Be wary, young sailor, Of wind and high water. The sea has a secret, The sea has a daughter. She'll swim along starboard, And capture your heart. With a flip of her tail-fin, Underwater, depart. MERMAIDS! EDITED BY JACK DANN & GARDNER DOZOIS A ACE FANTASY BOOKS NEW YORK MERMAIDS! An Ace Fantasy Book/published by arrangement with the editors PRINTING HISTORY Ace Fantasy edition /January 1986 All rights reserved. Copyright ? 1986 by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. Cover art by Dawn Wilson. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. ISBN: 0-441-52567-9 Ace Fantasy Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Acknowledgment is made for permission to print the following material: "The Prevalence of Mermaids" by Avram Davidson. Copyright ? 1986 by Avram Davidson. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agent, John Silbersack. "Nothing in the Rules" by L. Sprague de Camp. Copyright ? 1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; ? 1966 by L. Sprague de Camp. First published in Unknown, July 1939. Reprinted by permission of the author. "She Sells Sea Shells" by Paul Darcy Boles, Copyright ? 1983 by TZ Publications. First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine, Dec. 1983. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agent, Russell and Volkening, Inc. "The Soul Cages" by T. Crofton Croker. From Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, by T. Crofton Croker, 1825. "Sweetly the Waves Call to Me" by Pat Murphy. Copyright ? 1981 by Pat Murphy. First published in Elsewhere (Ace). Reprinted by permission of the author. "Driftglass" by Samuel R. Delany. Copyright ? 1967 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. First published in Worlds of IF, June 1967. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agent, Henry Morrison, Inc. "Mrs. Pigafetta Swims Well" by Reginald Bretnor. Copyright ? 1963 by Mercury Press. Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1963. Reprinted by permission of the author. "The Nebraskan and the Nereid" by Gene Wolfe. Copyright ? 1985 by Gene Wolfe. First published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, December 1985. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agent, Virginia Kidd. "The Lady and the Merman" by Jane Yolen. Copyright ? 1976. 1977 by Jane Yolen. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the author. "The White Seal Maid" by Jane Yolen. Copyright ? 1977 by Jane Yolen. First published in Parabola, Myth and the Quest for Meaning. Reprinted by permission of the author. "The Fisherman's Wife" by Jane Yolen. Copyright ? 1982 by Jane Yolen. First published in Neptune Rising. Reprinted by permission of the author. "Till Human Voices Wake Us" by Lewis Shiner. Copyright ? 1984 by Mercury Press. Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1984. Reprinted by permission of the author. "A Touch of Strange" by Theodore Sturgeon. Copyright ? 1958 by Theodore Sturgeon. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1958. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agent, Kirby McCauley, Ltd. "Something Rich and Strange" by Randall Garrett and Avram Davidson. Copyright ? 1961 by Mercury Press, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. June 1961. Reprinted by permission of the authors and the authors' agents, the John Silbersack Literary Agency. "The Crest of Thirty-Six" by Davis Grubb. Copyright ? 1980 by Kirby McCauley. First published in Dark Forces (The Viking Press). Reprinted by permission of the author's agent, Kirby McCauley, Ltd. "The Shannon Merrow" by Cooper McLaughlin. Copyright ? 1982 by Cooper McLaughlin. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1982. Reprinted by permission of the author. "Fish Story" by Leslie Charteris. Copyright ? 1953 by Leslie Charteris. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1954. Reprinted by permission of the author. "In the Islands" by Pat Murphy. Copyright ? 