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The Dancer at the Red Door book cover
The Dancer at the Red Door
2011
First Published
4.91
Average Rating
42
Number of Pages
Aurora Award Finalist story from a multi-award winning author. "Doug Smith is, quite simply, the finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres, and he's also the most prolific. His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think." —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids and FlashForward "A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice." — Charles de Lint "One of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction." — Library Journal Alexander King has everything—wealth, power, a business empire over which he rules. But lately, the corporate game in which he excels has lost its thrill for him. He needs a new game. And then, on the crowded streets of Toronto, in the dead cold of winter, she appears before him. The Dancer. Achingly beautiful, half-naked, and dancing to a song that only she and King seem to hear, she becomes King’s new obsession, an obsession that draws him into a journey through a secret world hidden within the city he thought he knew…and to a very special club. "With its mix of oblique horror, urban fantasy, and monsters, [this story] recalls British horror novelist Clive Barker at his most disturbingly fanciful." — Quill and Quire "An excellent story … urban fantasy at its best." — Fantasy Book Critic "...an intriguing meditation on escapism...evoking Gaiman's Neverwhere, the obligatory helping of Lovecraft, plus a touch of something like Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut" —Strange Horizons "Beautifully crafted ... The writing is lean and evocative; every element of the story works double-time as setting informs character, action creates mood, and nothing is superfluous. ... A wonderful story. Highly, highly recommended." — Rainbow Dragon Recommends ABOUT THE Doug is an award-winning author of speculative fiction, with over a million words of fiction sold and over a hundred short story sales to professional markets in thirty countries and two dozen languages. He has published three short story Chimerascope (ChiZine Publications, Canada, 2010), Impossibilia, (PS Publishing, UK, 2008), and just recently, La Danse des Esprits (Dreampress, France, 2011). Doug has twice won Canada's Aurora Award for speculative fiction, and have been a finalist for the international John W. Campbell Award, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation's Bookies Award, and the juried Sunburst Award.
Avg Rating
4.91
Number of Ratings
11
5 STARS
91%
4 STARS
9%
3 STARS
0%
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goodreads

Author

Douglas Smith
Douglas Smith
Author · 6 books

Douglas Smith is a multi-award-winning author described by Library Journal as “one of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction.” His latest work is the multi-award-winning YA urban fantasy trilogy, The Dream Rider Saga (The Hollow Boys, The Crystal Key, and The Lost Expedition). Other books include the urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World; the collections, Chimerascope, Impossibilia, and La Danse des Esprits (translated); and the writer's guide Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction. His short fiction has appeared in the top markets in the field, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, InterZone, Weird Tales, Baen’s Universe, Escape Pod, On Spec, and Cicada. Published in 27 languages, Doug is a 4-time winner of Canada's Aurora Award, most recently in 2023 for The Hollow Boys, as well as the juried IAP Award for the same book. He's been a finalist for the Astounding Award, CBC's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, the juried Alberta Magazine Award for Fiction, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane. BookBub Follow button Buy Doug's books Follow Doug on Amazon

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