The Third Bear
PRAISE FOR THE THIRD BEAR
"Vandermeer's stories hit one's hindbrain slantwise - they offer no easy answers and no comfort. Rather they are hard, brilliant gems meant to cut and shine - these are some of the most beautiful, upsetting, and accomplished tales I have ever read."
- Catherynne M. Valente, author of The Orphan's Tales
"The Third Bear contains some of my favorite stories of recent years. There's the meticulous workplace surrealism of `The Situation,' the remorseless multi-world cataclysms of `The Goat Variations,' the beautiful eldritch heartsickness of `The Surgeon's Tale: Jeff VanderMeer is one of the very best."
- Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Brief History of the Dead
"Jeff VanderMeer knows what story can do to human consciousness, as is delightfully evident in his latest collection, The Third Bear. These stories are smart, gorgeous, allusive, and tricky. VanderMeer is a fantasist extraordinaire."
- Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist
"Annexing the weird half-lit spaces between genres, these stories lean sometimes into fantasy and sf, sometimes into metafiction, but are always deft and pleasurable reads. VanderMeer is one of the few writers out there able to coax something startling and necessary from anything ...a very strong collection."
- Brian Evenson, author of Last Days
"Jeff VanderMeer's work is subversive and disquieting, possessed of an almost kinetic force in its impact upon the mind. Body horror gone viral, fairy tales wrapped in their own entrails, and metafictional murder; these and other images herein are sure to leave their mark and fester in the subconscious. Already a well-regarded fantasist, The Third Bear reveals VanderMeer at his most fearsome."
- Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence and Other Stories
PRAISE FOR JEFF VANDERMEER
"VanderMeer may be creating the dominant literature of the 21st century."
- The Guardian
"In the hands of a brilliant writer like Jeff VanderMeer, writing fantasy can be a means of serious artistic expression. In VanderMeer's hands, it is also playful, poignant, and utterly, wildly, imaginative."
- Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story
"One of modern fantasy's most original and fearless pioneers."
- Richard K. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
"Jeff VanderMeer is an extraordinary writer... passionate, beautiful, complex, terrifying."
- Tamar Yellin, author of The Genizah at the House of Shepher, winner of the Jewish Book Council Award
"One of the most literary fantasy writers or fantastic literary writers we've got working these days, take your pick."
- Ron Hogan, Mediabistro's GalleyCat
JEFF VANDERMEER
Copyright © 2olo by Jeff VanderMeer.
This is a work of collected fiction. All events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form without the express permission of the author and the publisher. Interior and cover design by Jacob McMurray
Tachyon Publications 1459 ,8th Street #139 San Francisco, CA 94107 (4,5) z85-5615 www.tachyonpublications.com [email protected]
Series Editor: Jacob Weisman Editor: Jill Roberts ISBN 13: 978-1-892391-98-8 ISBN 1o:1-892391-98-8
Printed in the United States ofAmerica by Worzalla First Edition: 2010 987654321
ALL COPYRIGHTS © BY JEFF VANDERMEER
"The Third Bear" © 2007. First appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, No. 7, April 2007.
"The Quickening" © 2010. Original appearance in this collection.
"Finding Sonoria" © 2008. First appeared in Polluto, No. t, Spring 2008.
"Lost" © 2005. First appeared in TEL.• Stories, edited by Jay Lake (Wheatland Press: Eugene, Oregon).
"The Situation" © 2008. First appeared as a limited edition (PS Publishing: East Yorkshire, England).
"Predecessor" © 2009. First appeared in Conjunctions, No. 52, Spring 2009.
"Fixing Hanover" © 2oo9. First appeared in Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology, edited by Nick Gevers, (Solaris: London: England).
"Shark God Versus Octopus God" © 2004. First appeared in Postscripts, No. z, Summer 2004.
"Errata" © 2009. First appeared on Tor.com. Includes excerpts of materials from the following short stories: "Box of Oxen" by Alan Dean Foster. Copyright © 2005 by Alan Dean Foster. Not yet published. "The Telephone" by Zoran Zivkovic. Copyright © 2,005 by Zoran Zivkovil. First published in Argosy #3. "The Gate House" by Marly Youmans. Copyright © 2005 by Marly Youmans. Not yet published. "The Dragons of Manhattan" by John Grant. Copyright © 2005 by John Grant. First published in Argosy #3. "My General" by Carol Emshwiller. Copyright © 2004 by Carol Emshwiller. First published in Argosy #z. "The Mystery of the Texas Twister" by Michael Moorcock. Copyright © 2004 by Michael Moorcock. First published in Argosy #I. "The Carving" by Steve Rasnic Tem. Copyright © 2004 by Steve Rasnic Tem. First published in Argosy #I, edited by Lou Anders and James A. Owen (Birmingham: Coppervale International Studio Press, 2004). And from the following books and articles: Sergeev, Mark. "Words of a poet." W W W Irkutsk 2003. Irkutsk Computer Center, 9 Jan 2oo9. Thubron, Colin. In Siberia. New York: HarperPe- rennial, 2000. Crimethlnk Ex-Workers' Collective. Days of War, Nights of Love: Crimethlnk for Beginners. Salem: Crimethlnc., Zoos. All actual people mentioned in this story appear with their knowledge and permission.
"The Goat Variations" © 2009. First appeared in Black Clock, No. 9, Spring/Summer 2008.
"Three Days in a Border Town" © 2004. First appeared in Polyphony, No. 4, edited by Deborah Layne and Jay Lake (Wheatland Press: Eugene, Oregon).
"The Secret Life of Shane Hamill" © 2006. First appeared as "My Report on the Secret Life of Shane Hamill" in Eidolon I, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy G. Byrne (Eidolon Publications: Crested Butte, Colorado).
The Surgeon's Tale (D 2007 by Cat Rambo and Jeff VanderMeer (Prime Books: Rockville, Maryland).
"Appoggiatura" © 2007. First appeared in Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories, edited by John Klima (Bantam: New York).
Dedicated to my wife, Ann
TABLE OF CONTENTS
61
• Lost
121
• Shark God Versus Octopus God
133
Errata
177
• Three Days in a Border Town
199
• The Secret Life of Shane Hamill
209
• The Surgeon's Tale (with Cat Rambo)
THE THIRD BEAR
It made its home in the deep forest near the village of Grommin, and all anyone ever saw of it, before the end, would be hard eyes and the dark barrel of its muzzle. The smell of piss and blood and shit and bubbles of saliva and half-eaten food. The villagers called it the Third Bear because they had killed two bears already that year. But, near the end, no one really thought of it as a bear, even though the name had stuck, changed by repetition and fear and slurring through blood-filled mouths to Theeber. Sometimes it even sounded like "seether" or "seabird."
The Third Bear came to the forest in mid-summer, and soon most anyone who used the forest trail, day or night, disappeared, carried off to the creature's lair. By the time even large convoys had traveled through, they would discover two or three of their number missing. A straggling horseman, his mount cantering along, just bloodstains and bits of skin sticking to the saddle. A cobbler gone but for a shredded hat. A few of the richest villagers hired mercenaries as guards, but when even the strongest men died, silent and alone, the convoys dried up.