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The Night Shop
You may have found it too, down a side-street, in a back lane, up or down some stairs. Open at odd hours, usually after sundown, mostly way past midnight, just a few lights showing. Windows filled with half-seen things, all darkling glints and firefly shimmer, suddenly precious.
You know the kind. You've found one, seen one, dreamed one, imagined it there in the small hours, primed and waiting. You've probably tried to find it again, found it locked, found it gone. Some places never stay.
But who chooses to open in these empty late-night hours, wants to, needs to? What people come to its door when the wind is in the trees, singing in the wires, scattering leaves along the sidewalks?
Forgotten. Overlooked. Waiting. These are the watchwords for such a place. And others. Soon. Believe.
Your chance. Your chance again. You've found it and it's open. The door swings back. The little bell rings. The sound trails off into the night, the wind, forlorn.
At first there's no-one. Then, of course, there is.
"You made it," a voice says, deliciously strange yet strangely familiar. Then there's the smile, what might just be a wink. "So much for a good night's sleep, eh?"
Australia's internationally acclaimed master of horror and dark fantasy, winner of the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection, serves up another 18 of his wonderfully disturbing tales of appropriate fear, among them such treasured "Best of" selections as "Two Steps Along the Road," "Nightside Eye" and "Mariners' Round," "Toother," "The Sleepover," and "Dark Me, Night You." This is the kind of sharp intelligent horror others dream of...
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Danel Olson
The Night Shop – 1
Two Steps Along the Road
Dark Me, Night You
The Night Shop – 2
Mariners’ Round
The Sleepover
The Shaddowwes Box
The Way the Red Clown Hunts You
Basic Black
Light from the Deep Pavilion
The Night Shop – 3
Toother
The Four Darks
No Nets Can Catch
The Fooly
The Night Shop – 4
Jarkman at the Othergates
Corpse Rose
Still Life, with Stranging Glass
The Suits at Auderlene
The Other Séance at Kenmyre
Nightside Eye
The Night Shop – 5
You know the kind. You've found one, seen one, dreamed one, imagined it there in the small hours, primed and waiting. You've probably tried to find it again, found it locked, found it gone. Some places never stay.
But who chooses to open in these empty late-night hours, wants to, needs to? What people come to its door when the wind is in the trees, singing in the wires, scattering leaves along the sidewalks?
Forgotten. Overlooked. Waiting. These are the watchwords for such a place. And others. Soon. Believe.
Your chance. Your chance again. You've found it and it's open. The door swings back. The little bell rings. The sound trails off into the night, the wind, forlorn.
At first there's no-one. Then, of course, there is.
"You made it," a voice says, deliciously strange yet strangely familiar. Then there's the smile, what might just be a wink. "So much for a good night's sleep, eh?"
Australia's internationally acclaimed master of horror and dark fantasy, winner of the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection, serves up another 18 of his wonderfully disturbing tales of appropriate fear, among them such treasured "Best of" selections as "Two Steps Along the Road," "Nightside Eye" and "Mariners' Round," "Toother," "The Sleepover," and "Dark Me, Night You." This is the kind of sharp intelligent horror others dream of...
