novels, both as Kiraly, are Leanna(1986), a moder-
ately successful ghost story, and Madeline(1996),
another strong effort in which Edgar Allan POEis
prevailed upon to help one of the descendants of
the Usher family from “THE FALL OF THE HOUSE
OF USHER.”
Bergstrom’s only nonsupernatural fantasy novel
is The Door through Washington Square(1998). After
her great-grandmother becomes seriously ill and is
confined to a hospital, a young woman moves into
her house to manage the estate. Almost immedi-
ately, she discovers that one of the doorways leads
back through time to the era of Aleister Crowley,
with whom she subsequently becomes romantically
and adventurously involved. Although clever at
times, it lacks the intensity of most of her other
fiction.
Beyond Any Measure Karl Edward Wagner
(1982)
Although probably best known for his heroic fan-
tasy, Karl Edward WAGNERalso produced a consid-
erable body of short supernatural fiction with
contemporary settings, including this fine novella,
which won the World Fantasy Award. Reincarna-
tion is an infrequently used theme in contempo-
rary horror, but Wagner here provides one of the
best examples of how the resurgence of past life
memories can have a devastating impact on the
present.
Lisette is an American art student whose relo-
cation to London has been accompanied by dis-
turbing dreams, including a recurring one in which
she awakens in a room filled with antique furni-
ture. Once it becomes obvious that the dreams are
not going away, she agrees to consult with a New
Age psychologist, Dr. Ingmar Magnus. Although
she is skeptical at first and does not plan to pay a
second visit, the dreams grow even more intense,
and she decides to seek his help. He hints that her
dreams may contain evidence of a previous incar-
nation, or at least some form of occult knowledge
of a different lifetime.
Magnus uses hypnosis to regress Lisette’s mind
into the past, when she was an English society
woman named Elizabeth Beresford. The night-
mares continue unabated by the therapy, and she
considers terminating the sessions despite the en-
thusiasm Magnus is exhibiting because her case
supports his theory of reincarnation. He responds
by telling her that if she fails to discover the truth
about Elizabeth, her own mental stability might be
in jeopardy. Eventually, she decides to sever her re-
lationship with Magnus anyway, convinced his ef-
forts are hurting rather than helping her, and
Magnus pretends to agree, although he maintains
his hypnotic control over her.
Lisette’s roommate is found dead, apparently a
suicide, although the reader knows that it follows
an encounter with someone who appeared to be
Lisette physically, although with a different person-
ality. This apparent anomaly is explained when we
subsequently learn that Elizabeth Beresford’s body
is still alive, occupied by the soul of a vampirish
being, and that her original soul has reincarnated
itself as Lisette in order to destroy the vampire,
which she eventually does, although she also dies
in the process. Wagner’s story is particularly suc-
cessful because the reader never really understands
what is happening until the final revelation but is
never left so completely in the dark that it be-
comes difficult to follow what is happening at the
moment.“Bianca’s Hands”Theodore Sturgeon(1947)
During the 1940s the distinctions that currently
define science fiction, fantasy, and horror were less
specific. Many writers wrote in all three forms, al-
though usually their best work would tend to be of
the same variety. Theodore Sturgeon was one of
the rare exceptions, a highly skilled writer who
produced westerns, detective fiction, and a histori-
cal novel in addition to his science fiction and fan-
tasy. Although he is generally remembered now as
a science fiction writer, he wrote some of the most
memorable and literate horror stories of that pe-
riod, including this highly atmospheric piece.
Bianca was born without will or intelligence in
a fragile body whose only good feature was her
hands, beautifully formed and with an animation
missing from the rest of her body. They act like
“beautiful parasites,” draining all of the other en-
ergy from her person and refusing to do any physi-
cal labor except to groom themselves. Bianca lives22 Beyond Any Measure