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A Soft Barren Aftershock
Stories of Wonder and Dread
F. Paul Wilson
(custom book cover)
Title Page
Jerry eBooks
About F. Paul Wilson
Bibliography
Who is Repairman Jack?
The Secret History of the World
Timeline
THE STORIES
HIGHER CENTERS
THE CLEANING MACHINE
THE MAN WITH THE ANTEATER
RATMAN
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS
PARD
LIPIDLEGGIN’
TO FILL THE SEA AND AIR
DEMONSONG
GREEN WINTER
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
SOFT
THE LAST ONE MO’ ONCE GOLDEN OLDIES REVIVAL
DAT-TAY-VAO
TRAPS
THE YEARS THE MUSIC DIED
MÉNAGE Á TROIS
DOC JOHNSON
CUTS
MUSCLES
FACES
TENANTS
FEELINGS
BUCKETS
THE TENTH TOE
A DAY IN THE LIFE
DEFINITIVE THERAPY
RUMORS
ROCKABILLY
THE LAST RAKOSH
THE BARRENS
MIDNIGHT MASS
PELTS
TOPSY
HOME REPAIRS
MEMOIRS OF THE EFFSTER
DREAMS
THE NOVEMBER GAME
PLEASE DON'T HURT ME
FOET
BOB DYLAN, TROY JOHNSON, AND THE SPEED QUEEN
THE LONG WAY HOME
NYRO FIDDLES
THE LORD’S WORK
WINTER QUARTERS
WHEN HE WAS FAB
SLASHER
ITSY BITSY SPIDER
DCRAOFVPIIPEDEL
THE WRINGER
OFFSHORE
ARYANS AND ABSINTHE
LYSING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM
GOOD FRIDAY
NIGHT DIVE
AFTERSHOCK
ANNA
PERFORMANCE
SOLE CUSTODY
HUNTERS
PART OF THE GAME
INTERLUDE AT DUANE’S
SEX SLAVES OF THE DRAGON TONG
DO-GOODER
THE SOUND OF BLUNDER
RECALLED
PINEY POWER
THE DEAD WORLD
THE WIDOW LINDLEY
SANTA JACK
RENASCENCE
INFERNAL NIGHT
APPENDIX
Source Material
Fiction Not Included
FRANCIS PAUL WILSON was born on May 17, 1946 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He misspent his youth playing with matches, poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics, reading Lovecraft, Matheson, Bradbury, and Heinlein, listening to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed on the radio, and watching Soupy Sales and Shock Theatre with Zacherley.
He is an American author, primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer (1976). Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog while still in medical school (graduating in 1973), and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies.
In 1981, he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller, The Keep, and helped define the field throughout the rest of the decade.
In the 1990s, he became a true genre hopper, moving from science fiction to horror to medical thrillers and branching into interactive scripting for Disney Interactive and other multimedia companies. He, along with Matthew J. Costello, created and scripted FTL Newsfeed which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992-1996.F. Paul Wilson was born and raised in New Jersey
F. Paul Wilson is the author of more than forty books: science fiction (Healer, Wheel within Wheels, An Enemy of the State, Dydeetown World, The Tery, Sims), horror thrillers (The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch, Reborn, Reprisal, Nightworld, Black Wind, Sibs, Midnight Mass), contemporary thrillers (The Select, Implant, Deep as the Marrow), novels that defy categorization (The Fifth Harmonic, Virgin) and a number of collaborations. In 1998 he resurrected his popular antihero, Repairman Jack, and has chronicled his adventures in Legacies, Conspiracies, All the Rage, Hosts, The Haunted Air, Gateways, Crisscross, Infernal, Harbingers, Bloodline, By the Sword, Ground Zero, and Fatal Error.
He has peeked into Jack’s teenage life in the young adult novels, Jack: Secret Histories, Jack: Secret Circles and Jack: Secret Vengreance.
Most of his short stories are collected in Soft & Others (1989), The Barrens & Others (1998), and Aftershock & Others (2009). Plus, a collection of Repairman Jack short stories in Quick Fixes (2011).
He has edited two anthologies: Freak Show (1992) and Diagnosis: Terminal (1996). He has written for stage, screen, and interactive media as well.
The Keep, The Tomb, Harbingers, and By the Sword all appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers List. Wheels Within Wheels won the first Prometheus Award in 1979; Sims won another, The Tomb received the Porgie Award from The West Coast Review of Books. His novelette “Aftershock” won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for short fiction. Dydeetown World was on the young adult recommended reading lists of the American Library Association and the New York Public Library, among others.
He was awarded the prestigious Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComiCon and the Pioneer Award from the RT Booklovers Convention. He is listed in the 50th anniversary edition of Who’s Who in America.
His novel The Keep was made into a visually striking but otherwise incomprehensible movie (screenplay and direction by Michael Mann) by Paramount in 1983. The Tomb has been in development “development-hell” for years; as “Repairman Jack” by Beacon Films and (hopefully) will not suffer a similar fate. His original teleplay “Glim-Glim” aired on Monsters in 1989.
