The Golden Age of Weird Fiction Megapack, Volume 5 Read online

  Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series

  THE JELLY-FISH

  THE WORM

  THE BONELESS HORROR

  A PIECE OF LINOLEUM

  THE GOLDEN BOUGH

  THE DEAD WOMAN

  THE DOORBELL

  TIGER CAT

  THE THIRTY AND ONE

  HEREDITY

  THE FACE IN THE MIRROR

  THE GOLDEN KEY

  STENOGRAPHER’S HANDS

  WHITE COLLARS

  THE CEREBRAL LIBRARY

  UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN

  LIFE EVERLASTING

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  The Golden Age of Weird Fiction MEGAPACK™, Vol. 5: David H. Keller is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  David H. Keller, M.D. (1880-1966) was indeed a medical doctor (a psychiatrist—and the first to write science fiction). He most often published under his real name (with M.D. after it), but he also published work as Monk Smith, Matthew Smith, Amy Worth, Henry Cecil, Cecilia Henry, and Jacobus Hubelaire.

  His work was embraced early on by Hugo Gernsback, who published Keller’s first science fiction story, “The Revolt of the Pedestrians” in Amazing Stories in 1928. Gernsback was impressed by Keller’s quality of writing, unique insight, and ability to address sophisticated themes beyond the commonplace technological predictions or lurid alien encounters typically found in early pulp stories. He encouraged Keller’s writing and would later call these distinctive short stories “Keller yarns.”

  John Clute wrote that Keller was “deeply involved in the last capacity in World War I and its consequences, his work focusing on shell shock; he was one of relatively few American sf writers to have anything like the direct experience of War That Will End War that marked so many British authors, a fact that may help explain his abiding cultural pessimism, often expressed in stories where a thin, almost literal veneer of civilization is peeled off to reveal the excrescence within.”

  As with many pulp writers, especially those born in the 19th Century, his works are not always politically correct. Critics have pointed out his strong right-wing views, hostility to feminists (occasionally bordering on mysogeny) and African Americans. He was indeed a product of a different era.

  His later works tended more toward fantasy and horror (and are regarded by critics as his very best works). He was an early proponent of H.P. Lovecraft and wrote a number of articles on Lovecraft’s work, whose influence can be seen in some of his horror stories. Another influence was James Branch Cabell; Keller’s “Tales of Cornwall” sequence, about the Hubelaire family, is clearly a result of his reading Cabell’s Jurgen and its sequels.

  This volume concentrates on Keller’s fantasy and horror, but does include—at the end of the book—a few science-fiction and science-fantasy works which we obtained to late to include in the (already published) volume of his science fiction stories.

  Enjoy!

  —John Betancourt

  Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

  www.wildsidepress.com

  ABOUT THE SERIES

  Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

  RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

  Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

  Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

  TYPOS

  Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

  If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

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  THE GOLDEN AGE OF PULP FICTION

  1. George Allan England

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION

  1. Winston K. Marks

  2. Mark Clifton

  3. Poul Anderson

  4. Clifford D. Simak

  5. Lester del Rey (vol. 1)

  6. Charles L. Fontenay

  7. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 1)

  8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)

  9. Dave Dryfoos

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  12. David H. Keller, M.D.

  13. Lester del Rey (vol. 2)

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  16. William C. Gault

  17. Alan E. Nourse

  18. Jerome Bixby

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION

  1. Henry S. Whitehead

  2. George T. Wetzel

  3. Emil Petaja

  4. Nictzin Dyalhis

  5. David H. Keller

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