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The Boss in the Wall
Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
1999 Nebula Award nominee 1999 Locus Award finalist
Vlad Smith is on a terrifying quest, one that will take him from the halls of our most hallowed institutions to the most rundown old houses in blighted neighborhoods. A mysterious committee, shredded yellowed newspapers, a daguerreotype of a Confederate soldier, a headless corpse, and a corpseless head….
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback, Limited Hardcover, Limited Boxed Hardcover
Vlad Smith is on a terrifying quest, one that will take him from the halls of our most hallowed institutions to the most rundown of old houses in blighted neighborhoods.
A mysterious committee, shredded yellowed newspapers, a daguerreotype of a Confederate soldier, a headless corpse, and a corpseless head. . . . These are the clues that Smith must piece together to save his sanity and his daughter and to uncover the terrible secret of the Boss in the Wall.
The Boss in the Wall is an original, previously unpublished horror novella, which sprang from Avram Davidson’s dream and was brought to life by Grania Davis’s vision. According to Michael Swanwick, “It is a rare thing for a collaborative work to stand among a writer’s best. But this is no ordinary collaboration, and Avram Davidson was no ordinary writer.”
“What a scary story, like a modern Dracula but completely original in its concept and chillingly realistic in its narration. Avram Davidson was one of the finest writers the fantasy field has had, endlessly inventive and uniquely vivid. Grania Davis has completed this work, which he left unfinished, in a way that does him proud.”
—Poul Anderson
“The Boss in the Wall is a last powerful and major work by a major and powerful author.”
—Gregory Benford
“. . . a truly remarkable short novel . . . spectacular imagination and ingenuity . . . unafraid to wander off into more than a little delightfully ghoulish humor . . . guided by the Saturninely subtle genius of Avram Davidson.”
—Gahan Wilson in Realms of Fantasy
“Davidson and Davis have devised a story that works as both a chilling horror story and a sly satire of academia. Tachyon Publications, a San Francisco–based small press has done a splendid job of packaging this odd short novel, soliciting introductions from noted fantasists Michael Swanwick and Peter S. Beagle. The Boss in the Wall may whet the appetites of a whole new generation of [Avram Davidson] enthusiasts.”
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
“. . . very satisfying . . . a chilling story. . . .”
—The Bookwatch
“. . . earns kudos for venturesome publishing. . . . Recounted in Davidson’s elliptical, arch, apocryphal manner, this tale extends feelers toward Tim Powers’s California ghosts and James Blaylock’s cranky eccentricities, while always reminding us what a unique species Davidson himself was.”
—Asimov’s Science Fiction
Avram Davidson was a medic in the Marine Corps during World War II, fought with the Israeli Army in the 1948 war for independence, and began writing in the early 1950s as a Talmudic scholar. Davidson wrote many novels, including several unfinished trilogies, and hundreds of short stories in a wide variety of genres. He wrote two novels in collaboration with his ex-wife Grania Davis and two more as Ellery Queen. He won the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus awards in science fiction and an Edgar Award and a Queen’s Award in the mystery field. He was the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in the early 1960s.
Grania Davis is the literary executer of Avram Davidson’s estate. She has written five novels of her own, including The Rainbow Annals and Moonbird as well as Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty and The Boss in the Wall, both in collaboration with Avram Davidson. She has edited anthologies of Japanese science fiction as well as many collections of the work of Avram Davidson.
“It is hard to imagine the genre that could encompass [Davidson]; it is even more difficult to imagine fantasy or science
fiction without him.”
—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
“Davidson may be always doomed to be underappreciated, but he remains a true original, and in his own subtle way, one of the greats.”
—The St. James Guide to Fantasy
The Boss in the Wall
Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
1999 Nebula Award nominee
1999 Locus Award finalist
Vlad Smith is on a terrifying quest, one that will take him from the halls of our most hallowed institutions to the most rundown old houses in blighted neighborhoods. A mysterious committee, shredded yellowed newspapers, a daguerreotype of a Confederate soldier, a headless corpse, and a corpseless head….
The Boss in the Wall
by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
ISBN: Print: 978-0-9648320-9-1
Published: 1998
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback, Limited Hardcover, Limited Boxed Hardcover
Vlad Smith is on a terrifying quest, one that will take him from the halls of our most hallowed institutions to the most rundown of old houses in blighted neighborhoods.
A mysterious committee, shredded yellowed newspapers, a daguerreotype of a Confederate soldier, a headless corpse, and a corpseless head. . . . These are the clues that Smith must piece together to save his sanity and his daughter and to uncover the terrible secret of the Boss in the Wall.
The Boss in the Wall is an original, previously unpublished horror novella, which sprang from Avram Davidson’s dream and was brought to life by Grania Davis’s vision. According to Michael Swanwick, “It is a rare thing for a collaborative work to stand among a writer’s best. But this is no ordinary collaboration, and Avram Davidson was no ordinary writer.”
“What a scary story, like a modern Dracula but completely original in its concept and chillingly realistic in its narration. Avram Davidson was one of the finest writers the fantasy field has had, endlessly inventive and uniquely vivid. Grania Davis has completed this work, which he left unfinished, in a way that does him proud.”
—Poul Anderson
“The Boss in the Wall is a last powerful and major work by a major and powerful author.”
—Gregory Benford
“. . . a truly remarkable short novel . . . spectacular imagination and ingenuity . . . unafraid to wander off into more than a little delightfully ghoulish humor . . . guided by the Saturninely subtle genius of Avram Davidson.”
—Gahan Wilson in Realms of Fantasy
“Davidson and Davis have devised a story that works as both a chilling horror story and a sly satire of academia. Tachyon Publications, a San Francisco–based small press has done a splendid job of packaging this odd short novel, soliciting introductions from noted fantasists Michael Swanwick and Peter S. Beagle. The Boss in the Wall may whet the appetites of a whole new generation of [Avram Davidson] enthusiasts.”
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
“. . . very satisfying . . . a chilling story. . . .”
—The Bookwatch
“. . . earns kudos for venturesome publishing. . . . Recounted in Davidson’s elliptical, arch, apocryphal manner, this tale extends feelers toward Tim Powers’s California ghosts and James Blaylock’s cranky eccentricities, while always reminding us what a unique species Davidson himself was.”
—Asimov’s Science Fiction
Avram Davidson was a medic in the Marine Corps during World War II, fought with the Israeli Army in the 1948 war for independence, and began writing in the early 1950s as a Talmudic scholar. Davidson wrote many novels, including several unfinished trilogies, and hundreds of short stories in a wide variety of genres. He wrote two novels in collaboration with his ex-wife Grania Davis and two more as Ellery Queen. He won the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus awards in science fiction and an Edgar Award and a Queen’s Award in the mystery field. He was the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in the early 1960s.
Grania Davis is the literary executer of Avram Davidson’s estate. She has written five novels of her own, including The Rainbow Annals and Moonbird as well as Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty and The Boss in the Wall, both in collaboration with Avram Davidson. She has edited anthologies of Japanese science fiction as well as many collections of the work of Avram Davidson.
“It is hard to imagine the genre that could encompass [Davidson]; it is even more difficult to imagine fantasy or science
fiction without him.”
—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
“Davidson may be always doomed to be underappreciated, but he remains a true original, and in his own subtle way, one of the greats.”
—The St. James Guide to Fantasy
Visit the Avram Davidson and Grania Davis websites.