An adaptation of his short story “Ménage á Trois” was part of the pilot for The Hunger series that debuted on Showtime in July 1997. “Pelts” was adapted by Dario Argento for Masters of Horror.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Adversary Cycle
The Keep
The Tomb
The Touch
Reborn
Reprisal
Nightworld
Repairman Jack
The Tomb
Legacies
Conspiracies
All the Rage
Hosts
The Haunted Air
Gateways
Crisscross
Infernal
Harbingers
Bloodline
By the Sword
Ground Zero
Fatal Error
The Dark at the End
Nightworld
Quick Fixes
The Teen Trilogy
Jack: Secret Histories
Jack: Secret Circles
Jack: Secret Vengeance
The Early Years Trilogy
Cold City
Dark City
Fear City
The LaNague Federation Series
Healer
Wheels Within Wheels
An Enemy of the State
Dydeetown World
The Tery
Other Novels
Black Wind
Sibs
The Select
Virgin
Implant
Deep as the Marrow
Mirage (with Matthew J. Costello)
Nightkill (with Steven Spruill)
DNA Wars (formerly Masque with Matthew J. Costello)
Sims
The Fifth Harmonic
Midnight Mass
The Proteus Cure (with Tracy L. Carbone)
A Necessary End (with Sarah Pinborough)
Definitely Not Kansas (with Tom Monteleone)
Short Fiction
Soft & Others
The Barrens & Others
The Christmas Thingy
Aftershock & Others
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium
Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack
Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong
As Editor
Freak Show
Diagnosis: Terminal
The Hogben Chronicles (with Pierce Watters)
Omnibus Editions
The Complete LaNague
Calling Dr. Death
Who is Repairman Jack?
He’s an urban mercenary in Manhattan, a self-made outcast who lives in the interstices of modern society. A ghost in our machine: no official identity, no social security number, pays no taxes. He has a violent streak he sometimes finds hard to control. He hires out for cash to “fix” situations that have no legal remedy.
The name Repairman Jack comes from his gunrunner pal, Abe. Jack’s not crazy about it, but he lives with it. He’s not a vigilante, not a do-gooder. He’s not out to right wrongs. Nor is he out to change the world or fight crime. (He’s a career criminal, after all, as are many of his friends.) He’s not Batman. He’s just a guy with a devious mind who likes his work best when he can see to it that what goes around comes around. If you follow him carefully you’ll see he gets a real jolt out of running a scam or setting up someone to be hoisted on his own petard.
He came from a dream. The scene on the roof in The Tomb was that dream. I worked backward and forward from there to create a character who could survive that situation.
I decided on an anti-Jason Bourne—with no black-ops, SEAL, or Special Forces training, no CIA or police background, no connection to officialdom. In other words, no safety net. No one in officialdom he could call on. He has to rely on his own wits and his own network.
I’ve been a libertarian forever, so I figured I’d act out my libertarian dreams, you know, make this guy an anarchist with no identity. But as I’ve continued his adventures, I’ve learned that it takes a lot of effort to live below the radar, especially since 9/11.
I intended Jack as a one-shot, which is kind of obvious at the end of The Tomb. As I finished that novel, I thought, “Well, this character is definitely series material, so I gotta make it look like the guy is dead or they’ll want more.” I had books planned out and didn’t want to get locked into a series.
Then, later on, Jack became a way out of a trap I’d got myself into with a medical thriller contract. I’d become bored with writing them after doing three and I was contracted to do a fourth . . . but I had this idea for a techy thriller and thought, why don’t I rework this and use Jack again? It’d be great for him. I named it Legacies and made his client a doctor so I could call it a medical thriller. The publisher was happy I was bringing back a character my fans wanted to see again, and I was happy to revisit Jack. A win-win.
Legacies was fun and sold well, so I had to do another, and then another, and before I knew it, Jack had taken over my writing career.
But before Legacies, I brought him back in shorter works.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The preponderance of F. Paul Wilson’s work deals with a history of the world that remains undiscovered, unexplored, and unknown to most of humanity. Some of this secret history has been revealed in the Adversary Cycle, some in the Repairman Jack novels, and bits and pieces in other, seemingly unconnected works. Taken together, even these millions of words barely scratch the surface of what has been going on behind the scenes, hidden from the workaday world. The works listed below are in the chronological order.
Note: “Year Zero” is the end of civilization as we know it; “Year Zero Minus One” is the year preceding it, etc.
