"Charles L. Grant - Secrets of the Heart" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Charles L)

SECRETS OF THE
HEART
Charles L. Grant




When Poul Anderson was president of SFWA, the job nearly killed
him; and when his term was over, there were few suckers willing to take the
position. Eventually I was talked into it; I accepted on the condition that we
radically transform the organization. A committee of ex-presidents and other
interested people was created, and thorough reforms proposed.
One needed reform was to hire an executive secretary, someone to do
much of the routine work that was killing off presidents. Unfortunately,
SFWA had almost no money.
“That’s all right,” one of the ex-presidents said. “We’ll find some
starving young writer and pay him enough to let him live in a garret.”
And lo, the search began. We wanted someone articulate, willing to work
for beans, and living in New York; and oddly enough there were quite a few
candidates for the post. Unfortunately, although all were articulate and eager
and willing to work for slave wages, none lived in New York City; and we
really did need someone able to get to Publishers’ Row and pound on desks
once in a while.
Then Charles L. Grant applied. He lived in New Jersey, only an hour
by bus from Manhattan. He’d been writing for several years, but his career was
interrupted by military service, and he was starting over. He wanted to learn
more about the writing business, and Lord knows, the SFWA post would
teach him that.
So I hired him. I admit I had reservations. Charlie seemed so
mild-mannered and polite that I wondered if he would be tough enough to
survive in a post that a lot of young writers thought they could fill better than he
could. I needn’t have worried. Charles L. Grant turned out to be the best thing
that ever happened to SFWA, and the organization probably wouldn’t still
exist if he hadn’t put in his years of service.


Since that time, Charles Grant has become well known. He edits
Shadows, a series of horror-story anthologies, and has almost singlehandedly
revived the quiet, understated horror story.
“Secrets of the Heart” is typical Grant, and it’s no surprise that it was
nominated for a Nebula.




I’m all alone in the house now, a terrible thing to be when
you’re used to so many people being around all the time. But the
others are gone. A few of them, of course, were able to leave when
I changed my mind. A few. And some of them died. A lot of them.
It wasn’t my fault, though. All I did was show them. Once they