by Unknown
But he did eat. And he seemed to be growing stronger. On the third day, he wore a weak smile when he opened the door to let Philip in.
On particularly gloomy afternoons, Mukerjee would tell Philip stories about Ana, anecdotes and memories from long ago. He spoke with tears in his eyes, and sometimes when the emotions got too intense he would reach up and snatch his nose off, rocking back and forth in his chair while the tears streamed down and around his nose-holes.
Philip had intended to refer Mukerjee to a psychologist, but he kept putting it off. He didn’t exactly know why. Maybe it was because he got a strange sense of satisfaction seeing Mukerjee wolf down the food he brought every day, seeing his outlook grow gradually sunnier. It was like taking care of a baby bird. There was something powerful about taking a person’s well-being into hand, weighing options, and executing changes. Philip had been working in customer service for ten years and never once experienced it.
He showed up late in December, two months after the beginning of his after-work visits. Over the past weeks, he’d arrived several times to find Mukerjee hunched over the stove, surrounded by horrible, acrid clouds of burning curry spices. On those days they ate their burritos out on the patio, while the house aired out. But finally it seemed that Mukerjee had mastered a simple, odd-tasting curry recipe, topped with fried egg.
He was glad that Mukerjee was managing his own meals. It meant that Philip didn’t need to visit every day, especially now that work was getting rougher. But there were days when he just felt like it: after a long afternoon of dealing with people it was good to go sit on the beat-up armchair in Mukerjee’s living room, eat a slowly-expanding roster of strange Indian food, and talk. The old man always welcomed a chat.
Hearing stories from Mukerjee’s life, all the heartaches and triumphs of sixty-one years, made Philip see his workday stresses in a new light. He was reminded that life was short and fragile, that everything could change at a moment’s notice, that the road could fork when you least expected. For some reason it made it harder for the old social anxiety to sink its claws in.
oOo
They played chess one day deep in winter, using an old wooden set they’d pulled out of Mukerjee’s garage. The pieces were faded, the knights’ features barely visible.
As they played, Philip aired out a long string of complaints about his coworkers. He’d been recently promoted to supervisor, and the frustration of trying to teach the proper customer service attitude was too much for him sometimes. Mukerjee would nod periodically and make a move, pinning one of Philip’s rooks or capturing a pawn. Then Philip would have to pay attention for a while, and they would sit in silence while he extricated himself from the newest threat.
Halfway through the evening, a soft thump made Philip glance up. Mukerjee’s nose had fallen off. It had landed on the chessboard, next to a pawn. It looked like a small, brown mushroom.
The old Indian man reached over, took the nose between thick, wrinkled fingers and moved it to the side of the board, beside the captured pawns and bishops.
Then, the interruption dealt with, Philip and Walter returned their attention to the game and continued to play.
About the Authors
CHRIS BARILI has been writing since he was fourteen, and writes in multiple genres including fantasy, science fiction, horror, western, and paranormal romance. His fiction has appeared on The Western Online (as T.C. Barlow), on Quantum Fairy Tales, and in the anthologies These Vampires Don’t Sparkle and Zombiefied Reloaded by Sky Warrior Books. Later this year, his work will appear in a third Sky Warrior anthology, The Dragon’s Hoard. He is pursuing his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Popular Genre Fiction, with Western State Colorado University in Gunnison, CO, graduating summer of 2015. Follow Chris at www.facebook.com/authorchrisbarili.
SOFIE BIRD writes speculative fiction in Melbourne, Australia, in between programming, glass sculpting and paying the bills as an editor and technical writer. She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, and has published poetry in the Australian periodical Blue Dog. This is her first fiction sale. She maintains a website at sofiebird.net, and you can follow her on twitter: @sofie_bird.
DAVID B. COE/D.B. Jackson is the award-winning author of eighteen fantasy novels. As D.B. Jackson (www.dbjackson-author.com) he writes the Thieftaker Chronicles, a blend of urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. As David B. Coe (www.davidbcoe.com) he writes the Case Files of Justis Fearsson, an urban fantasy published by Baen, and has also written a dozen epic fantasy novels. He is a co-founder and regular contributor to the Magical Words blogsite (magicalwords.net). Follow him on Twitter at @DavidBCoe and @DBJacksonAuthor.
