Other Kingdoms

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by Richard Matheson


  Garal vanished then. A smile. A blessing. And he was gone.

  I could easily understand how a heart could break. For days, I felt that mine was on the verge of severing. I thought I felt the split occurring. I prayed for it to happen all the way. So I could—possibly—be reunited with Ruthana. I wanted my heart to break. Very much.

  * * *

  It didn’t, though. Damn sturdy organ. It remained intact.

  So there’s my story. I hope you liked it. Believed it, anyway. It did happen. All of it. Exactly as I described it. Please believe me when I say it really happened.

  Well, a few more details. In 1936, I moved to Los Angeles. By then, five more of my MIDNIGHT series had seen print, one of them selling to the movies. I settled into a beach apartment, wrote two more MIDNIGHT books, and started drinking. After a year of that foolishness, I attended an AA meeting, which helped.

  I never married. Why bother? Ruthana was my only love.

  Anything else? Yes. One telling detail. I still have the emerald. I keep it in a safety box. No one knows anything about it.

  Remarkably enough, the emerald looks unaffected by time. It still glows with an unearthly shimmer. I guess it always will. It signifies, to me, that Ruthana still loves me. And is waiting for me.

  Somewhere.

  Editorial Note

  The author known as Arthur Black (born Alexander White) died in his sleep on May 20, 1985. The following verse was found in his belongings:

  AT THAT MAGIC TIME

  IN THAT MAGIC PLACE

  I MET THE ONE TRUE LOVE

  OF MY ENTIRE LIFE

  MY FAERIE PRINCESS

  RUTHANA

  Bibliography

  Andrews, Ted. Enchantment of the Faerie Realm. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1993.

  Cavendish, Richard, ed. Man, Myth & Magic, Vols. 1, 2, 14, 23. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1970.

  Dick, Stewart. The Cottage Homes of England. London: Crescent, 1909.

  Ettinger, Albert M., and A. Churchill. A Doughboy with the Fighting Sixty-ninth: A Remembrance of World War I. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 1992.

  Finley, Guy. The Intimate Enemy. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1997.

  Greeves, Lydia. The Perfect English Country Cottage. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995.

  MacManus, D. A. The Middle Kingdom. London: Max Parrish, 1959.

  McCoy, Edain. A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

  Matheson, Richard. The Path: Metaphysics for the ’90s. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1993.

  Mynne, Hugh. The Faerie Way. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

  National Geographic. New York: National Geographic Society, January 2008.

  Randolph, Keith. The Truth About Psychic Self-Defense. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.

  Schur, Norman W. British English, A to Zed. New York: Facts on File, HarperCollins, 1987, 1991.

  Slesin, Suzanne, and Cliff Stafford. English Style. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1984.

  Stepanich, Kisma K. Faery Wicca: Theory & Magick, A Book of Shadows & Light. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

  This Fabulous Century: Sixty Years of American Life. New York: Time-Life Books, 1969.

  Tyson, Donald. Soul Flight: Astral Projection & the Magical Universe. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2007.

  Waters, Colin. Sexual Hauntings Through the Ages. New York: Dorset Press, 1994.

  Winter, J. M. The Experience of World War I. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

  ALSO BY RICHARD MATHESON

  The Beardless Warriors

  Button, Button (The Box)

  Duel

  Earthbound

  The Gun Fight

  Hell House

  I Am Legend

  The Incredible Shrinking Man

  Journal of the Gun Years

  The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok

  Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

  Noir

  Now You See It …

  The Path

  7 Steps to Midnight

  Shadow on the Sun

  Somewhere in Time

  A Stir of Echoes

  What Dreams May Come

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  OTHER KINGDOMS

  Copyright © 2011 by RXR, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  A Tor® eBook

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Matheson, Richard, 1926–

  Other kingdoms / Richard Matheson. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-2768-0

  1. Americans—England—Fiction. 2. Fairies—Fiction. 3. Magic realism (Literature) 4. Great Britain—History—George V, 1910–1936—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3563.A8355O84 2011

  813'.54—dc22

  2010036532

  First Edition: March 2011

  eISBN 978-1-4299-6644-3

  First Tor eBook Edition: March 2011

 

 

 


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