Realms of Light (28 page)

I was headed out to the cool and the dark,
away from the harsh light of Eta Cassiopeia A, away from everything
I knew, and even though it hadn’t been my choice, I was looking
forward to it. I was looking forward to building a new life for
myself, somewhere out there—a better one, out of the shadow of my
past.

I was hoping it would be a life with friends,
with family; I’d have money, so I wouldn’t be struggling to survive
by digging up other people’s unhappy secrets, and maybe that meant
I could dig up a little happiness for myself. I could spare some
time to make friends; I’d always been a loner, but it hadn’t always
been by choice, and I thought it might be time to stop. I wanted to
get to know people who didn’t
have
secrets.

My father had his dreams, and I had mine. His
were clean and bright, with happy endings guaranteed; mine were
vague and uncertain, with no promises at all. His were fiction;
mine were real.

I liked mine better.

Lawrence Watt-Evans is the author of more than forty
novels of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, as well as over a
hundred short stories, including the Hugo-winning “Why I Left
Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers.” He has served as president of the
Horror Writers Association and treasurer of SFWA, and was the
managing editor of the Hugo-nominated webzine Helix throughout its
brief existence.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, he has
lived for more than twenty years in the Maryland suburbs of
Washington. He has a wife, two grown children, and the obligatory
writer’s cat.

Visit his website at
www.watt-evans.com
,
or find him on Facebook.

from FoxAcre Press

Nightside City

A Carlisle Hsing Adventure

Nightside City will die in the coming dawn—so why is
someone trying to buy up the town? A blend of hard science fiction
and hard-boiled film noir detective story. Everyone thinks the
farside of the planet Epimethus is in permanent shadow—a safe place
to plant a city, safe from a dangerously close sun. But the planet
is rotating. Dawn is coming, and the value of property and life in
Nightside City is rapidly depreciating. Detective Carlisle Hsing
needs to find out who is buying up all the doomed property—and
why?

Among the Powers

Centuries before, the planet called Denner’s
Wreck had been rediscovered, and the agrarian society that had
existed there for millennia treated the handful of high-tech
newcomers like gods. Now one of the primitive hunters has become
caught up in the affairs of the Powers—and discovered that one of
them has gone mad! (Previously published as
Denner’s
Wreck
.)

Shining Steel

John Mercy-of-Christ was born and raised on
Godsworld—a planet settled by Christian Fundamentalists who then
lost all contact with the rest of humanity. With no external
enemies to fight, the people of Godsworld fought among themselves,
and John is a fighter, a war leader for one tribe. But then he
encounters people he can’t fight, people with technology far beyond
anything Godsworld has seen in centuries. The ways and powers of
the newcomers are vast and incomprehensible, and the odds against
him seem insurmountable—but he’s not about to just give up. After
all, God is on his side. Or is He?

Crosstime Traffic

Twenty tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction by
Hugo-Winning Author Lawrence Watt-Evans, master of many genres.
Includes the Hugo-winning story ‘Why I Left Harry’s All-Night
Hamburgers.’

Celestial Debris

Celestial Debris
includes stories that have
long out of print, a story never before published in the United
States—and ‘One Million Lightbulbs,’ published for the first time
anywhere.

Order online at
www.foxacre.com
or at any
online bookseller.