"Thomas F. Monteleone - Tales of Terror and Madness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Monteleone Thomas F)

Head Music Lon Prater ... 330

Around It Still the Sumac Grows Tom Piccirilli ... 339

Annabell L. Lynn Young ... 352

One of Those Weeks Bev Vincent ... 359

Stationary Bike Stephen King ... 372

xi

Introduction

TIME DOESN'T FLY... IT RED-SHIFTS.

It's hard to believe it, but the time between the publication of From
the Borderlands and the previous volume is nine years.

Lots of changes in just about everything during that span. To name but a
few: bricks finally weigh more than cell phones; cigarettes cost as much
as a six-pack; dot.commers no longer name football stadiums; and
eighty-year-old grandmas get checked for shoe-bombs when they want to
fly to Cedar Rapids.

But there is at least one constant: the stories you find in a
Borderlands anthology will be the best imaginative fiction being written.

Period.

We say that with confidence because we've worked hard to find the
absolute best dark fantasy, suspense, and even a few real horror
stories. For those of you who've never read earlier volumes of this
series, we should hip you to some of the "ground rules": (1) Borderlands
is a
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Introduction

non-themed anthology, which means writers are free to explore any topic
they choose; however (2) we are usually not very excited to see stories
which are basically retreads of familiar genre symbols, staples, and
icons. (We're not looking for stories about vampires or ghosts or serial
killers or witches or were-creatures or anything else you've already
read somewhere else.) (3) This anthology is not restricted or