The Darkest Part of the Woods

374 Pages·2003·47.394 MB·English

by  Campbell, Ramsey

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THE DARKEST PART
WOODS
OF THE
RAMSET CAMPBELL
"lie provides the reader with Insights and chills onl) a master
ol dark Fantasy could achieve" Clive Barkei
0-765-30766-9 ;5 ($34.95 can)
THE DA ST PART
OF THL WOO DS
Ramsey Campbell is the world's most honored living
horror writer, with more than twenty World Fantasy,
British Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and other awards to his
credit. Hailed as one of the most literate and literary
writersofourtime,ingenreand out, Campbell hasbeen
acclaimed as a "master ofdark fantasy" by Clive Barker,
one of today's "finest writers of supernatural horror
&
and psychological suspense" by the Charleston Post
Courier, the "master ofa skewed and exquisitely terrify-
ingstyle"by LibraryJournal,"oneoftheworld'sforemost
horror writers" by the San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle, '3
and a "master ofmood" by Publishers Weekly.
In The Darkest Part of the Woods, Campbell intro-
duces readers to the Price family, whose lives have for
decades been snarled with the fate ofthe ancient forest
ofGoodmanswood. Here, Dr. Lennox Price discovered a rs
hallucinogenic moss that quickly became the focus ofa
cult—and though the moss and the trees on which it
grew are long gone, it seems as if the whole forest can
now affect the minds ofvisitors.
AfterLennoxiskilled tryingtoreturntohisbeloved
wood, his widow seems to see and hear him in the
trees—or is it a dark version of the Green Man that
caresses her with leafy hands? Lennox's grandson heeds
a call to lie in his lover's arms in the very heart of the
forest—and cannot help but wonder what the fruit of
that love will be.
And Heather, Lennox's daughter, who turned her
back on her father's myr< s and sought sanctuary in
the world of facts an Goodmanswood sum-
>
mons her as well. . . .
II,
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THE
DARKEST
PART
THE
O
F
WOODS
BY RAMSEY CAMPBELL
from Tom DohertyAssociates
Ancient Images
Cold Print
The Count ofEleven
Dark Companions
The Darkest Part oftheWoods
The DollWhoAte His Mother
The FaceThat Must Die
Fine Frights (editor)
The Hungry Moon
Incarnate
Influence
The Last VoiceThey Hear
The Long Lost
Midnight Sun
The Nameless
Nazareth Hill
Obsession
The One Safe Place
Pact ofthe Fathers
The Parasite
Silent Children
Waking Nightmares
DARKEST
PART
O TH
F E
WOODS
RAMSEY
CAMPBELL
ATOM DOHF.KTY ASSO(
NewYork
Thisisaworkoffiction. Allthecharactersandeventsportrayedinthisnovelareeither
fictitiousorareusedfictitiously.
THEDARKESTPARTOFTHEWOODS
Copyright©2002byRamseyCampbell
Allrightsreserved, includingtherighttoreproducethisbookorportionsthereof,
inanyform.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
ATorBook
PublishedbyTomDohertyAssociates, LLC
175 FifthAvenue
NewYork, NY 10010
www.tor.com
Tor®isaregisteredtrademarkofTomDohertyAssociates, LLC.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Campbell, Ramsey, 1946— —
Thedarkestpartofthewoods/ RamseyCampbell. 1sted.
p. cm.
"ATomDohertyAssociatesbook."
ISBN0-765-30766-9
— —
1. Forestsandfore—stry Fiction. 2. Mus—hrooms,—Hallucinogenic Fic—tion. 3. Paternal
deprivation Fiction. 4. Fathers— Death Fiction. 5. Widows Fiction.
6. Cults Fiction. I. Tide.
PR—6053.A4855D355 2003
823*.914 dc2i 2003055983
Originallypublishedin GreatBritainbyPSPublishing, Ltd., Harrogate
FirstU. S. Edition: October2003
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
0987654321
ForAngus,
another reason to open a bottle