Best Selling Books by James P. Blaylock

It is the late 19th century and a mysterious airship orbits through the foggy skies. Its terrible secrets are sought by many, including the Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist, a fiendish vivisectionist, an evil millionaire and an assorted group led by the scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives. Can St. Ives keep the alien homunculus out of the claws of the villainous Ignacio Narbondo?

This mesmerising collection from World Fantasy Award-winner James P. Blaylock offers seven brilliant excursions into one of the most idiosyncratic imaginations of our time. Highlighted by the acclaimed novella, "The Trismegistus Club" - a brilliant riff on the antiquarian ghost story - In for a Penny goes from strength to strength, taking us deep into the heart of a quirky, deeply engaging fictional world that no one but Blaylock could have created. Other high points include "Home Before Dark," which chronicles one man''s first few hours in the afterlife. Its thematic companion, "Small Houses," recounts an aging widower''s last few hours on earth. Both stories constitute deeply felt, lovingly detailed farewells to the things and places of this world. In "The Other Side," a minor precognitive episode leads the hero to an obsessive fascination with the hidden mysteries of the universe. In "His Own Back Yard," a story worthy of the great Jack Finney, a middle-aged man finds himself stranded in the haunted territory of his childhood. The blackly funny "War of the Worlds" uses a bowling ball and the imminent end of Life As We Know It to illuminate the fault lines in a modern marriage. Finally, in the wonderfully imagined title story, the single-minded pursuit of treasure - of something for nothing - leads Blaylock''s protagonist to a harrowing confrontation with his own worst self. Startling, funny, eccentric, and often unexpectedly moving, the Blaylockian worldview shines forth with undiminished vigor in this marvellous collection, which shows us ourselves - and the world around us - from a wholly unique perspective. "Simply, almost artlessly written, the six fantasy stories in this slim collection from Blaylock ( Thirteen Phantasms), set in the gentle, loving territory of his personal California world, verge on the sentimental but never slip into the banal." - Publishers Weekly

Calvin Bryson has hidden himself away from the world, losing himself in his work and his collection of rare and quirky books. But he never meant to let so much time go by without visiting his aunt and uncle. Their tiny town of New Cyprus, California - hemmed in by the Dead Mountains and the Colorado River - isn''t the kind of place one just happens upon... Coincidentally, their invitation to visit comes at the same time Calvin is asked to deliver to his uncle a peculiar family heirloom: the veil a long-dead aunt used when she held séances. All signs point to New Cyprus. And when Calvin gets there, he''ll discover the town''s strange secrets and a mysterious group dedicated to preserving and protecting holy relics - a modern-day incarnation of the legendary Knights Templar...

Jerry Larkin discovers an age-old secret buried beneath the foundation of the house that he and his wife Jane, an avid reader of ghost stories, bought six months ago in the idyllic town of Old Orange in southern California. Jane Larkin, whose MacArthur grant led to the creation of public gardens and a farmers market in the town''s central park, works against time to save what she has built as a 100-year storm moves in off the coast. Lettie Phibbs, a strange librarian whose Antiquity Center holds the secrets to the hidden history of Old Orange, inserts herself into the Larkins'' lives, growing increasingly eccentric and menacing, as unpredictable as the storm itself. PENNIES FROM HEAVEN, a six-day mystery, tells the tale of a small town haunted by the reanimated ghosts of a buried past, a story that reaches a terrifying crescendo of murder and intrigue in a high-paced rush toward fate and redemption. Praise For Pennies From Heaven " Pennies from Heaven is a gripping mash-up of mystery, history, thriller and horror. Expect conspirators, murderers, fraudsters, charlatans and unquiet spirits among the cheerful co-op gardeners. Author James P Blaylock weaves these diverse strands with effortless skill, painting people and landscapes with the authentic touch of long familiarity. You can almost smell the desert, the wet wind, and that very malicious ghost." —Clare Rhoden, Aurealis #161 "The supernatural elements in the book are vital and well done (the eventual capture of the ghost is colorful and ingenious), but the spook stuff takes a backseat to the human dynamics, the caper aspect and the interpersonal hijinks. Blaylock has always had an affection for eccentrics, misfits and visionaries, and while Jane and Jerry are more "normal" and wholesome than his typical cast, they qualify as non-whitebread souls. As for Phibbs, Blaylock succeeds in creating a true monster." — Paul Di Filippo, Locus Magazine

Metamorphosis is collection of three short stories, written by three young students in collaboration by James P. Blaylock for a class taught by Tim Powers, who provides the introduction. Mirrors, shadows, and secret rooms: the houses in which we dwell are sometimes much stranger than they seem to be, as are the people we think we know. Here are three stories of haunted places that stand waiting for you to enter, their windows shuttered, but their doors unlocked. REVIEWS "Coauthored by Blaylock and a trio of his high school students, these three reflective short-short stories employing Blaylock''s signature nostalgic prose are individually strong in technique, but weakened by thematic similarities. The eccentric hero of Adriana Campoy''s lighthearted "Stone Eggs" uncovers an entryway into a fantastic world while house-sitting for his uncle. In Brittany Cox''s well-written but unexciting "P-38," Anderson revisits his imperfect childhood by assembling a model airplane from his father''s former shop. Alex Haniford''s "Houses" hurtles toward darkness when Michael returns home for his mother''s funeral and accidentally unearths the chilling secret behind his father''s spiraling dementia. While Tim Powers offers a short foreword and William Ashbless (Powers and Blaylock''s joint nom de plume) provides a whimsical afterword, readers will recognize both as padding and be left wanting more real content. (Apr.)" Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

James Blaylock is one of the finest writers in the fantasy field. Sixteen of his acclaimed short stories are collected here for the first time. Included is "Thirteen Phantasms," his brilliant World Fantasy Award-winning story of a man who returns to the Golden Age of science fiction through an ad in a pulp magazine. "Myron Chester and the Toads" recounts one man''s encounter with aliens and the effect it has on him and his neighbors. And in the strange otherworldly California of "Paper Dragons" one man''s obsession with the creation of a dragon slowly destroys him.

Journey to the center of the Earth... Giles Peach was unique. He was born with a neat set of gills on either side of his neck - and webbed fingers. He enjoyed reading (Edgar Rice Burroughs was his favorite author) and he liked to invent things. First he invented a working model of the Solar System, powered by the motor from an old electric fan. Next he invented a mechanical man whose legs were roped-together tin cans. Finally he began work on the grandest invention of all: a machine that would burrow to the center of the Earth, a digging leviathan. Absurd? Perhaps. But Giles Peach had the power to make his wildest fantasies come true... "A literally wonderful novel." --Tim Powers "Blaylock is an original author grounded in the quintessential classics, yet ready without notice to astonish: not only with what he reveals to us but how." --Philip K. Dick

From the World Fantasy Award-winning author comes the suspenseful sequel to Pennies from Heaven The bright spring weather in Old Orange is deceptive, with dark undercurrents shifting beneath the surface of the busy lives of Jane and Jerry Larkin. Jerry is restoring an old boarding house, exposing its dark history, and Jane''s busy Co-op is victimized by malicious mischief that grows more mailicious by the day. Their troubles roil together, sinister forces rising from the cheerful, root-cracked sidewalks of Old Orange, engulfing them in mystery and murder and the threatened collapse of long-held dreams.

When a boat-sized shoe and giant spectacles wash up on the shore, three of the town''s orphans - Jack, Skeezix, and Helen - know there''s something fishy going on, and the old ghost in the orphanage attic is inclined to agree. An evil carnival comes to town, run by a sinister gentleman who can turn himself into a crow. A mouse-sized man hiding in the woodwork leaves Jack an elixir that might, just might, allow him to cross during Solstice to another world, a mysterious land of dreams that holds the key to Jack''s past and all their adventures. Land Of Dreams is a phantasmagorical adventure reminiscent of Charles Finney''s The Circus of Dr. Lao and Ray Bradbury''s Something Wicked This Way Comes. REVIEWS: "... a singular American fabulist." -- William Gibson " Land Of Dreams is Blaylock''s best yet - powerful, magical, suspenseful and funny, this novel sails us through the supernatural backwaters of the northern California coast, and none of its readers will ever quite be able to leave its landscape of rotting waterfront towns, and strange songs echoing in from the sea, and vast, unknown cities visible on dubious horizons. Blaylock is the best of contemporary writers, and Land Of Dreams is destined to be one of the field''s classics." -- Tim Powers "Striking, beautifully turned surreal fantasy... Weird, complex, wise, original, delightful: pounce!" -- Kirkus Reviews

When poison fish begin to wash ashore along the River Medway, Langdon St. Ives sets out to investigate the Majestic Paper Mill and their corrupt owners. The body of a young girl is found dead in the river, and mystery grows darker and even more deadly, opening a door onto possible human sacrifice, witchcraft, and a growing threat to his family and friends. He finds himself fighting to save his wife Alice''s life, and prevent the ruination of his friends, his once idyllic life devolving into a dark puzzle for which there is no clear solution. Victorian-era investigator Langdon St. Ives is caught up in skullduggery when he looks into the murder of a mill worker in his seventh full-length adventure (after Beneath London) from World Fantasy Award–winner Blaylock. Charles Townover, owner of the Majestic Paper Mill in scenic Snodland, England, is determined to save his business. Chemicals from the mill are poisoning local streams and workers, and union men have been urging the women working at the mill to strike. Mother Laswell, the leader of a neighborhood spiritualist colony and a determined environmentalist, is also calling on the mill to clean up its act. When former mill worker Daisy Dumpel is found murdered, a local union organizer is charged with the crime, but St. Ives has doubts. Then Laswell is accused of witchcraft and St. Ives''s own wife is arrested, and he has extra incentive to find the truth quickly. Blaylock''s industrial Victorian setting is home to a host of intriguing characters, and their tangled motivations, along with the suspicion of otherworldly involvement, keep the sometimes meandering story moving. —Publisher''s Weekly

It''s a gray, wet winter in southern California, and Phil Ainsworth is alone. The sudden death of his young wife has left him shaken, and he gets eerie sensations as he roams around the big, old house he inherited from his mother. He''s sure he''s seen people snooping around his property, by the old well that, in this wet weather, always seems ready to overflow. How much is real and how much is in his head? That''s the question. A late-night phone call brings more bad news: Phil''s sister has died, leaving her ten-year-old daughter Betsy an orphan and naming Phil as guardian. It seems like a bad time to bring a child into this unhappy house, but Phil had always promised he''d take care of Betsy - and now she''s all the family he has left. What he can''t know is that Betsy is a very special child. She has the ability to sense the powerful emotions of the past, to hear voices of the dead, and to see the uncanny powers that are closing in around this house... James P. Blaylock has set the standard for the contemporary ghost story. The Washington Post called him "a master." Dean Koontz has hailed his writing as "first rate." A brilliant blend of psychological insight and unearthly phenomena, The Rainy Season blurs the lines between the past and the present, the living and the dead, fantasy and reality. REVIEWS: "The author of Winter Tides continues to display an uncanny talent for low-key, off-kilter drama, infusing the modern world with a supernatural tint. Blaylock''s evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism." -- Library Journal "This may be Blaylock''s weirdest yet: intriguing, dramatic, atmospheric." -- Kirkus Reviews

Within the magical gears of Lord Kelvin''s incredible machine lies the secret of time. The deadly Dr. Ignacio Narbondo would murder to possess it and scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives would do anything to use it. For the doctor it means mastery of the world and for the professor it means saving his beloved wife from death. A daring race against time begins...

