The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. Volume 13

Kelly Link’s story ‘Louise’s Ghost’, from her 2001 collection Stranger Things Happen (published by Small Beer Press), won the Nebula Award. Her story ‘Travels with the Snow Queen’ won the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 1997 and her ghost story ‘The Specialist’s Hat’ (reprinted in the tenth volume ofThe Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) won the World Fantasy Award in 1999.

She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Gavin J. Grant, with whom she co-edits the occasional fanzine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

‘My friend, a guy named Jak Cheng, called me up one day and said he had a great first line for a science fiction story,’ Link reveals. ‘I took his first line, and I also borrowed some of his life, and then, to be fair, I put some of my life in there as well. I’m not the narrator, not exactly, and my friend Jak isn’t Jak, not exactly, but there are some family resemblances.

‘So some parts of this story are true, and some parts are made up, and when I reread it, it’s the made-up bits that I like best. They’re less confusing. If I could, I’d e-mail Jak so I could tell you what bits he likes best — but he’s off on an archaeological dig.’