The Shadow on the Doorstep

By James P. Blaylock

Cover by Phil Foglio

The Author's Personal Favorites of his own Short Fiction, plus an Introduction by Tim Powers and an Afterword by Lewis Shiner

SIT DOWN.  GRAB A BOX of doughnuts.  Make it a baker's dozen, one for each story

James Blaylock has carefully constructed these stories to fill the reader with wonder, looking at the magic just below the surface, and offering you a variety of different styles of fantasy.

If you like your fantasy filled with darkness, try "The Old Curiosity Shop," in which Doyle Jimmerson must come to terms with the death of his wife and his own inadequacies that helped create the world in which he finds himself.

Or you might prefer the nostalgia-glazed fantasy.  If so, bite into "Thirteen Phantasms," where the discovery of an old box of magazines leads Landers to yearn for a simpler time when it was easier to find a sense of wonder.

You say the frosting of the paranormal is what makes you sit up?  Try sampling "The Other Side" and just wait for the hairs on your arms to stand on end.

If you're wondering why this sounds like it was written in a bakery, turn to "Doughnuts," and find what Blaylock refers to as "the true quill."

When you're finished reading the stories in this collection, you'll find yourself as full of goodness as your doughnut box is empty.

Table of Contents

• Introduction by Tim Powers
• Foreword by James Blaylock
  
  
• The Shadow on the Doorstep
• Paper Dragons
• Thirteen Phantasms
• Doughnuts
• The Other Side
• In For a Penny
• His Own Backyard
• Small Houses
• The Pink of Fading Neon
• The Dry Spell
• Hula Ville
• Unidentified Objects
• The Old Curiosity Shop
  
  
• Afterword by Lewis Shiner
• Bibliography

Comments on James Blaylock's work:

"James P. Blaylock has proved himself to be among the front-running authors working in speculative fiction"

— Rick Kleffel

"Here is a writer with an unusual attachment to sea creatures, who is so inventive he could portray a quirk with a phrase, who's made me snigger and snort too many times to count, who has wrung most of my emotional spectrum in each of his books"

— Rodger Turner
SF Site

"If you're looking for someone who writes with great heart, who tells a story with great charm and wit, in his own individual fashion, a novel like [Blaylock's The Knights of the Cornerstone] might be exactly what you're looking for."

— Charles de Lint
F&SF

"The Rainy Season, a richly complex novel that deftly combines love, death, and family into a heady concoction that never fails, is Blaylock at his finest."

— Jonathan Strahan
Locus

"James Blaylock turns out to be an excellent writer, a conscientious craftsman whose writing is beautiful, something to savor."

— M. Bobowski
The Short Review

"Winter Tides features all of Blaylock's trademark strengths — well drawn characters, superior prose style, and a detailed evocation of small-town California that will make you think you've been there..."

Hank Wagner
Nova Express

James P. Blaylock  lives in Southern California, where, among other things, he writes, teaches creative writing, and occasionally builds sets for local community and children's theaters.  He is the author of some sixteen novels and scores of short stories and essays, and was twice winner of the World Fantasy Award, most recently for his short story "Thirteen Phantasms."  His story "Unidentified Objects" was included in Prize Stories 1990:  The O. Henry Awards.

Phil Foglio  has produced several notable comic series over his lengthy career, from "What's New with Phil and Dixie," which appeared in Dragon magazine, to Buck Godot, to XXXenophile, to the current Girl Genius.  He won back-to-back Hugo Awards for best Fan Artist in 1977 and 1978 and won the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2009.