’s mad at you, right? It was totally an accident.” The boy nodded absently. He was looking at the comic book. “And let’s not tell the Cyclops that I swore in front of you. She would so kill me.”
NO T E S
The comment made in chapter 5 by “Valis” on the difference between fantasy and science fiction was taken from Philip K. Dick’s essay “My Definition of Science Fiction,” which appeared in The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick, Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings, edited by Lawrence Sutin. That book also reprinted a drawing from Dick’s Exegesis that I adapted for the Rapturist symbol in chapter 4.
AC K NOW L E D G M E N T S
The first-time novelist owes thanks to almost everyone he’s ever met. A novelist who’s written a pop culture mash-up like this one is also indebted to almost every book he’s ever read, starting with the comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Thank you for teaching me to read, gentlemen. This book also owes much to the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and the novels of A. E. Van Vogt (pronounced “A. E.”) and Philip K. Dick. Kathy Bieschke and Gary Delafield were, as always, my first, best, and toughest readers. Andrew Tisbert and Elizabeth Delafield saw later drafts and kept me on track. My thanks as well to the many friends (including several more Delafields) who read the manuscript; to my children, Emma and Ian Gregory, who weren’t allowed to read it; and to my sisters, Robin Somerfield and Lisa Johnson, who were simply thankful they weren’t in it.
Several wise professionals guided me through the last mile of the publishing process. Gordon Van Gelder offered well-timed words of advice and a door-opening e-mail. Christine Cohen pushed the book into exactly the right hands. The deft copyediting of Sona Vogel and Deanna Hoak saved me from several embarrassments. My thanks to them all, and especially to my editor, Fleetwood Robbins. He under-2 8 8
A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
stood the book from the beginning yet saw how it could be more true to itself.
Finally, my deepest thanks go to Darrell and Thelma Gregory, who never turned down their odd son no matter how many times he showed up at the checkout counter holding another comic or paperback. Mom, I’m sorry this book has so many curse words.
A B OU T T H E AU T HOR
Da r y l G r e g o r y ’s short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, several year’s-best anthologies, and other fine venues. In 2005 he received the Asimov’s Readers’ Award for the novelette
“Second Person, Present Tense.” He lives with his wife and two children in State College, Pennsylvania, where he writes both fiction and web code. Pandemonium is his first novel.
A B OU T T H E T Y P E
This book was set in Electra, a typeface designed for Linotype by W. A. Dwiggins, the renowned type designer (1880–1956). Electra is a fluid typeface, avoiding the contrasts of thick and thin strokes that are prevalent in most modern typefaces.
Pandemonium Page 30