A trilogy sets sail with a novel that''s " charming, light-hearted and funny . . . Feels a little like The Hobbit or The Wind in the Willows" ( Fantasy Literature). James P. Blaylock''s debut novel The Elfin Ship has become a classic of whimsical fantasy. With echoes of Kenneth Graham and Mark Twain, it''s a gentle, eccentric, and hilarious novel that will delight readers of all ages. Trading with the elves used to be so simple. Every year Master Cheeser Jonathan Bing would send his very best cheeses downriver to traders who would eventually return with Elfin wonders for the people of Twombly Town. But no more . . . First, the trading post at Willowood Station was mysteriously destroyed. Then, a magical elfin airship began making forays overhead. Something was definitely amiss. So Jonathan set off downriver to deliver the cheeses himself, accompanied by the amazing Professor Wurzle, the irrepressible Dooly, and his faithful dog Ahab. It would have been such a pleasant trip, if not for the weeping skeleton, mad goblins, magic coins, an evil dwarf, a cloak of invisibility—and a watch that stopped time. If only the return trip were so simple. "Madcap''s not a word heard much these days, but it''s a great one to apply to the characters and their adventures in The Elfin Ship . From start to finish, Blaylock maintains a high level of inventive goofiness that never lets up. If you want about as great a break as possible from the brutalities and cynicism of much of today''s fantasy, this book is it." — Black Gate

A skeletal hand clutching an iron key lies hidden within a mermaid''s wooden sarcophagus; a hand-drawn map is stolen from beneath the floorboards an old museum; an eccentric sleeping inventor dreams of a passage to the center of the hollow earth, and by dreaming of the passage, brings it into being.... Pursued by kidnappers thinking of riches and murder, Katherine Perkins and her two cousins, junior members of The Guild of St. George, must descend into the depths of the hollow earth in order to return the Sleeper to his ancestral home on the shores of Lake Windermere. But to awaken him might mean the end of his dream, the closing of the Windermere Passage, and the three intrepid explorers marooned in a savage land forgotten by time itself.... Zeuglodon, set in the world envisioned in James Blaylock''s The Digging Leviathan, is a landscape of color, mystery, and adventure, in which reality and fantasy are shifting currents, and nothing is quite what it seems to be. "James P. Blaylock''s Zeuglodon is the most fun I''ve had reading in ages, with an unabashed budding cryptozoologist protagonist, mummified mermaid, underground passages, lost world, and the scariest busybody since Margaret Hamilton put Toto in her bicycle basket. Don''t miss it." - Locus

The second thriller in the supernatural trilogy by the World Fantasy Award–winning author— An "intriguing and absorbing work from a major talent" ( Kirkus Reviews). Howard Barton came to Mendocino in search of a folded scrap of paper. Not just any old scrap of paper, but one bearing what might be a sketch by the legendary Japanese artist, Hoku-sai. But Howard, unfortunately, is not the only one who wants the sketch . . . There''s old Heloise Lamey, whose lush and noxious garden is watered with blood, ink, and stranger substances. And the enigmatic Mr. Jimmers, the owner of a workshop that holds a bizarre invention designed to raise the dead. Even Howard''s Uncle Roy, a builder of haunted houses and founder of the Museum of Modern Mysteries, has an interest in the sketch. In Northern California, nothing is what it appears, but everything is connected— and Howard is led to a mysterious private war between secret, underground societies. Now he just needs to figure out whose side he''s on in the quest for the Paper Grail. "Blaylock redeems the familiarity of his plot with a gift for drawing characters who are eccentric in delightful and original ways, whichever side of the war they are on." — Publishers Weekly "Blaylock ventures into the realm of magical realism as eccentric matrons and failed entrepreneurs assume mythic proportions in this witty and intelligent metaphysical novel. This crossover novel belongs equally well in literary and fantasy collections." — Library Journal

