Ghosts by Gaslight - Jack Dann [220]
“You’ve inspired me, Chibbins, my good man,” said the Master. He went to his desk and leaned over a funnel next to it attached to a tube, through which he spoke commands to his people on the lower floors. “Send out the security forces with flamethrowers. Order them to incinerate anyone they see on the street.”
We watched from our great height as some minutes later small fires could be seen erupting in the streets beneath us. The Master clapped and howled with each one. Chibbins put his arm around our leader’s shoulders and laughed uproariously. I was dazed with the visions and the glow of the drug and wore a fixed smile. Somewhere amidst the merriment, the high spirits, and hallucinations, it struck me, like an icicle to the heart, that the Sheer Beauty itself was the agent of revenge that would eventually topple the city. Having envisioned the destruction it would bring, I embraced it like a favorite uncle, and ever since have lived for the sharp pain of the needle.
Afterword to “The Summer Palace”
It’s been ten years since last I wrote about Physiognomist Cley, the protagonist of the Well-Built City trilogy—The Physiognomy, Memoranda, and The Beyond. I’m not sure what caused him to rear his bleak, thoroughly opinionated head again. It wasn’t like I had to conjure him. His carriage rolled up, and he just strode into this ghost story like he owned it. And, when all was said and done, he did. Perhaps he is a voice fit for our current time, perhaps he just grew weary of being relegated to the shadowy edges of my imagination. In any event, he’s returned. This tale deals with his investigations before achieving the exalted rank of Physiognomist, First Class, the time period described in the novels. It seems a great trove of Cley’s personal papers, records of early cases of his in the physiognomical service, has been uncovered by a conscientious citizen of Wenau, digging around in the ruins of the Well-Built City. He’s informed me that he may stay around a while now and that I should consider surgery for my face, as it’s a mockery of nature.
—JEFFREY FORD
About the Editors
JACK DANN has written or edited over seventy-five books and is the editor (with Janeen Webb) of the groundbreaking anthology of Australian stories, Dreaming Down-Under, which won the World Fantasy Award in 1999. The sequel, Dreaming Again, was published to rave reviews. The influential Australian Bookseller + Publisher wrote, “If you read short fiction you’ll want this collection. If you don’t, this is a reason to start.” The anthology Gathering the Bones, of which Dann was a coeditor, was short-listed for the International Horror Guild Award and included in Library Journal’s “Best Genre Fiction of 2003.” His anthology Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (coedited with Gardner Dozois) was short-listed for the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award. He is also a recipient of the Nebula Award, the Australian Aurealis Award (twice), the Ditmar Award (four times), the Peter McNamara Achievement Award, and the Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award for Excellence. He has been honored by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). His own fiction has been compared to the work of Jorge Luis Borges, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Carlos Castaneda, J. G. Ballard, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and Mark Twain. His website is jackdann.com.
NICK GEVERS is senior editor at the major UK independent press PS Publishing (www.pspublishing.co.uk), under the banner of which he coedits, with Peter Crowther, the twice-yearly Postscripts genre fiction anthology, the latest volumes of which are Edison’s Frankenstein, The Company He Keeps, The New and Perfect Man, and Unfit for Eden. His other SF and fantasy anthologies include Infinity Plus (with Keith Brooke), Other Earths (with Jay Lake), Extraordinary Engines, The Book of Dreams, and Is Anybody Out There? (with