Showing results by publisher "Valancourt Books" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Michael Shea (1946-2014) was one of the finest American authors of speculative fiction of modern times, and Polyphemus (1987), originally published as a limited edition hardcover by Arkham House, features the best of his short fiction, in which he deftly blends the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. A landmark collection of modern speculative fiction returns at long last in this edition.

An expedition in South America uncovers a terrifying race of men without bones who literally suck the life out of their prey. A man in 20th-century London makes a horrifying discovery about a monster found off the coast of Brighton in 1745. A sea captain goes ashore on a deserted island and finds what seem to be the bones of a previously unknown species of monster, only to learn that the bones tell a much more tragic tale than he could ever have imagined.

One of the great pulp writers, Fredric Brown (1906-1972) combined a flair for the horrific, a quirky sense of humor, and a wild imagination, and published many classic novels in the mystery and science fiction genres. But he was also a master of the "short-short story", tales only a page or two in length, but hard-hitting and with a wicked twist at the end.

A teenager stares at his reflection and sees the Milky Way. A motorbike prowls and growls like a wild animal. A whale sings a song to end loneliness. Philip Ridley's collection of short stories became an instant cult classic when first published in 1990. Magical, poetic, heartbreaking, and humorous, the sequence explores childhood, family life, romantic love in all its aspects - lost, unrequited, obsessional - and does so with a haunting mixture of both the barbaric and the beautiful. This edition includes two new stories, "Alien Heart" and "Wonderful Insect".