1983 by TSR Hobbies, Inc. First published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, March 1983. Reprinted by permission of the author. For George R. R. Martin ??because He Is There The editors would like to thank the following people for their help and support: Trina King, Jane Yolen, Michael Swanwick, Susan Casper, Jeanne Dann, Bob Walters, Janet and Ricky Kagan, Virginia Kidd, Perry Knowlton, Avram Davidson, John Silbersack, Art Saha, John Kessel, Stuart Schiff, Gene Wolfe, Howard Waldrop, Lewis Shiner, Bob Frazier, Bruce Sterling, Jeff Levin, Christine Pasanen Morris, Edward Ferman, Pat LoBrutto, Kirby McCauley, Tom Whitehead of the Special Collections Department of the Paley Library at Temple University (and his staff, especially John Betancourt and Connie King), Brian Perry and Tawna Lewis of Fat Cat Books (263 Main Street, Johnson City, New York 13790), Barry Malzberg, David Whalen, the staff at the Sir Speedy Printing Center in Philadelphia (especially Lisa), and special thanks to our own editors, Ginjer Buchanan and Susan Allison. CONTENTS AVRAM DAVIDSON The Prevalence of Mermaids L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP Nothing in the Rules PAUL DARCY BOLES She Sells Sea Shells T. CROFTON CROKER The Soul Cages PAT MURPHY Sweetly the Waves Call to Me SAMUEL R. DELANY Driftglass REGINALD BRETNOR Mrs. Pigafetta Swims Well GENE WOLFE The Nebraskan and the Nereid JANE YOLEN The Lady and the Merman The White Seal Maid The Fisherman's Wife LEWIS SHINER Till Human Voices Wake Us THEODORE STURGEON A Touch of Strange RANDALL GARRETT AND AVRAM DAVIDSON Something Rich and Strange DAVIS GRUBB The Crest of Thirty-Six COOPER MCLAUGHLIN The Shannon Merrow LESLIE CHARTERIS Fish Story PAT MURPHY In the Islands RECOMMENDED READING LIST ABOUT THE EDITORS ADVENTURES IN UNHISTORY The Prevalence of Mermaids by Avram Davidson For many years now, Avram Davidson has been one of the most eloquent and individual voices in science fiction and fantasy, and there are few writers in any literary field who can hope to match his wit, his erudition, or the stylish elegance of his prose. His recent series of stories about the bizarre exploits of Doctor Engelbert Eszterhazy (collected in his World Fantasy Award-winning The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy) and the strange adventures of Jack Limekiller (as yet uncollected, alas), for instance, are Davidson at the very height of his considerable powers, and rank among the best work of the seventies. Davidson has won the Hugo, the Edgar, arid the World Fantasy Award. His books include the renowned The Phoenix and the Mirror, Masters of the Maze, Rogue Dragon, Peregrine: Primus, Rork!, Clash of Star Kings, and the collections The Best of Avram Davidson, Or All the Seas With Oysters, and The Redward Edward Papers. His most recent books are Peregrine: Secundus, a novel, Collected Fantasies, a collection, and, as editor, the anthology Magic For Sale. Here, in an essay published for the first time in this anthology?one of a series of "Adventures in Unhistory" that Davidson has been writing for the past few years, examining curious and little-known areas of history and folklore?Davidson follows the watery trail of the most beautiful and seductive of all supernatural creatures: the mermaid. * * * My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light And he slept with a mermaid one fine night; The offspring of this strange union were three: A porpoise, and a porgy, and the third was me. ?Old Sea Shanty NORMAN DOUGLAS CALLED THEM "PROVOCATIVE CITIZENS OF the deep..." And indeed they are provocative. We all know about the mermaid, "the most pleasing myth of all," as she has been called. Today we perhaps know a little less about her than our ancestors did. To us she is merely the woman who sits on a rock or bobs up in the waves; she carries a mirror in one hand and a comb in another, both for use when she arranges her long green hair; her long green hair is all the cover she has; and she is a woman to the hips and below that she is a nonspecific breed of fish, and she has scales on the fishy part of her. And that is about that. Formerly there was more. Much more. Most of which, it seems, is gone. Mermaids, some of you will be faintly surprised to hear, did not belong exclusively to tales one's grandfather told ("See, my boy? That is a mermaid! And I want you to remember it, because there's no such thing!"), but also belonged to a school of mystical literature; surely you know De la Motte Fouqu?'s Undine... You don't? Oh well... Even before the Age of Reason, we had come to feel a need to anchor the items of the imagination firmly between the rocks of reality, a natural explanation has been sought for every element of legend. Sought for... and, sometimes, found. The dragon has been traced to the crocodile, the werewolf to the rabid dog or to a human bitten by one, the mandrake to an alkaloid, the vampire to a psychosis... and so on. The mermaid, we might as well say, has been traced to the manatee, or sea cow ... but, somehow, she doesn't stay traced. I think that the mermaid's tail, or trail, lies elsewhere. It is true that I, in collaboration with Randall Garrett, once wrote and publishe...
widez2