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Danel Olson
The Night Shop – 1
Two Steps Along the Road
Dark Me, Night You
The Night Shop – 2
Mariners’ Round
The Sleepover
The Shaddowwes Box
The Way the Red Clown Hunts You
Basic Black
Light from the Deep Pavilion
The Night Shop – 3
Toother
The Four Darks
No Nets Can Catch
The Fooly
The Night Shop – 4
Jarkman at the Othergates
Corpse Rose
Still Life, with Stranging Glass
The Suits at Auderlene
The Other Séance at Kenmyre
Nightside Eye
The Night Shop – 5
- GenresHorror
410 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2017
5 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Terry Dowling
105 books58 followersTerence William (Terry) Dowling -
“Who’s the writer who can produce horror as powerful and witty as the best of Peter Straub, SF as wondrously byzantine and baroque as anything by Gene Wolfe, near-mainstream subtly tinged with the fantastic like some tales by Powers or Lansdale? Why Terry Dowling, of course.” Locus (Nov 1999)
Born in Sydney in 1947, Terry Dowling is one of Australia’s most awarded, versatile and internationally acclaimed writers of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror. He is author of Rynosseros (1990), Blue Tyson (1992), Twilight Beach (1993) and Rynemonn (2007) (the Ditmar award-winning Tom Rynosseros saga, which, in his 2002 Fantastic Fictions Symposium keynote speech, US Professor Brian Attebery called “not only intricate and engaging, but important as well”), Wormwood (1991), The Man Who Lost Red (1994), An Intimate Knowledge of the Night (1995), Antique Futures: The Best of Terry Dowling (1999), Blackwater Days (2000) and Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear (2006) (which earned a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly in May 2006 and won the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection). He is editor of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Essential Ellison (1987/ revised 2001), Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF (1993) and The Jack Vance Treasury (2007).
Dowling has outstanding publishing credentials. As well as appearances in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Year’s Best SF, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF, The Year’s Best Fantasy, The Best New Horror and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (a record eight times; he is the only author to have had two stories in the 2001 volume, one chosen by each editor), his work has appeared in such major anthologies as Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction, The Dark, Dreaming Down Under, Gathering the Bones and The Oxford Book of Australian Ghost Stories and in such diverse publications as the prestigious SciFiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Interzone, Oceans of the Mind, Ténèbres, Ikarie, Japan’s SF and Russia’s Game.Exe. His fiction has been translated into many languages and has been used in a course in forensic psychology in the US.
“Here is Jack Vance, Cordwainer Smith and Tiptree/Sheldon come again, reborn in one wonderful talent…you’ll purr and growl with delight.” – Harlan Ellison
Terry has also written and co-designed three best-selling computer adventures: Schizm: Mysterious Journey (2001) (aka US Mysterious Journey: Schizm) (www.schizm.com/schizm1/), Schizm II: Chameleon (2003) (aka US Mysterious Journey II: Chameleon) (www.schizm2.info) and Sentinel: Descendants in Time (2004) (aka Realms of Illusion) (www.dormeuse.info) (based on his 1996 short story, “The Ichneumon and the Dormeuse”), which have been published in many foreign language editions. He has reviewed for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Bulletin, and was the science fiction, fantasy and horror reviewer for The Weekend Australian for nineteen years under four different literary editors: Barry Oakley, James Hall, Murray Waldren and Deborah Hope.
Terry holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Western Australia (the first such degree to be granted and completed at that university), an MA (Hons) in English Literature and a BA (Hons) in English Literature, Archaeology and Ancient History, both from the University of Sydney. He has won many Ditmar and Aurealis Awards for his fiction, as well as the William Atheling Jr Award for his critical work. His first computer adventure won the Grand Prix at Utopiales in France in 2001 and he has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award twice.
“Who’s the writer who can produce horror as powerful and witty as the best of Peter Straub, SF as wondrously byzantine and baroque as anything by Gene Wolfe, near-mainstream subtly tinged with the fantastic like some tales by Powers or Lansdale? Why Terry Dowling, of course.” Locus (Nov 1999)
Born in Sydney in 1947, Terry Dowling is one of Australia’s most awarded, versatile and internationally acclaimed writers of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror. He is author of Rynosseros (1990), Blue Tyson (1992), Twilight Beach (1993) and Rynemonn (2007) (the Ditmar award-winning Tom Rynosseros saga, which, in his 2002 Fantastic Fictions Symposium keynote speech, US Professor Brian Attebery called “not only intricate and engaging, but important as well”), Wormwood (1991), The Man Who Lost Red (1994), An Intimate Knowledge of the Night (1995), Antique Futures: The Best of Terry Dowling (1999), Blackwater Days (2000) and Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear (2006) (which earned a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly in May 2006 and won the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection). He is editor of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Essential Ellison (1987/ revised 2001), Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF (1993) and The Jack Vance Treasury (2007).
