Fiction River: Hex in the City
Fiction River:
Hex in the City
Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith
Series Editors
Kerrie L. Hughes
Editor
Copyright Information
Hex in the City
Copyright © 2013 WMG Publishing
Published by WMG Publishing
Cover and Layout copyright © 2013 WMG Publishing
Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing
Editing and other written material copyright © 2013 by Kerrie L. Hughes
Cover art copyright © Kriscole/Dreamstime
“Foreword: Puzzle Pieces” Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Introduction: Hexen & Magick” Copyright © 2013 by Kerrie L. Hughes
“King of The Kingless” Copyright © 2013 by Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
“Speechless in Seattle” Copyright © 2013 by Lisa Silverthorne
“Thy Neighbor” Copyright © 2013 by Nancy Holder
“Somebody Else’s Problem” Copyright © 2013 by Annie Bellet
“A Thing Immortal As Itself” Copyright © 2013 by Lee Allred
“Geriatric Magic” Copyright © 2013 by Stephanie Writt
“Red As Snow” Copyright © 2013 by Seanan McGuire
“Music’s Price” Copyright © 2013 by Anthea Sharp
“The Sound of My Own Voice” Copyright © 2013 by Dayle A. Dermatis
“The 13
th
Floor Problem” Copyright © 2013 by Dean Wesley Smith
“Dead Men Walking” Copyright © 2013 by Annie Reed
“One Good Deed” Copyright © 2013 by Jeanne C. Stein
“Fox and Hound” Copyright © 2013 by Leah Cutter
“The Scottish Play” Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Smashwords Edition
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Table of Contents
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Kerrie L. Hughes
Jay Lake
Lisa Silverthorne
Nancy Holder
Annie Bellet
Lee Allred
Stephanie Writt
Seanan McGuire
Anthea Sharp
Dayle A. Dermatis
Dean Wesley Smith
Annie Reed
Jeanne C. Stein
Leah Cutter
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Foreword
Puzzle Pieces
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Stories jumble in my mind. Once I read them, they become part of my life experience. I almost always remember
where
I read them first—an anthology series, a magazine—but I rarely remember which
volume
I read them in. As I prepared to write this foreword, I looked at the table of contents again, and each story jumped out at me—a full memory, enjoyable, wonderful, and grand.
Since I’m one of two series editors of Fiction River (along with Dean Wesley Smith), I read every story as it comes into the volume, and sometimes as it’s being considered. I read
Hex in The City
over several months, a drib here, a drab there. Most of the stories, I read at my computer after printing them up (as an editor, I read best in paper. Unfortunately, I was an editor in the dark ages of publishing, before we all read on the screen).
I read Jay Lake’s story near that computer, one page at a time as the story came out of the printer, and teared up. I read Seanan McGuire’s story, the first turned in, in the same spot and smiled with enjoyment. Nancy Holder’s little powerhouse made me gasp with surprise.
All of the stories here are wonderful and memorable, which isn’t something I can say about most stories I read. Kerrie L. Hughes put together a spectacular volume, one I’m proud to be associated with.
But I must say this: whenever someone mentions
Hex in The City
, my greatest memory of the volume is that of watching Kerrie in action, an editor faced with several great stories and trying (in vain) to fit them all into her word count.
She filled out this volume at a writing workshop WMG Publishing held in early March. The workshop had nearly three dozen professional writers, and they all wrote kick-ass stories. While some stories just plain didn’t fit this volume, others seemed perfect. Kerrie gave them all (and me) a reminder of how an anthology goes together. It’s not just that each story must be wonderful; each story must be wonderful in its own way. It shouldn’t exactly mirror another wonderful story, although it can
echo
that story.
We had four professional editors at that workshop—me, Dean, John Helfers, and Kerrie. We all got stories for Fiction River volumes from that workshop. (You can see some of John’s choices in the second volume of Fiction River,
How To Save The World
.) But Kerrie was the most vocal about loving a story and worrying that it didn’t fit. She put a lot of excellent stories on hold, then went home from the workshop and tried to assemble the anthology like a puzzle. The invited big names were the corner pieces. The rest, she assembled and reassembled until they formed this amazing issue of Fiction River.
I wish we had taken a video of Kerrie, sitting on a chair in front of a group of professional writers, manuscripts on her lap, others clutched in her hands, muttering to herself about how spectacular the stories were and how she wanted them all.
She had a wealth of riches to choose from, and she found the best jewels to share with all of you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
—Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lincoln City, Oregon
July 22, 2013
Introduction
Hexen & Magick
Kerrie L. Hughes
Dear Readers of Fiction River:
Welcome to
Hex In The City
. My name is Kerrie L. Hughes, and this is the fifth issue of Fiction River.
Hex In The City
, as you may have deduced from the title, is paranormal urban fantasy.
If you aren’t familiar with the genre and are a bit squeamish about reading a collection filled with romance and sweet adorable vampires, don’t be: there will be none of that nonsense here. My playground of the paranormal involves ghosts, witches, zombies, and magick.
Why do I spell magick with a k? Because that’s the spelling I found on the cover of Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s,
Natural Magick
, first published in 1658. He was a true polymath who believed magick was a science and transcribed his knowledge for fellow scholars so they would know the difference between chicanery and facts.
The word hex is also a deceptive word; most people believe a hex is a curse, which is only partly true. Hex is actually an extension of the German word
Hexen
, which loosely translated means witch, or a caster of magicks. Therefore a hex can be any form of magick: good, bad, or indifferent, just like the caster.
As to cities: what better place to practice magick than in the city? Especially our modern cities where anything can happen and people are strangers, the stranger the better. Oh look! Is that a vampire on his way to work at the stock exchange? Is that an elf at the coffee house wearing brightly colored clothing and drinking a latte? Maybe I’m actually a witch collecting stories from the talented bards I meet and compiling them into anthologies for my fellow paranormal siblings to read.
Anyway, I want to thank Kris and Dean for letting me play in their kingdom. Over the years I’ve collected many an enchanting story from them for my other anthologies and when they formed Fiction River they were kind enough to include me. I really do think of them as the King and Queen of Storyland.
I also want to thank their publisher, Allyson Longueira. She’s the Enchantress that makes everything at Fiction River come together on deadline and with proper formatting. Allyson has a special magick when dealing with people and writing, she throws tangles in the air and they come down as intricate Celtic knot work; a spell I must get from her.
Seriously though, I’ve been reading, writing, and editing paranormal urban fantasy for quite some time now, and this collection is the best one I’ve put together so far. I can’t wait to do it again.
Hags and Witches; (hugs and kisses, get it?)
—Kerrie L. Hughes
Green Bay, Wisconsin
July 21, 2013
Introduction to “
King of The Kingless”
Jay Lake opens this collection with “King of The Kingless.” He has always seemed like the Enchanter of Weird to me. Probably because he lives in Portland, wears Hawaiian shirts, and Birkenstocks with socks. It may also be because he attracts a wide variety of magickal people. I’m sad to say he does have the very ailment that his wizard in the story has, and if the witch that can cure him does exist, I would like to get them in touch with each other.
Jay is working on numerous writing and editing projects in between stints as a professional cancer patient with five years’ experience with Stage IV metastatic colon cancer. His books for 2013 include
Kalimpura
from Tor and
Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh
from Prime. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards, as well as being a recent nominee for the Nebula in the best novella category. About the story, he writes: