Aurora Award Finalist story from a multi-award winning author.
Dr. Lucius Rainer, head of research at GenTech, is dead. But to Jack, it seems that his old mentor still lives on through his house. Certainly, Rainer's strange island retreat exudes the personality of its late owner: isolated and eccentric, brooding and uninviting.
But when GenTech learns that the house holds a working model of Rainer's final project, Jack discovers that the house shares one other trait with its former owner. Dangerous.
The house will open only to Jack's biometrics, and will only allow two very specific people to accompany him: Wendy, Jack's now ex-wife, and Deak Sanderson, Wendy's new lover and Jack's former rival at GenTech.
As the three of them explore the house and its secrets, Jack discovers that some doors--in this house and in life--should never be opened.
"This story has a cunningly satisfying conclusion. I find a good short story falls into two categories: There is the complete story, the novel miniaturised, which is a nearly perfect art form. These are hard to capture but constantly illustrated by such writers as Douglas Smith." --SF Crowsnest Book Reviews
"The puzzles and the final invention that they hint at are intriguing ... Smith ties [the story's] denouement's metaphorical significance in well with the technological concept at the center of the plot." --The Fix
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Douglas Smith is a five-time award-winning author described by Library Journal as "one of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction."
His latest work is the multi-award-winning YA urban fantasy trilogy, The Dream Rider Saga (The Hollow Boys, The Crystal Key, and The Lost Expedition). His other books include the urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World; the collections Borderlanz, Chimerascope, Impossibilia, and La Danse des Esprits (translated); and the writer's guide Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction.
Published in 28 languages, Doug is a 4-time winner of Canada's Aurora Award, most recently for The Hollow Boys, as well as the juried IAP Award for the same book. He's also been a finalist for the Astounding Award, CBC's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, the juried Alberta Magazine Award for Fiction, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane.
His short fiction has appeared in the top markets in the field, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, InterZone, Weird Tales, Baen's Universe, Escape Pod, On Spec, Cicada, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and The Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction (vol.2).
Doug lives near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
"The man is Sturgeon good. Zelazny good. I don't give those up easy." —Spider Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner
"A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice." —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner
"His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think." —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner
"Stories you can't forget, even years later." —Julie Czerneda, multi-award-winning author and editor
