"Wilson, F Paul - adversary 2 - The Tomb" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilson F. Paul)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Abe's neon sign originally appeared in The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van
Vogt, й 1951 by A. E. van Vogt. Used here by permission of the author.

Knowingly and unknowingly, the following individuals have aided me in ways large
and small during the course of writing this book: Betsy Bang and Molly Garrett
Bang (The Demons of Rajpur), Richard Collier (The Great Indian Rebellion), Larry
Collins and Dominique LaPierre (Freedom at Midnight), Harlan Ellison (with the
last line of "Crotoan"), Ken Follett, L. Neil Smith, Steven Spruill, Al
Zuckerman, and, most of all, the old-time tellers of Weird Menace/Yellow Peril
tales.




to my own Vickies: Jennifer and Meggan
chapter one
^ ╗


manhattan
thursday, august 2,198-
1
Repairman Jack awoke with light in his eyes, white noise in his ears, and an
ache in his back.
He had fallen asleep on the couch in the spare bedroom where he kept his Betamax
and projection tv. He turned his head toward the set. A nervous tweed pattern
buzzed around on the six-foot screen while the air conditioner in the right half
of the double window beside it worked full blast to keep the room at seventy.
He got to his feet with a groan and shut off the tv projector. The hiss of white
noise stopped. He leaned over and touched his toes, then straightened and
rotated his lower spine. His back was killing him. That couch was made for
sitting, not sleeping.
He stepped to the Betamax and ejected the tape. He had fallen asleep during the
closing credits of the 1931 Frankenstein, part one of Repairman Jack's
Unofficial James Whale Festival.
Poor Henry Frankenstein, he thought, slipping the cassette into its box. Despite
all evidence to the contrary, despite what everyone around him thought, Henry
had been sure he was sane.
Jack located the proper slot in the cassette rack on the wall, shoved
Frankenstein in, and pulled out its neighbor: The Bride of Frankenstein, part