LAURA ANNE GILMAN is the Nebula award-nominated author of Silver on the Road, Book 1 of The Devil’s West, as well as the Vineart War trilogy and the Cosa Nostradamus urban fantasy series (including the forthcoming novella Work of Hunters). Ms. Gilman also writes mysteries under the name L.A. Kornetsky. You can find her on Twitter as @LAGilman, and at www.lauraannegilman.net
AMY GRISWOLD is the co-author (with Melissa Scott) of the gaslamp fantasy/mystery novels Death by Silver and A Death at the Dionysus Club from Lethe Press. She has also written several Stargate tie-in novels from Fandemonium Books, including the upcoming Murder at the SGC. She can be found online at @amygris and amygriswold.livejournal.com.
ELEKTRA HAMMOND emulates her multi-sided idol Buckaroo Banzai by going in several directions at once. She’s been involved in publishing since the 1990s—now she writes, concocts anthologies, reviews movies for tabloid.io & edits science fiction for various and sundry. When not freelancing or appearing at science fiction conventions, she travels the world judging cat shows. Elektra lives in Delaware with her husband, Mike, and the well over a dozen cats of BlueBlaze/Benegesserit catteries. She can be found on Facebook/G+ (Elektra Hammond), Twitter (elektraUM), LiveJournal (elektra), and building up her website at www.untilmidnight.com
New York Times Bestselling author FAITH HUNTER writes fantasy in several subgenres: the urban fantasy Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skinwalker; the post-apocalyptic Rogue Mage series and RPG, featuring Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage; and the upcoming SoulWood trilogy featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, a woman who can siphon off the magic of others and is drawn into solving paranormal crimes. Faith writes mystery and thrillers under the name Gwen Hunter. When she isn’t writing, Faith likes to make jewelry, run whitewater rivers (Class II and III), and RV with her hubby and their rescued dogs.
SUSAN JETT lives in an old wooden farmhouse in New Hampshire with her husband, son, and an old barn full of books. Also, a woodstove and lots of smoke detectors—some of which sometimes go off in the middle of the night for no good reason. She regularly blogs at www.susanjett.com and occasionally tweets under the name @JettSusan. Just in case you want to be among the first to know if her smoke alarms ever decide to take on Novikov’s self-consistency principle, or her house burns down …
GINI KOCH writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles. She also has a humor collection, Random Musings from the Funny Girl. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series and she’s made the most of multiple personality disorder by writing under a variety of other pen names as well, including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch. She has stories featured in a variety of excellent anthologies, available now and upcoming, writing as Gini Koch and J.C. Koch. Reach her via: www.ginikoch.com
STEPHEN LEIGH, who also writes under the name S.L. Farrell, is a Cincinnati author who has published twenty-eight novels and over fifty short stories. His most recent novel is The Crow of Connemara from DAW Books, March 2015. Stephen’s work has been nominated for and won awards within the genre, and he been a frequent contributor to George RR Martin’s “Wild Cards” series. He currently teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University, and is a frequent speaker to writers gro
ups. He maintains his web site at www.stephenleigh.com, and you can sign up for his newsletter there.
SEANAN MCGUIRE writes things. It is difficult to make her stop. When she is not writing things, she can be found in haunted corn mazes around the world. Some of them may be near you. Seanan lives in a creepy old farmhouse in Northern California, which she shares with two abnormally large blue cats, a collection of dolls even creepier than the house, and a lot of books. Find her online at www.seananmcguire.com
JULIET E. MCKENNA is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds. She has loved history, myth and other worlds since she first learned to read. She has written fifteen epic fantasy novels, from The Thief’s Gamble, beginning The Tales of Einarinn to Defiant Peaks, concluding The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. In between novels, she writes assorted diverse shorter fiction, reviews for web and print magazines and promotes SF & Fantasy through genre conventions, teaching creative writing and commenting on book trade issues. Most recently she’s been exploring opportunities in independent digital publishing, re-issuing her backlist as well as bringing out original fiction.
