BooksBarbecue
Back Odder Than Ever Save as PDF

Odder Than Ever

Bruce Coville
Chapters (13)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. The Golden Sail
  4. Biscuits of Glory
  5. I, Earthling
  6. The Giant’s Tooth
  7. There’s Nothing Under the Bed
  8. The Stinky Princess
  9. The Japanese Mirror
  10. Am I Blue?
  11. The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones
  12. A Note from the Author
  13. About the Author

Copyright

Copyright © 1999 by Bruce Coville

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [email protected] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

“The Golden Sail” copyright © 1999 by Bruce Coville; first publication. “Biscuits of Glory” copyright © 1995 by Bruce Coville; originally published in The Haunted House (HarperCollins), edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg. “I, Earthling” copyright © 1994 by Bruce Coville; originally published in Bruce Coville’s Book of Aliens (Apple/Scholastic), edited by Bruce Coville. “The Giant’s Tooth” copyright © 1999 by Bruce Coville; first publication. “There’s Nothing Under the Bed,” copyright © 1995 by Bruce Coville, originally published in Bruce Coville’s Book of Nightmares (Apple/ Scholastic), edited by Bruce Coville. “The Stinky Princess” copyright © 1999 by Bruce Coville; first publication. “The Japanese Mirror” copyright © 1996 by Bruce Coville; originally published in A Nightmare’s Dozen (Jane Yolen Books/Harcourt), edited by Michael Stearns. “Am I Blue?” copyright © 1994 by Bruce Coville; originally published in Am I Blue? (HarperCollins), edited by Marion Dane Bauer. “The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones” copyright © 1997 by Bruce Coville; originally published in Bruce Coville’s Book of Magic II (Apple/Scholastic), edited by Bruce Coville. “A Note from the Author” copyright © 1999 by Bruce Coville; first publication.

Originally published in hardcover by Harcourt, Inc., 1999

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Coville, Bruce.

Odder than ever/stories by Bruce Coville.

p. cm.

Companion title: Oddly enough.

Summary: A collection of nine short stories featuring a ghost, a goblin, a giant, and other unusual creatures.

1. Horror tales, American. 2. Children’s stories, American.

[1. Horror stories. 2. Short stories.] I. Title.

PZ7.C8344Ocj 1999

[Fic]—dc21 98-51102

ISBN 978-0-15-201747-7 hardcover

ISBN 978-0-15-202465-9 paperback

eISBN 978-0-544-98854-5
v1.0716

Dedication

For Dick Decker,

with profound thanks for urging me to stretch my wings and set sail on uncharted seas

The Golden Sail

HIS NAME was Jan. He was short for his thirteen years, and the sun had roasted his skin to a golden brown. His long, unruly hair was black as a moonless night, his heart hard as a sailor’s knot. As for his eyes, they were mostly green but seemed to shift with his moods.

In this, they were much like the sea beside which he lived.

Jan loved the sea. But he also hated it, for it had taken his father when he’d set off to find the ship with the golden sail.