THE PAST
“Demonsong” (prehistory)
“The Compendium of Srem” (1498)
“Aryans and Absinthe” (1923-1924)
Black Wind (1926-1945)
The Keep (1941)
Reborn (February-March 1968)
“Dat Tay Vao” (March 1968)
Jack: Secret Histories (1983)
Jack: Secret Circles (1983)
Jack: Secret Vengeance (1983)
“Faces” (1988)
Cold City (1990)
Dark City (1991)
Fear City (1993)
YEAR ZERO MINUS THREE
Sibs (February)
The Tomb (summer)
“The Barrens” (ends in September)
“A Day in the Life” (October)
“The Long Way Home”
Legacies (December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS TWO
“Interlude at Duane’s” (April)
Conspiracies (April) (includes “Home Repairs”)
All the Rage (May) (includes “The Last Rakosh”)
Hosts (June)
The Haunted Air (August)
Gateways (September)
Crisscross (November)
Infernal (December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS ONE
Harbingers (January)
“Infernal Night” (with Heather Graham)
Bloodline (April)
By the Sword (May)
Ground Zero (July)
The Touch (ends in August)
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium (ends in September)
“Tenants”
YEAR ZERO
“Pelts”
Reprisal (ends in February)
Fatal Error (February)
The Dark at the End (March)
Nightworld (starts in May)
TIMELINE
A chronology of births and deaths and major events in the Secret History
THE PAST
Prehistory–“Demonsong”
Rasalom’s first death
Srem assembles her Compendium
The Great Cataclysm ends the First Age
1476–Rasalom trapped in the Keep;
1498–Torquemada encounters the Compendium of Srem
1563–on one of his inspection trips to the keep
Glaeken seals the Compedium and other “forbidden” books there
1890–Ernst Drexler Sr born
1923-24–“Aryans and Absinthe”
1926-45–Black Wind–the Gaijin Masamune is damaged at Hiroshima
1927–Jonah Stevens loses left eye in Great Lower Mississippi Valley Flood
1930–Jack’s father born
1931–Jack’s mother born
1941–early April–Jasmine “Jazzy” Cordeau impregnated with a human clone
1941–May 3 - The Keep–Rasalom killed–invades the clone in Jazzy
1941–(June) Alexandru sells Compendium & other books to a Bucharest dealer
1941–Jonah Stevens has visions instructing him to care for the Vessel
1942–(Jan 6) the Vessel (a human clone) born to Jazzy
1942–Compendium sold to American collector
(Feb) Jonah and Emma Stevens adopt the Vessel from St. F’s–name him James
1946–Walter Erskine born in Chillicothe, MO
1949–Ernst Drexler II born
1950–Jack’s father trained as US Army sniper by Sgt. Nacht
1959–Tom Jr born
1961–Kate born
1962–Jack’s father gets vasectomy
1968
Feb. 10 Reborn: Rasalom conceived in Monroe,
causing a cluster of freaks (Conspiracies and “Faces”)
Feb. 11 - Dr. Hanley crashes
Mar–Dat Tay Vao enters Walt Erskine
April–Jack conceived
Sept–Weezy Connell born
Nov 7–Rasalom reborn in Hickory
Hill, AK
1969
Jan–Jack born
Feb–Mrs. Clevenger moves into Johnson, NJ
April–Walter Erskine’s sister’s (Adelle) husband
Kurt Bainbridge transferred from Kansas, City, MO to his company’s Trenton office; knew Jack’s Dad in Korea (calls him “Killer”); moves to Johnson for the trout and bass fishing; provides home for his brother-in-law but not crazy about idea.
Oct–Eddie Connell born
SOMETIME IN THE EARLY 1970s
Jonah Stevens’s kids:
Hank born in January
Jeremy 11 mo later in Dec
Moonglow / Christy born following Dec.
1970–24-yr-old Walt Eskine gets medical discharge
from Army after treated for a mental condition at Northport V.A. Hospital. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Thinks he can heal people.
1972–Walt joins a faith-healing tent show in the South
but kicked off the tour because he is never sober.
1974–Walt comes to live with sister in Johnson, NJ
1975–American collector killed and robbed of Compendium (Jonah Stevens)
1975–Luther Brady receives Compendium after graduation from college
1979–Jonah Stevens killed in elevator accident.
1981–Tom starts Seton Hall Law
1982–Kate spends Junior Year abroad in France.
1982–Walt Erskine in DC for march to Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication
1983
Aug: Jack: Secret Histories
Sept: Kate starts UMDNJ (Jack: Secret Circles)
Oct: Jack: Secret Vengeance
YEAR ZERO MINUS SIX:
Walt Erskine moves briefly to New York; meets Martin Spano
YEAR ZERO MINUS FIVE:
The THEN sections of Reprisal end with Danny Gordon buried (late December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS FOUR:
Bill Ryan ends up on West End in Bahamas (January)
YEAR ZERO MINUS THREE:
SIBS (February)
“Faces” (early summer)
THE TOMB (summer)
“The Barrens” (ends in September)
“A Day in the Life” (October)
“The Long Way Home”
LEGACIES (December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS TWO:
Bill Ryan becomes Will Ryerson and returns to US
CONSPIRACIES (April) (includes “Home Repairs”)
ALL THE RAGE (May) (includes “The Last Rakosh”)
HOSTS (June)
THE HAUNTED AIR (August)