Synopses & Reviews
Barry Malzberg states in his Foreword that "this collection announces a completely formed, irreplaceable talent at the beginning of a remarkable career." Although his first sale was a mere ten years ago, Dale Bailey's literary fantasies have been a delight from the start, and a collection is now due.
The title story, "The Resurrection Man's Legacy," was nominated for the Nebula Award and has been optioned for a movie by director James Cameron. A young, orphaned lad must live with an elder aunt; the childless aunt proves unable to supply all that the boy requires, so she purchases a robotic, surrogate father for him. Is a robot in any way a replacement for a human father? Is it possible to have affection and feeling toward a construct? Bailey skillfully navigates these questions, in a moving coming-of-age story.
Bailey walks on the dark side with many of his stories. In "The Anencephalic Fields," we have another coming-of-age story, that of a lad isolated with his mother on a "farm" where humanlike plants are grown. This protected life is turned topsy-turvy when the outside world violently forces itself on him and his mother. Child abuse and the choice of running or fighting is explored in "Quinn's Way." And why do people not see the abuse, and is a magic circus the only way out?
Other stories blend fantasy with reality, with the dead arising to vote, the pain of having to bury your firstborn child, a "lost" southern town where slavery still rears its ugly head, and other horrific, thought-provoking, terrible, and wonderful tales of life. The collection ends on two powerful notes. "Sheep's Clothing" is a near-future science fiction tale of an assassin planning to kill a politician, to make the world a better place to live, by assuming control of his daughter's body, and using her body to kill the father. But do the ends always justify the means? The ending novella, "In Green's Dominion," has a spinster professor, reflecting on her life as it nears its conclusion, settling her "affairs" and remembering the "magic" moments in her life too late, perhaps? Can lost opportunities ever be reclaimed?
These literary short works of science fiction, fantasy, and psychological horror are the foundation of what will be a long and successful career for Dale Bailey.
Review
"[B]ring[s] to mind the deft chill of Ray Bradbury's early work. With his thoughtful, frequently elegiac prose, Bailey has a knack for crisp, compelling family drama strung on a web of fantasy." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Bailey's stories are a sort of literary 'comfort food' extremely well-made, reminiscent of the familiar, and filling. At this point in his career, he seems to be a reliable writer to whom readers can return over and over with satisfaction..." Paula Guran, Cemetery Dance Magazine
Review
"[A]mbitious, stylistically impressive...delving within, it's easy to become hooked on his intense, moody prose, his carefully observed and spooky Southern settings, his ingenuity in matters macabre." Nick Gevers, Locus
Review
"[M]ight remind some readers of the early work of Ray Bradbury, but with a tougher, more contemporary edge....These are stories not likely to be forgotten, and they are likely to spur readers to hunt down Bailey's other work." Michael Berry, San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"In these disturbing and poignant stories, Dale Bailey dresses memory in meat and puts flesh on figments of imagination that the mortal run of us let dissolve into vapor at daybreak. He is expert at assuming a credible storytelling persona, evoking both milieu and malaise, and tipping nightmare into narrative. This new Golden Gryphon Press collection showcases Bailey performing these literary feats without evident strain and, in many stories, all at the same time." Michael Bishop, author of the Nebula Award-winning novel No Enemy But Time
Synopsis
Dale Bailey's literary fantasies have delighted readers for the past decade, and this collection brings together the best of his work. The title story, "The Resurrection Man's Legacy," has been optioned for a movie. In it, a young orphan must live with an elderly aunt who proves unable to supply all that the boy requires and purchases a robotic, surrogate father for him. In "The Anencephalic Fields," another coming-of-age story, a boy is isolated with his mother on a farm where humanlike plants are grown. "Sheep's Clothing" is a near-future science fiction tale of an assassin planning to kill a politician by assuming control of his daughter's body and using it to commit the murder. The ending novella, "In Green's Dominion," is the story of a spinster professor reflecting on her life as it nears its conclusion, settling her affairs and remembering the magic moments in her life. Other stories blend fantasy with reality, with the dead arising to vote, the painful burial of a firstborn child, a lost southern town where slavery still rears its ugly head, and other horrific, thought-provoking, terrible, and wonderful tales of life.
Synopsis
Short story collection by one of the rising stars of literary horror and dark fantasy.
About the Author
Dale Bailey is an assistant professor of English at Lenoir-Rhyne College. He is a frequent contributor to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and has published short fiction in Amazing Stories, Pulphouse, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Nebula Awards 31, and The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction. He is the author of American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction and writes a bimonthly column on death and dying for The Dodge Magazine. He lives in Hickory, North Carolina.
Table of Contents
Dale Bailey: In His Dominion ix
The Resurrection Man's Legacy 3
Death and Suffrage 34
The Anencephalic Fields 69
Home Burial 100
Quinn's Way 114
Touched 143
The Census Taker 156
Exodus 181
Cockroach 194
Sheep's Clothing 229
In Green's Dominion 256
Story Notes 321