The Stories in Between: A Between Books Anthology - Softcover

Jonathan Carroll; Jeffrey J. Mariotte; Maria V. Snyder; Gregory Frost; Lawrence M. Schoen; John Passarella; Catherynne M. Valente

Softcover

ISBN 10: 097136088X ISBN 13: 9780971360884

Publisher: Fantasist Enterprises, 2010

Synopsis

Help celebrate an iconic indie bookstore! For thirty years, Between Books has provided the Eastern Seaboard of the United States with the absolute best in alternate entertainment-speculative fiction, comics, anime, and gaming. While other stores have disappeared, this shelter from the tides of bitter reality has remained, enduring by providing the finest in every genre, by stacking every shelf, every nook, cranny and tiny space in between with the strange, the beautiful and the terrifying. Now they have brought together many of the authors who have entertained the visitors to their hallowed walls in a collection so splendiferously diverse, it defies conventional description. John Passarella brings us a new Wendy Ward story in which a curse meets its match. A scientist opens her personal Pandora's Box in a tale by Maria V. Snyder. Gregory Frost finds an Old One in the noir. A roving nightmare auditions a new cast member in a chilling tale by Jonathan Maberry. Catherynne M. Valente paints a hauntingly beautiful picture of Hell. Pleasure and longing collide in a story by CJ Henderson. Memory, loss, and comfort coalesce in a story by Jonathan Carroll. All these and more await you in The Stories in Between. Greg Schauer established Between Books in 1979. It resides at 2703 Philadelphia Pike in Claymont, DE.

About this title

From Booklist:

In 1979 Greg Schauer opened Between Books, an unassuming little bookstore in Claymont, Delaware, dedicated to stocking speculative fiction, graphic novels, and every variety of alternative literature. After 30 years enjoying the store’s inspiring bounty, its patrons give Schauer something in return with this celebratory volume of mostly sf, fantasy, and slipstream fiction. The stellar lineup of authors includes Bram Stoker Award winners John Passarella and Jonathan Maberry, popular fantasists Maria Snyder and Patrick Thomas, and best-selling novelist Jonathan Carroll. On a mythic tropical island twin brothers battle for the role of supreme leader even after both are killed. A private detective tracks a missing woman to a West Virginia ghost town harboring aliens. In one story actually featuring Between Books, a failed writer discovers books he apparently published in an alternate universe. The unifying glue of all the stories belonging to the same genre is absent, producing a feeling of unevenness; still, most of the tales are entertaining enough to be fitting tributes to one of the East Coast’s most beloved independent bookstores. --Carl Hays

From Publishers Weekly:

This anthology of 16 speculative stories celebrates the 30th birthday of Delaware independent bookstore Between Books. Though theoretically unthemed, the tales tend to be on the darker side. Superb selections include Jonathan Maberry's Dr. Nine, which delves into the depraved side of human nature; the birth of a new legend in Lawrence M. Schoen's The Fisherman and the Wrestler; Catherynne M. Valente's philosophical Proverbs of Hell; and Gregory Frost's Swift Decline, a tale of ritual and madness. Lawrence C. Connolly's Beneath Between and Mike McPhail's Beyond Imagine even use the bookstore as a setting. Other stories of lesser quality by relative unknowns are placed alongside these standouts, giving the whole work an uneven feel and leaving readers to sift through sand for the gems. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Fantasist Enterprises
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 097136088X
• ISBN 13: 9780971360884
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284
• Editor: Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, W. H. Horner