Читать онлайн «The Bone Forest»

 

RESOUNDING PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF ROBERT HOLDSTOCK:

 

MYTHAGO WOOD

Winner of the 1985 World Fantasy Award

"BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND CONCEIVED…

Some books are hard to put down.

I found MYTHAGO WOOD hard to shake off. "

The New York Times Book Review

 

"A SPLENDID PIECE OF WORK.

Intelligent, passionate, filled with magic"

Harlan Ellison

 

"ENDURING… FRIGHTENING…

Strong and satisfying…

Anybody hunting for a superb new fantasy novel need look no further. "

Washington Times

 

LAVONDYSS

"TERRIFYING…

BREATHTAKING… DELIGHTFUL"

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

 

"A VISION-QUEST WALKABOUT

through time and archetime"

Roger Zelazny

 

"PULSATES WITH FRESH IMAGINATIVE ENERGIES

that lift it well beyond the realm of the ordinary. "

Toronto Sun

 

Other Avon Books by Robert Holdstock

Lavondyss

Mythago Wood

 

Avon Books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund raising or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs.

For details write or telephone the office of the Director of Special Markets, Avon Books, Dept. FP, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019, 1-8O0-238-O658.

 

 

 

 

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book. "

"Magic Man" first appeared in Frighteners 2, 1976; "The Time Beyond Age" first appeared in Supernova, 1976; "The Boy Who Jumped the Rapids" first appeared in Beyond the Lands of Never, 1984; "Thorn" first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1986; "Scarrowfell" first appeared in Other Edens, 1987; "The Shapechanger" first appeared in GM Magazine, 1989; "Time of the Tree" first appeared in Zenith, 1989.

AVON BOOKS

A division of

The Hearst Corporation

1350 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York 10019

Copyright e 1976, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991 by Robert Holdstock

Cover illustration by Tom Canty

Published by arrangement with the author

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-93060

ISBN: 0-380-76781-3

All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the U. S. Copyright Law. For information address Ellen Levine Literary Agency, 15 East 26th Street, #1801, New York, New York 10010.

First AvoNova Printing: September 1992

AVONOVA TRADEMARK REG.

U. S. PAT OFF. AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES, MARCA REGISTRADA, HECHO EN U. S. A.

Printed in the U. S. A.

RA 10 987654321

 

Contents

The Bone Forest

Thorn

The Shapechanger

The Boy who Jumped the Rapids

Time of the Tree

Magic Man

Scarrowfell

The Time Beyond Age

 

The Bone Forest

Time past and time future

Allow but a little consciousness.

—T. S. Eliot

ONE

The sound of his sons' excited shouting woke Huxley abruptly at three in the morning. His breath frosting in the freezing room, he shivered his way into his dressing gown, tugged on slippers, and walked darkly and swiftly to the boys' room.