LAURA RESNICK is the author of the popular Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, the epic fantasy Silerian series, and many short stories. “The Spiel of the Glocken” was inspired by the history of her new home town, Covington, Kentucky.
CHUCK ROTHMAN has been writing science fiction and fantasy for over 30 years, with stories in Asimov’s, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog, Daily SF, Strange Horizons, and multiple anthologies. His novels, Staroamer’s Fate and Syron’s Fate are available from Fantastic Books and on Amazon.com. He’s been involved in running the Albacon SF convention since 1996. He owns a crockpot and lives in Schenectady with his wife Susan Noe Rothman and can be found on the web on Facebook and at sites.google.com/site/chuckrothmansf/.
STEVE RUSKIN’s stories have appeared in Mad Scientist Journal, Steampunk Trails, and the anthology Avast, Ye Airships! He is an historian of science and technology, focusing on the Victorian period. He has been a university professor, a mountain-bike guide, and a number of things in between. In addition to fiction he has written for publications ranging from the American Journal of Physics to the Rocky Mountain News. He lives in Colorado. Visit him online at steveruskin.com.
EDMUND R. SCHUBERT is the author of the novel, Dreaming Creek, and some 45+ short stories, about half of which are collected in The Trouble with Eating Clouds. Recent publications include an audio-story in IGMS and stories in Big Bad 2 and Temporally Out of Order. He’s currently in his ninth year editing the online magazine InterGalactic Medicine Show (IGMS), also producing three IGMS anthologies, and editing and contributing to the non-fiction book, How to Write Magical Words. Schubert still insists, however, that his greatest accomplishment came during college, when his self-published underground newspaper made him the subject of a professor’s lecture in abnormal psychology. Learn more at: www.EdmundRSchubert.com
JEREMY SIM is an American writer living in Berlin, Germany. He loves curries, fantasy novels and video games, especially the kind with lots of menus. He stubs his toes on furniture with frightening regularity. Find him online at www.jeremysim.com or on Twitter @jeremy_sim.
About the Editors
PATRICIA BRAY is the author of a dozen novels, including Devlin’s Luck, which won the Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the field of science fiction or fantasy. A multi-genre author whose career spans both epic fantasy and Regency romance, her books have been translated into Russian, German, Portuguese and Hebrew. She’s also spent time on the editorial side of the fence, co-editing After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar, The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity, and Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs Aliens with her frequent partner-in-crime Joshua Palmatier. Patricia lives in a New England college town, where she combines her writing with a full-time career as a Systems Analyst, ensuring that she is never more than a few feet away from a keyboard. You can find her on Twitter as @pbrayauthor, or visit her webpage at www.patriciabray.com
JOSHUA PALMATIER is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. He currently teaches at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York, while writing in his “spare” time, editing anthologies with fellow zombie and co-editor Patricia Bray, and founding the anthology-producing small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. His most recent fantasy novel Shattering the Ley (July 2014) starts a new fantasy series, although you can also find his Throne of Amenkor series already on the shelves. He is currently hard at work writing Threading the Needle, the sequel to Shattering the Ley, and designing the kickstarter for the next Zombies Need Brains anthology project. You can find out more at www.joshuapalmatier.com or www.benjamintate.com (yes, he committed pseudonym) or at the small press’ site www.zombiesneedbrains.com. Or follow him on Twitter as @bentateauthor or @ZNBLLC.
Acknowledgements
This anthology would not have been possible without the tremendous support of those who pledged during the Kickstarter. Everyone who contributed not only helped create this anthology, they also helped solidify the foundation of the small press Zombies Need Brains LLC, which I hope will be bringing SF&F themed anthologies to the reading public for years to come … as well as perhaps some select novels by leading authors, eventually. I want to thank each and every one of them for helping to bring this small dream into reality. Thank you, my zombie horde.
