Borderlands

There's a shark in the kitchen. A biology teacher dumps a dead angel onto his grandmother's dining room table. A billion bees swarm the Empire State Building. In an empty attic, a teapot filled with lizards reaches a boil. Everything is understood when a small-town sheriff bites into an eyeball. These are the scenes that draw you into the world of James Maxey. Good luck on finding your way back out.

James Maxey's award winning short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, and more than a dozen other magazines and anthologies. There Is No Wheel collects his 10 most critically acclaimed tales.

"To the East, a Bright Star": A former circus aerialist rescues a trapped girl as the ultimate natural disaster draws nearer.

"Silent as Dust": a tale of Seven Chimneys, a haunted house with one ghost too many.

"Final Flight of the Blue Bee": The Blue Bee’s former sidekick, Stinger, is released from prison after 40 years. Can a venom gun, an army of bees, and a hostage deliver him the justice he deserves?

"Empire of Dreams and Miracles": In Atlantis, no one need ever fear poverty, disease, or death. But what is left of humanity once all the great struggles are won?

"Return to Sender": Crystal Lance is a half-breed angel assigned to root out a demonic cult in a small college town. The monks who’ve raised her have trained her in martial arts and taught her the true names of the 7,777 heavenly powers. But before Crystal can complete her holy mission, she must survive the temptations of coffee, pizza, her first kiss, and Elvis.

"Pentacle on His Forehead, Lizard on His Breath": A junkie uses drugs and magic to search for his dead father, leading his girlfriend to hide all the knives.

"To Know All Things That Are in the Earth": In the aftermath of the Rapture, a scientist attempts to understand the mind of God through the autopsy of an angel.

"Echo of the Eye": In a town of famous for its barbeque, the butcher is a vegetarian. Mostly.

"Where Their Worm Dieth Not": Atomahawk! She-Devil! Retaliator! The most powerful members of the Law Legion must unite to thwart the villainous scheme of the Prime Mover, until Retaliator discovers that they may be in the grip of an even more insidious evil.

"Perhaps the Snail": A young woman is invited back to the trailer of her pop-star idol for a sex act involving a silver tray, a wine bottle, a pistol, a tropical snail, and sudden mystic glimpse of the entirety of creation.

Edmund Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, writes in the introduction: “One thing about James: he pushes boundaries, and he pushes them hard.... James’ stories require a strong mind and strong stomach. They’re freaky weird and hauntingly honest at the same time.”