Fifteen years ago, on a deserted California beach, Dave Quinn swam out into the winter ocean to save two drowning girls - identical twin sisters. He was only able to save one. Now, years last, he meets Anne, a strugglng artist from Canada. He has no idea she is the child he saved so long ago. And he has no idea that Elinor, the long-dead sister he couldn''t save, has come with her... REVIEWS: "... a singular American fabulist." -- William Gibson "This story of good and evil siblings examines how we all learn to live with who we are, and does so through supple writing and a tense and carefully executed plot... Blaylock combines the supernatural with a deep understanding of contemporary California and human nature, producing a book with appeal for both fantasy fans and readers of realistic fiction." -- Publishers Weekly "Vivid descriptions and deft characterisations... Winter Tides exposes the underbelly of human nature" -- Library Journal "One creepy, creepy book... Blaylock will scare you to death with a minimum of splatter and maximum of tension, Hitchcock-style. I read Winter Tides in one long sitting and found my heart wouldn''t stop racing." -- Woodland Hills Daily News (California)

From the dark imagination of James P. Blaylock comes a new, chilling tale of the supernatural. When Peter Travers moves into an old house in a remote canyon to try to separate himself from his old existence, his wish becomes reality... all too literally. For his wife and son vanish and the people of the idyllic rural town begin to relive the horrors of a nightmarish crime committed one windy autumn, sixty years earlier. Against a backdrop of murder and midnight terror, Peter must contend with the abandoned relics of his own past before he can overcome the dark forces that haunt the canyon and the people he loves. REVIEWS: " Night Relics is a first rate tale of the supernatural with well drawn characters and plenty of shivery moments" -- Dean Koontz "Superb characters and setting, in a plot that meshes seamlessly..." -- Kirkus Reviews " Night Relics ... is marked by good prose, believable dialogue and fine description..." -- Publishers Weekly

A YA adventure from World Fantasy Award winning author James P. Blaylock. A suddenly appearing curiosity shop owned by a small man who might, or might not, be the Man in the Moon; a pair of strange spectacles buried in a fishbowl full of marbles; an old window glazed with sea-green glass found beneath a suburban house; and two adventurous boys who buy the spectacles and climb through the window into a land of goblins, ghosts, and rope ladders that reach to the moon... Who exactly is Mr. Deener, the fat man who makes magic out of bits of coloured glass, has a passion for glazed doughnuts, and whose seeming twin brother sleeps fitfully in an attic room? And who are the little men who ride out of the forest on windblown sycamore leaves in order to whisper into Mr. Deener''s ear? Is Mr. Deener, like a fallen Humpty Dumpty, broken apart? John and Danny need to know. To find their way home they''ll have to put Mr. Deener back together again and solve the mystery of the sleeping land - a task that leads them to the pool of reflections in the deep woods and ultimately to a house built of light and magic and memory that sits at the edge of the heart''s ocean. PRAISE FOR JAMES P. BLAYLOCK: "Blaylock is one of the most brilliant of that new generation of fabulist writers." — Washington Post Book World "Blaylock allows us to see the mundane world through new eyes, to perceive the familar as strange and therefore fascinating - for what it is as well as for what it might be." — Charles de Lint "[Blayock has]...a gift for drawing characters who are eccentric in delightful and original ways, whichever side of the war they are on." — Publishers Weekly

Deep within the cavern-riddled chalk cliffs above the English Channel there brews a threat to the very sanity of the people of Britain. A startling madness infects the members of the Explorer''s Club in London, the debacle coinciding with the disappearance of Alice St. Ives and the murder of the lighthouse keeper at Beachy Head. Langdon St. Ives sets out to rescue his wife and to stop the accelerating train of events hurtling he and his friends into a dark tunnel of madness and death.

The collapse of the Victoria Embankment uncovers a passage to an unknown realm beneath the city. Langdon St. Ives sets out to explore it, not knowing that a brilliant and wealthy psychopathic murderer is working to keep the underworld’s secrets hidden for reasons of his own. St. Ives and his stalwart friends investigate a string of ghastly crimes: the gruesome death of a witch, the kidnapping of a blind, psychic girl, and the grim horrors of a secret hospital where experiments in medical electricity and the development of human, vampiric fungi, serve the strange, murderous ends of perhaps St. Ives’s most dangerous nemesis yet.