Dowling has outstanding publishing credentials. As well as appearances in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Year’s Best SF, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF, The Year’s Best Fantasy, The Best New Horror and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (a record eight times; he is the only author to have had two stories in the 2001 volume, one chosen by each editor), his work has appeared in such major anthologies as Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction, The Dark, Dreaming Down Under, Gathering the Bones and The Oxford Book of Australian Ghost Stories and in such diverse publications as the prestigious SciFiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Interzone, Oceans of the Mind, Ténèbres, Ikarie, Japan’s SF and Russia’s Game.Exe. His fiction has been translated into many languages and has been used in a course in forensic psychology in the US.
“Here is Jack Vance, Cordwainer Smith and Tiptree/Sheldon come again, reborn in one wonderful talent…you’ll purr and growl with delight.” – Harlan Ellison
Terry has also written and co-designed three best-selling computer adventures: Schizm: Mysterious Journey (2001) (aka US Mysterious Journey: Schizm) (www.schizm.com/schizm1/), Schizm II: Chameleon (2003) (aka US Mysterious Journey II: Chameleon) (www.schizm2.info) and Sentinel: Descendants in Time (2004) (aka Realms of Illusion) (www.dormeuse.info) (based on his 1996 short story, “The Ichneumon and the Dormeuse”), which have been published in many foreign language editions. He has reviewed for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Bulletin, and was the science fiction, fantasy and horror reviewer for The Weekend Australian for nineteen years under four different literary editors: Barry Oakley, James Hall, Murray Waldren and Deborah Hope.
Terry holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Western Australia (the first such degree to be granted and completed at that university), an MA (Hons) in English Literature and a BA (Hons) in English Literature, Archaeology and Ancient History, both from the University of Sydney. He has won many Ditmar and Aurealis Awards for his fiction, as well as the William Atheling Jr Award for his critical work. His first computer adventure won the Grand Prix at Utopiales in France in 2001 and he has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award twice.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 28, 2018
2.5 stars.
THE NIGHT SHOP, by Terry Dowling, is a collection of 18 stories woven into the main theme of a man who just happens to stop into an "odd" bookstore late one night. First off, I have a couple of Terry Dowling's other collections, and love his style. I've also read several in "Year's Best" anthologies. These stories--with the exception of the few I'd already read, and a couple of new ones, just didn't impress me much. Overall, this was a very uneven collection, and each of the stories here was printed elsewhere first. However, I did enjoy the author's "afterward" to each story, where he explained how the tale came to be.
Several of the stories here contained a certain "set" of characters....while the stories were independent "cases", I couldn't help but feel that I was missing something by not having the full understanding of where these characters came from, and the obvious history they had together, as referenced in the selection of their cases printed here.
Overall, I was disappointed in the collection; however, I will comment on a few of the stories (previously read in most cases) that I did enjoy.
--"The Sleepover": This one was almost "Poe-esque" in its telling--the imagery was fantastic, and the conclusion a jaw-dropper. ". . . money can open doors in almost any world." This one was easily my favorite in the bunch.
--"The Shaddowwes Box": My second choice favorite. A fitting and original finish for an "Egyptian" tale. ". . . He filled that darkness . . . changed it in more than a casual way . . . "
--"Mariners' Round": I had read this one previously. This concerned a certain carousel that three fourteen-year-old boys had their lives irrevocably changed by. ". . . We end, those things end. More forgotten things, the world moving on."
--"Nightside Eye": Another story I'd read previously, but certainly one of the most memorable and chilling.
--"The Suits at Auderlene": A little longer than it needed to be to get the story across, yet still contained some original ideas, and a "nice" little backstory....
--"The Other Senance at Kenmyre": This one had a few nasty little surprises in it . . .
I didn't find this a "Best Of" collection, but rather a compilation of 18 previously published stories of varying topics. Of course, individual tastes will vary.
