Polyphony. Volume 4

CONTENTS: vii • Introduction (Polyphony: Volume 4) • essay by Jay Lake and Deborah Layne 1 • The Girl with the Sun in Her Head • short story by Jeremiah Tolbert 11 • Down in the Fog-Shrouded City • (2002) • novelette by Alex Irvine 39 • Black Dog at Work • short story by Steven Mohan, Jr. 49 • The Blackpool Ascensions • novella by Lucius Shepard 97 • The Mud Fork Cottonmouth Expedition • short story by Eric M. Witchey 107 • When They Came • short story by Don Webb 115 • Over Alsace • (2004) • short story by Forrest Aguirre 119 • State Change • short story by Ken Liu 133 • High Rise High • novelette by Kit Reed 169 • The Storyteller's Story • short story by Gavin J. Grant [as by Gavin Grant] 185 • Memree • short story by Jenn Reese 191 • The Eye • short story by Eliot Fintushel 207 • The Train There's No Getting Off • novelette by Holly Arrow and Bruce Holland Rogers and Ray Vukcevich 243 • Baby Love • non-genre • [Georgia Stories] • short story by Michael Bishop 257 • Psyche and Eros • short story by Diana Sherman 261 • Hart and Boot • short story by Tim Pratt 279 • Life in the Movies • short story by Mikal Trimm 287 • Bagging the Peak • short story by Jerry Oltion 295 • The Journal of Philip Schuyler • novelette by Robert Freeman Wexler 327 • Ataxia, the Wooden Continent • short story by Stepan Chapman 339 • Tales from the City of Seams • short story by Greg van Eekhout 355 • The Wings of Meister Wilhelm • novelette by Theodora Goss 379 • Crazy Rain • short story by Piper Selden 383 • Three Days in a Border Town • novelette by Jeff VanderMeer INTRODUCTION It's been a long, strange road since the first volume of Polyphony was conceived by the dashboard lights along the lonely miles of I-5 in the Willamette Valley. Two and a half years have gone by, three volumes have been published in the series, markets have changed, production technology has evolved, and somehow, our book has found a home in genre. When Polyphony first took off, it was on a wing and a prayer, with the help of a few dozen supporters and a hell of a lot of hope. New Weird was not the topic of the hour, the definition of slipstream was even more arguable than it is now. The phrase "interstitial arts" hadn't crept into the critical lexicon, let alone spawned a foundation or a conference. We weren't even sure whether to call Polyphony "cross-genre" or "slipstream" or "literary with a genre sensibility" (the last being the least elegant but most descriptive). As Supreme Court Justice Potter STewart said in another context, "We know it when we see it." We weren't the first. Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Leviathan and Strange Horizons, to name several, had charted this oh-so-literate genre territory before us. We haven't necessarily been the bestonly the years will tell that. But we have been privileged to make a mark, and perhaps even set a standard, for a kind of fiction that many wanted to write, and many more wanted to read. We could fill this book thanking all the mentors, authors, publishers, reviewers, critics, booksellers, friends, fans, and family members that have helped drive that winding road. Instead we thought we'd fill this book with stories. Curl up and read. That's what we'll be doing because we still love short fiction. Deborah Layne and Jay Lake Portland, Oregon July, 2004