Five Stories High

by K. J. Parker, Sarah Lotz, Tade Thompson, Nina Allan, Robert Shearman

Overview

‘They didn’t see the house until they were practically on top of it. A single building emerging fromthe dark. It didn’t look welcoming. But the front door was open. The door was wide open.’

Irongrove Lodge – a building with history; the very bricks and grounds imbued with the stories of those who have walked these corridors, lived in these rooms. These are the tales of an extraordinary house, a place that straddles our world and whatever lies beyond; a place that some are desperate to discover, and others to flee. At one time an asylum, at another a care home, sometimes simply a home.

The residents of Irongrove Lodge will learn that this house will change them, that the stories told here never go away. Of all who enter, only some will leave.

Multi-award-winning editor Jonathan Oliver has brought together five extraordinary writers to open the doors, revealing ghosts both past and present in a collection as intriguing as it is terrifying. Along with a linking narrative, this collection features five novellas by Nina Allan, Tade Thompson, K. J. Parker, Robert Shearman and Sarah Lotz.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849979290
Publisher:	Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	12/01/2016
Series:	Five Stories High
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	629 KB

About the Author

Jonathan Oliver is the multi-award winning editor of the anthologies The End of the Line, Magic, House of Fear, End of the Road and Dangerous Games. He is the editor in chief at Rebellion publishing.

Robert Shearman has written five short story collections, and between them they have won the World Fantasy Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Edge Hill Readers Prize, and three British Fantasy Awards. A dramatist and regular writer for BBC Radio, he is probably best known for his work on Doctor Who.

After a spectacularly unsuccessful career as a lawyer, K. J. Parker started writing for a living in 1995. He won the World Fantasy Award for best novella two years running, and also writes under the name Tom Holt.

Sarah Lotz is a novelist and screenwriter with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. Her collaborative and solo novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages.

Tade Thompson lives and works in the south of England. He is the author of the novels Making Wolf (which won the Golden Tentacle Award at the 2016 Kitschies) and Rosewater, and his short fiction is widely published. His background is in medicine, psychiatry and social anthropology.

Nina Allan’s stories have appeared in Best Horror of the Year, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. Her novella Spin, story cycle The Silver Wind and debut novel The Race won or were nominated for a host of awards. Nina lives and works in North Devon.

After a spectacularly unsuccessful career as a lawyer, K J Parker started writing for a living in 1995. When not gazing helplessly at a blank screen, KJ rears pedigree Oxford Sandy & Black pigs, chops down trees and makes things out of wood, metal and cloth. He won the World Fantasy Award for best novella two years running, and currently averages 92.8 in the SSBSA summer league. He also writes under the name Tom Holt.
Sarah Lotz is a novelist and screenwriter with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. Her collaborative and solo novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages. She currently lives in a forest with her family and other animals.
Tade Thompson lives and works in the south of England. He is the author of the novels Making Wolf (which won the Golden Tentacle Award at the 2016 Kitschies) and Rosewater. His short fiction has been published at Interzone, Escape Pod, Apex Magazine, Ideomancer, and Interfictions. His work has been included in a number of anthologies including Dangerous Games. His background is in medicine, psychiatry and social anthropology.
Nina Allan’s stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year #6, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2013, and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. Her novella Spin, a science fictional reimagining of the Arachne myth, won the BSFA Award in 2014, and her story cycle The Silver Wind was awarded the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in the same year. Her debut novel The Race was a finalist for the 2015 BSFA Award, the Kitschies Red Tentacle, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Nina lives and works in North Devon.
Robert Shearman has written five short story collections, and between them they have won the World Fantasy Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Edge Hill Readers Prize, and three British Fantasy Awards. He began his career in the theatre, and was resident dramatist at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, and regular writer for Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough; his plays have won the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the World Drama Trust Award, the inaugural Sophie Winter Memorial Prize, and the Guinness Award for Ingenuity in association with the Royal National Theatre. He is a regular writer for BBC Radio, and his own interactive drama series The Chain Gang has won two Sony Awards. But he is probably best known for his work on Doctor Who, bringing back the Daleks for the BAFTA winning first series in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award.
Former editor-in-chief at Abaddon and Solaris, Jonathan Oliver has had stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies in the UK and the US. He wrote two novels for Abaddon Books – The Call of Kerberos and The Wrath of Kerberos – and his four anthologies for Solaris received widespread critical acclaim and awards nominations.

Table of Contents

• Notes on Irongrove Lodge
• Maggots, Nina Allan
• Notes on Irongrove Lodge
• Priest’s Hole, K.J. Parker
• Notes on Irongrove Lodge
• Gnaw, Tade Thompson
• Notes on Irongrove Lodge
• The Best Story I can Manage in the Circumstances, Robert Shearman
• Notes on Irongrove Lodge
• Skin Deep, Sarah Lotz
• Notes on Irongrove Lodge