VACANCY & ARIEL

For many of us, the Ace Double Novels of the ’50s and ’60s have long been a source both of pleasure and nostalgia. This new double volume from Subterranean Press stands squarely in that distinguished tradition, offering a pair of colorful, fast-paced novellas from one of the finest writers currently working in any genre: Lucius Shepard.In Vacancy, a washed-up actor, a mysterious motel, and a Malaysian “woman of power” form the central elements in a riveting account of a rootless man forced to confront the impossible—but very real—demons of his past. This is Shepard at his harrowing, hallucinatory best.Ariel brilliantly transmutes some traditional SF concepts—alien incursions, the mysteries of quantum physics—into an astonishing, often moving reflection on love and obsession, memory and identity, and the archetypal conflict that stands at the heart of an infinite multitude of worlds.

Vacancy & Ariel Copyright © 2009 by Lucius Shepard.All rights reserved.“Vacancy” Copyright © 2007. First appeared in Subterranean Online.“Ariel” Copyright © 2003. First appeared in Asimov’s.

Dust jacket and interior illustrations Copyright © 2009 by J.K. Potter. All rights reserved.Interior design Copyright © 2009 by Desert Isle Design, LLC.All rights reserved.First EditionISBN 978-1-59606-222-1Subterranean PressPO Box 190106Burton, MI 48519www.subterraneanpress.com