America has a few lake monsters of its own, however. The most famous is Champ, a plesiosaur rumored to paddle about Lake Champlain. At some point I came across an apparently true news item from the mid-1930s, about a ferry striking a half-submerged lake creature, colliding hard enough to damage the boat. In an instant I had an explanation for the death of the monster, and a way to transplant my story to the United States, where I felt I was on stronger footing as a writer. I already had a first draft when I was invited to contribute to Shadow Show, and so I seasoned it with a bit more Bradbury to show my appreciation for a writer whose work did so much to help me find my own voice.

Sometimes life really is like a novel; the earlier scenes foreshadow what’s to come and certain motifs make regular appearances. A long time ago, in a different century, I spent a week with Tom Savini on the set of Creepshow and got my first inkling of what I might want to be when I grew up. Here in 2019, Creepshow is returning as a TV show on a streaming horror network by the name of Shudder. Tom Savini’s protégé, Greg Nicotero, is the driving creative force behind the show, and “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain” is one of the stories they decided to bring to life. And would you believe Savini himself is directing? Keep an eye out for it.

FAUN

This story, on the other hand, is a pretty conscious descendant of Bradbury’s “The Sound of Thunder.” In stories of Oz, Narnia, and Wonderland, the little door to topsy-turvy land is always discovered by a child who needs something: to learn the value of home, or to serve a cause bigger than herself, or to avoid creepy old fellas like Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, what might happen if an enchanted portal were found by someone with a more mercantile heart and a lot less moral fiber.

There’s a debt here to C. S. Lewis, but the tale also owes a lot to the work of Lawrence Block. Block has something of a knack for the savage final twist. When he asked me to contribute a story to an anthology he was putting together, At Home in the Dark, I knew I wanted to write something that would reflect his values and instincts. Hopefully “Faun” does. What a pleasure to have read and enjoyed Larry for so many years and to now get to trade e-mails with him!

LATE RETURNS

I hate the idea of dying when I’m only halfway through a book.

ALL I CARE ABOUT IS YOU

One of these days, I’ll learn how to write a story with a happy ending.