The End of the End of Everything: Stories

by Dale Bailey

Overview

Shirley Jackson Award Finalist: “The stories in this collection range from unsettling to downright chilling, but are uniformly intelligent . . . and memorable.” —Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times–bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

This collection of nine stories, suffused with apocalyptic anxiety and stubborn hope, comes from an author widely acclaimed for his mix of the fantastic, the menacing, and the melancholy—and includes, among other tales, “The End of the World As We Know It,” a Nebula and International Horror Guild Award finalist; “The End of the End of Everything,” a Shirley Jackson Award winner; and “The Bluehole,” a Bram Stoker Award finalist.

“Nine gorgeously-written and closely-observed tales of ordinary people trying to hold it together when everything is falling apart. . . . I can’t think of a more accomplished master of the fantastic short form. Prepare to hunt feral Girl Scouts! Pack your bags for a dinosaur safari! Invite friends to your end of the world party! Dale Bailey is the poet of the apocalypse; his stories are guaranteed to haunt you.” —James Patrick Kelly, Nebula Award–winning author of The First Law of Thermodynamics

“There’s a wonderful clarity in the writing, a strong emotional center in each piece, fully realized characters, and as dark as these pieces get, and they get dark, Bailey, unlike a lot of his contemporaries, never forgets the humor, which makes the darkness more profound. Nine stories that will stay with you long after the reading is done.” —Jeffrey Ford, World Fantasy Award–winning author of Big Dark Hole

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504090902
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	02/11/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dale Bailey is the author of several novels and short story collections, including This Island Earth and In the Night Wood. His short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies, such as The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and The Best Horror of the Year. Bailey’s story “Death and Suffrage” was adapted for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series. He has won the Shirley Jackson and the International Horror Guild Awards, as well as being named a finalist for the World Fantasy, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Awards.

Editorial Reviews

In precise, often poetic prose, Dale Bailey lays his usual careful surface over some troubling depths. The stories in this collection range from unsettling to downright chilling, but are uniformly intelligent, incisive, resonant, and memorable. Those familiar with Bailey's work will expect no less. Those who aren't should correct that immediately. With this book. Like now.
— Karen Joy Fowler, winner of the Nebula, World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Pen/Faulkner Awards

"Throughout all these fictions, however varied their subject matter or atmosphere, Bailey exhibits his compassion for and comprehension of his characters, his inerrant sense of choosing just the right words, and his determination to make all the matter of fantastika over afresh. Such a book makes one hope that our genre still has a future."
— Paul Di Filippo, Locus Magazine

"The End of the End of Everything, a new collection of nine dark fantasy and horror stories by Dale Bailey, is a book I've long been looking for — there’s a wonderful clarity in the writing, a strong emotional center in each piece, fully realized characters, and as dark as these pieces get, and they get dark, Bailey, unlike a lot of his contemporaries, never forgets the humor, which makes the darkness more profound. Nine stories that will stay with you long after the reading is done.”
— Jeff Ford, winner of the World Fantasy & Shirley Jackson Awards

Here are nine gorgeously-written and closely-observed tales of ordinary people trying to hold it together when everything is falling apart. I’ve been a story aficionado for several decades now and I can’t think of a more accomplished master of the fantastic short form. Prepare to hunt feral Girl Scouts! Pack your bags for a dinosaur safari! Invite friends to your end of the world party! Dale Bailey is the poet of the apocalypse; his stories are guaranteed to haunt you.
— James Patrick Kelly, Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards for short fiction.

"Every tale in this collection is outstanding, and only in varying degrees of excellence do they surmount each other...Enthusiastically recommended."
— New York Journal of Books

"These quirky stories offer a variety of twists and turns in the science fiction fantasy genre, revealing Bailey as an inventive and innovative writer well worth watching."
— Tom Lavoie, Shelf Awareness

Bailey is one of the most powerful voices in contemporary short science fiction, merging the best tools of literary writing with a savvy genre eye, and creating stories that, in their strangeness, are personally, emotionally revelatory.
— Rachel Swirsky

Dale Bailey has been one of the best kept secrets of the fantasy genre for too many years. A true child of Bradbury, using language as pristine and as robust as his imagination, he writes beautiful, heartbreaking stories for our dark age. It's time everyone knew: Bailey is one of the best writers we've got.
— Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award and finalist for the World Fantasy Award

"No stories being written today move me like Dale Bailey’s. He always roams farther than most of us dare, and returns bearing something true."
— Andy Duncan

From the Publisher