The Zombie Horde: D-Rock, David K. Mason, Jen Warren, William R.D. Wood, J V Ackermann, Stephen Ballentine, trit, Duncan & Andrea Rittschof, Deirdre M. Murphy, SharlzG, Rosemary Edghill, Pat Hayes, Nathan Turner, Brian Quirt, Gary Newcomb, Kaia Gavere, Heidi Cykana, Sabrina Poulsen, Melissa Shumake, Samuel Lubell, Liz Justusson, Catherine Gross-Colten, Craig Strong, Misha Dainiak, Hisham El-Far, Roy Romasanta, Evaristo Ramos, Jr., Christopher Northern, Jaime C., Todd V. Ehrenfels, Jay Watson, Mandy Stein, Andy Miller, J C Jones, Nicole Wolfe, Becky LeJeune, Robin Allen, Liz Harkness, Bo, Michelle Lutz, Janet Oblinger, Heidi Berthiaume, Rachel Sasseen, Gina Freed, Rick Dalby II, David Perlmutter, Sofie Bird, Joel Zakem, Ron Oakes, Tim Marquitz, April Steenburgh, Sheryl, Aaron Canton, Cathy Green, Mike Skolnik, Marie Angel, M. DeWorken, Galit A., Joey Shoji, Christopher Mangum, Pam Blome, Kerry aka Trouble, Evil Kitten, Jessica Meade, Max Kaehn, Ashley Oswald, Rory Hart, Brenda Cooper, Jen Edwards, Ruth Stuart, Mark Kiraly, Ellen Kuehnle, Katherine Malloy, Regis M. Donovan, Kristie Strum, Carla Borsoi, Kristi Chadwick, Yankton Robins, D. Taylor-Rodriguez, Nick Watkins, Jessica Reid, Stephanie Cheshire, Jason Lenox, Michael Nichols, Russell Martens, Julie Frost, Keith West, Michael Roger Nichols, Jerrie the filkferengi, James H. Murphy Jr., Brad Roberts, Christa, Jerel Heritage, K. Gavenman, Sara Glassman, Robert Gilson, Juli, William Silvia Jr, Rylee Akard, Scott Drummond, David Drew, Patrick Dugan, Sarah Coldheart, Mary Spila, Svend Andersen, Lisa Kruse, Aristhosthenes and Jeff, T.Rob, Jonathan Jordan, Amy Nerenberg, George Mitchell, Jonathan S. Chance, Thorsten Lockert, Casey C Clark, Carol Guess, Kat & Dan, Tina M Noe, Patti Short, L. E. Doggett, Beth aka Scifibookcat, Dino Hicks, Brian, Sarah, and Josh Williams, Beth Vrabel, Jean Marie Ward, Evenstar Deane, Jason Palmatier, Elaine Tindill-Rohr, Ron Wodaski, Ragnarok Publications, Rachel Blackman, Mark Newman, W Converse, Matt Wagner, Larisa LaBrant, Greg Dejasco, Amelia Smith, Laura Davidson, Andrew Arminio, Mariada George, Ian Chung, Merav Hoffman, Lennhoff Family, Becky Boyer, Rae & Henri K, Alexander Smith, Sidra Roman, Mary Alice Wuerz, Debbie Matsuura, Sheryl R. Hayes, S. Baur, Ed Ellis, Karen Haugland, Cynthia Porter, Brian Y Ashmore, Jenn Mercer, Ann Lemay, Jona Fras, Jay Zastrow, Tom B, Steven Mentzel, Keith Hall, Amanda Johnson, Adora H, Arne Radtke, Lisa Padol, Jenn Bernat, Mikaela, Thomas Zilling, Kim Vandervort, Elektra, Gavran, Tsana Dolichva, Michael Bernardi, Matthew & Amy Nesbitt, Jeff Coquery, Michele Fry, Robert Maughan, Punky, Annika Samuelsson, Leah Webber, JoanneBB, Alysia Murphy, Louise Lowenspets, J.P. Goodwin, Zuhur Abdo, Jolene ‘Bob’ Taylor, Simon D, William Hughes, penwing, Catie Murphy, Royce Easton Day, Fred and Mimi Bailey, Julia Cresswell, Colette Reap, Ben “Zhaph” Duguid, Bas de Bakker, Catherine Farnon, Wayne L McCalla Jr., Lesley
