Bleakest Towers

Towers in Four DimensionsThe towers in the following stories not only occupy physical areas on whatever planet or moon they’re attached to, they also rise vertically, sometimes piercing the very hem of space itself. Along with the three basic dimensions, stories about towers can also span time, allowing the reader to peer back through millennia, perhaps through the eyes of ghosts—as in “Still...at Pilgrim’s Rest” by Felice Picano. Towers can also allow their discoverers to peak into the relationship between the future and past, as in Jonathan True’s story “Steps of Time”, where a pair of desperate children in Colonial America encounter a magnanimous being from the future.Magnificent towers are noted for attracting heroes, who journey from lands far away, even from other worlds and moons. Some heroes are driven to settle other planets, leading those who trust them to new worlds and new lives with unexpected results—as in “The Docking Tower” by Bruce Markuson. These heroes may be called upon to fight their way over walls, crawl through badlands, or weasel their way into the base of towers to take on challenges one level at a time—similar to our modern-day video games. In fact, some of the towers in this collection are digital, as in E. W. Farnsworth’s stories “Winding Stair” and “Owl Tower”.How will towers be used in the far future? One author, Carlton Herzog, tells us about a tower on Mars used as a penitentiary for very unusual inmates. Will the documentary the main character is filming go forward as planned, or will things go in an entirely different direction? Find out in the tale entitled “The Changeling”. Michele Dutcher wonders about the consequences of surviving a plague while on duty at a different sort of tower in “A Pocket Filled With Posies”. Even if the main characters do survive, what will be their next move since the world below their feet is dying?What will the heroes and desperados in our stories find at the top of the tower they have fought so hard to overpower? Will they find other humans who need to be rescued, or will they find others who decide to rescue themselves?—as evidenced in Richard Tornello’s story “Neko the Foundling”. Will they find treasure or deception?—as in “The Tower of Chimera” by John David Rose, whose hero/sorcerer is bribed into tagging along with thieves to infiltrate an ancient tower protected by dark magic? What if the treasure hunters are space-archaeologists exploring the ruins of a tower built by an old culture gone extinct over the period of two centuries? Will they find the answers they seek before whatever killed this unusual civilization also catches up with them? Find the answers in the story “Alien Towers in the Icy Cold Desert” by Sergio Palumbo and Alessandro ‘Alek McRoy’ Loi.Treasure or ashes? Life or Death? Lost magic or Lost Science? Enlightenment or disillusionment? What will the characters in these stories—and so many other exciting tales of wonder—find at the top of their towers? Read on to find out.