''Transients and Other Disquieting Stories'' is a collection of
dark fantasy
Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...
short stories by American writer
Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by
W. Paul Ganley in April 1993.
It was nominated for the 1994
World Fantasy Award for Best Collection
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
. An electronic edition was published by Necon E-Books in 2011 as no. 10 of its Necon Classic Horror series. The copyright statement of the Necon edition states that it "incorporates the author's final revisions and should be regarded as definitive."
Summary
The collection consists of fifteen early works of the author. The pieces were originally published from 1986-1991 in various speculative fiction magazines and anthologies.
Contents
* "Transients" (from ''
Amazing Stories'' v. 61, no. 5, Jan. 1987)
* "Peeling It Off" (from ''Borderlands'', Oct. 1990)
* "The Throwing Suit" (with
Jason Van Hollander) (from ''The Horror Show'' v. 8, no. 1, Spr. 1990)
* "Jason, Come Home" (from ''Night Cry'' v. 2, no. 2, Win. 1986)
* "Pennies from Hell" (from ''Night Cry'' v. 2, no. 3, Spr. 1987)
* "The Man Who Found the Heart of the Forest" (from ''Pulphouse'' no. 5, Fall 1989)
* "Clocks" (from ''The Horror Show'' v. 7, no. 1, Spr. 1989)
* "Soft" (from ''
Weird Tales'' v. 51, no. 3, Spr. 1990)
* "Leaving" (from ''Night Cry'' v. 1, no. 5, Spr. 1986)
* "Short and Nasty" (from ''Obsessions'', May 1991)
* "The Man Who Wasn't Nice to Pumpkin Head Dolls" (from ''
Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine
''Twilight Zone'' literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt ''The Twilight Zone'' television series.
Comics
Gold Key Comics published a long-running ''Twilight Zone'' comic that featured the likene ...
'' v. 8, no. 5, Dec. 1988)
* "The Children of Lommos" (with
John Gregory Betancourt
John Gregory Betancourt (born October 25, 1963) is an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, as well as short stories. He is also known as the founder and publisher, with his wife Kim Betancourt, of Wildside Press in 1989 ...
) (from ''Night Cry'' v. 2, no. 4, Sum. 1987)
* "Seeing Them" (from ''The Horror Show'' v. 7, no. 1, Spr. 1989)
* "The Paloverde Lodge" (with
Jason Van Hollander) (from ''Fear'' no. 21, Sep. 1990)
* "The Spirit of the Back Stairs" (from ''Fear '' no. 28, Apr. 1991)
Reception
A.M.B. Amantia, writing in ''
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'', found the collection "
sappointing," noting that "
ese horror tales aim for disquiet rather than terror, but they evoke neither subtle unease nor even a grosser case of the shivers. Many of the stories open promisingly, and with an interesting premise, but the carry-through just isn't there."
[Amantia, A.M.B. Review in ''Library Journal'' v. 118 iss. 9, 5/15/1993, p. 99.]
The collection was also reviewed by
Don D'Ammassa in ''Science Fiction Chronicle'' no. 164, July 1993, and Stefan Dziemianowicz in ''
Crypt of Cthulhu
''Crypt of Cthulhu'' is an American fanzine devoted to the writings of H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. It was published as part of the Esoteric Order of Dagon amateur press association for a short time, and was formally established in 19 ...
'' no. 84, Lammas 1993.
References
{{Darrell Schweitzer
1993 short story collections
Short story collections by Darrell Schweitzer
Fantasy short story collections