The Mysteries of the Faceless King
Darrell Schweitzer
- Darrell
- Schweitzer's
- career
- stretches
- back
- to
- the
- early
- 1970s.
- He
- has
- written
- novels,
- most
- notably
- The
- Mask
- of
- the
- Sorcerer
- (1995),
- which
- was
- expanded
- from
- a
- World
- Fantasy
- Award
- finalist
- novella,
- but
- he
- has
- probably
- most
- distinguished
- himself
- for
- a
- steady
- stream
- of
- short
- fiction
- which
- caused
- anthologist
- Mike
- Ashley
- (in
- The
- Mammoth
- Book
- of
- Sorcerers'
- Tales)
- to
- call
- him
- "today's
- supreme
- stylist"
- in
- the
- fantasy
- field.
- His
- work
- has
- appeared
- in
- a
- great
- variety
- of
- publications
- ranging
- from
- Amazing
- Stories
- and
- Rod
- Serling's
- The
- Twilight
- Zone
- magazine
- to
- Interzone
- and
- numerous
- PS
- Publishing
- anthologies.
- The
- present
- volume
- is
- the
- first
- major
- retrospective
- of
- his
- work."Once
- upon
- a
- time
- .
- .
- .
- None
- of
- the
- stories
- collected
- herein
- begin
- with
- those
- words,
- though
- some
- come
- close.
- But
- they
- might
- as
- well.
- For
- Darrell
- Schweitzer
- writes
- a
- very
- traditional
- sort
- of
- story.
- His
- fiction
- is
- almost
- always
- fantasy,
- which
- is
- a
- mode
- nested
- deep
- in
- the
- roots
- of
- Story,
- usually
- horror,
- a
- mode
- as
- old
- as
- nightmares,
- and
- very
- often
- weird
- fantasy,
- a
- much
- more
- recent
- mode
- but
- one
- that
- is
- dear
- to
- his
- heart.
- Most
- could
- have
- been
- written
- a
- hundred
- years
- ago—or,
- with
- equal
- ease,
- a
- hundred
- years
- in
- the
- future.
- This
- is
- not
- a
- criticism.
- Timelessness
- is
- precisely
- what
- he
- is
- after.—Michael
- Swanwick,
- from
- the
- Introduction"Schweitzer
- is
- a
- storyteller,
- by
- whose
- smoky
- fire
- one
- may
- sit
- spell-bound."—Tanith Lee