Smith, Liz Pittman, Paul Bulmer, Tatsuaki Goh, @solardepths, Kevin Winter, Brian Nisbet, Danielle Hall, Joyce Haslam, Peter Donald, Kristine Kearney, Rivka, Gabe Krabbe, Diana Castillo, Pete Hollmer, Deirdre Furtado, Kari, Tiago Thedim Dias, John Green, Sarah Stewart, Smashingsuns, Robert Early, Jeff Gulosh, Fred Dillon, Anne Burner, Darryl M. Wood, Keith Jones, Iain Riley, rissatoo, Peter Hentges, Gary Phillips, James Spinks, Bill and Laura Pearson, Colleen Reed, Norman Walsh, Mark Webb, Brian Brunswick, Ian Harvey, Paul V, Heather Fagan, David Perkins, Rebecca M, Eagle Archambeault, Jake, Chrissie, Grace & Savannah Palmatier, Tara Smith, Deborah Blake, Jenn Ridley, Darrell Grizzle, Kaitlin Thorsen, Emily Leverett, David J Fortier, John T. Sapienza, Jr., Wolf SilverOak, Shawna Jaquez, Kurt, Arkady Martine, Axisor, Sarah A., Deanna Stanley, Ty Wilda, James Weber, Jen Woods, Lesley Mitchell, Steven Halter, Lesen Arms, Michael Feldhusen, Loni Marie Addis, Hugh, Cheryl Preyer, Gail Z. Martin, shmoo, Ryan Young, Herefox, M@ Senne, Bill mcGeachin, Ted Brown, Elizabeth Kite, Jennifer Berk, Larry Sanchez-von Guttenberg, Tory Shade, Dina S Willner, Karen Chinetti, Cora Anderson, Adriane Ruzak, Anne Marie W., Gary Vandegrift, Mogepy, Kelsie Covington, Sally Novak Janin, sydney sandberg, Keith E. Hartman, Joelle M. Reizes, Lexie C., Laurie, Maggie Allen, Catherine Barth, Kelly Babcock, A.J. French, Gammelor Goodenow, Shannon Kauderer, Brook West, T. England, Michael Abbott, Giana Tondolo Bonilla, Emy Peters, Jami Nord, Margaret St. John, Tom Carpenter, Sandra Komoroff, Lori Parker, Melanie C. Duncan, Andrew and Kate Barton, Gary Ehrlich, Joshuah Kusnerz, Jason Hargenrader, Doug Eckhoff, E_bookpushers, Jessica Rydill, Keri Mills, Johnathon Otworth, Steve Lord, C. Joshua Villines, Krystina Harrington, Melissa Tabon, Peter Young, Revek, Hans Ranke, Andy Clayman, Eleanor Russell, Jules Jones, Jenny Barber, Derek Hudgins, C Budworth, Morva Bowman & Alan Pollard, Charles Scott, Remer Speaks Jr, catherin nelson, Gina D’Amigo, sam murphy, Christine Swendseid, Michael Carroll, Jennifer Della’Zanna, Hamish Laws, Lirion, Jill Baum, Deborah, Anna McDuff, Beth Tiffany, Jeffery Lawler, Olna Jenn Smith, Chan Ka Chun Patrick, Megan E. Daggett, Capt. Stuckey, Epiphyllum, Tibs, Missy Gunnels Katano, Karen Fonville, PK, K Gendall, Margaret S. McGraw, Alexander Pendergrass, Flights of Fantasy Books & Games, Jon K.G. Allanson, Laura, Louisa Swann, Colin A Fisher, Catherine Sharp, Shawn Marier, Nick D, Tammy Mabire, Mandy Wultsch, Daniel s, Kristin Evenson Hirst, Kenny Soward, Kerri Regan, Damon and Jenna Bratcher, K. M. Strawser, Kevin Niemczyk, Park, Tracy Benton, Forrest Austin, Kriatyrr, Victoria Traube, Catherine Nelson, Orla Carey, james_