THE NIGHT SHOP, by Terry Dowling, is a collection of 18 stories woven into the main theme of a man who just happens to stop into an "odd" bookstore late one night. First off, I have a couple of Terry Dowling's other collections, and love his style. I've also read several in "Year's Best" anthologies. These stories--with the exception of the few I'd already read, and a couple of new ones, just didn't impress me much. Overall, this was a very uneven collection, and each of the stories here was printed elsewhere first. However, I did enjoy the author's "afterward" to each story, where he explained how the tale came to be.
Several of the stories here contained a certain "set" of characters....while the stories were independent "cases", I couldn't help but feel that I was missing something by not having the full understanding of where these characters came from, and the obvious history they had together, as referenced in the selection of their cases printed here.
Overall, I was disappointed in the collection; however, I will comment on a few of the stories (previously read in most cases) that I did enjoy.
--"The Sleepover": This one was almost "Poe-esque" in its telling--the imagery was fantastic, and the conclusion a jaw-dropper. ". . . money can open doors in almost any world." This one was easily my favorite in the bunch.
--"The Shaddowwes Box": My second choice favorite. A fitting and original finish for an "Egyptian" tale. ". . . He filled that darkness . . . changed it in more than a casual way . . . "
--"Mariners' Round": I had read this one previously. This concerned a certain carousel that three fourteen-year-old boys had their lives irrevocably changed by. ". . . We end, those things end. More forgotten things, the world moving on."
--"Nightside Eye": Another story I'd read previously, but certainly one of the most memorable and chilling.
--"The Suits at Auderlene": A little longer than it needed to be to get the story across, yet still contained some original ideas, and a "nice" little backstory....
--"The Other Senance at Kenmyre": This one had a few nasty little surprises in it . . .
I didn't find this a "Best Of" collection, but rather a compilation of 18 previously published stories of varying topics. Of course, individual tastes will vary.
Want to read
February 10, 2018This special edition hardcover is numbered 28 of 600 signed and numbered copies signed by Terry Dowling.
Contents:
011 - "Introduction by Danel Olson"
015 - "The Night Shop – 1"
019 - "Two Steps Along the Road"
047 - "Dark Me, Night You"
061 - "The Night Shop – 2"
063 - "Mariners’ Round"
085 - "The Sleepover"
107 - "The Shaddowwes Box"
121 - "The Way the Red Clown Hunts You"
133 - "Basic Black"
161 - "Light from the Deep Pavilion"
185 - "The Night Shop – 3"
187 - "Toother"
213 - "The Four Darks"
237 - "No Nets Can Catch"
255 - "The Fooly"
265 - "The Night Shop – 4"
267 - "Jarkman at the Othergates"
207 - "Corpse Rose"
323 - "Still Life, with Stranging Glass"
341 - "The Suits at Auderlene"
373 - "The Other Séance at Kenmyre"
389 - "Nightside Eye"
409 - "The Night Shop – 5"
Contents:
011 - "Introduction by Danel Olson"
015 - "The Night Shop – 1"
019 - "Two Steps Along the Road"
047 - "Dark Me, Night You"
061 - "The Night Shop – 2"
063 - "Mariners’ Round"
085 - "The Sleepover"
107 - "The Shaddowwes Box"
121 - "The Way the Red Clown Hunts You"
133 - "Basic Black"
161 - "Light from the Deep Pavilion"
185 - "The Night Shop – 3"
187 - "Toother"
213 - "The Four Darks"
237 - "No Nets Can Catch"
255 - "The Fooly"
265 - "The Night Shop – 4"
267 - "Jarkman at the Othergates"
207 - "Corpse Rose"
323 - "Still Life, with Stranging Glass"
341 - "The Suits at Auderlene"
373 - "The Other Séance at Kenmyre"
389 - "Nightside Eye"
409 - "The Night Shop – 5"
April 30, 2018
A few of the stories were ok but I found a number of them hard to finish which isn't a good sign for short stories.
February 11, 2019
Great collection of stories that niggle the mind a bit with clear influences from Poe and Lovecraft.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews