Going Harvey in the Big House

Aurora Award Finalist.

The Builders had made the House generations ago, to shelter the remnants of humanity from the poisons of the Outside. The Inners, the direct descendants of the Builders, now rule the House. The House protects the People, and the Inners protect the House. And Smoothers are the arms and legs of that protection.

Big G is a Smoother, ensuring that the daily activities of the House are not interrupted by "Harveys," citizens who suffer violent mental breakdowns in the claustrophobic House. But when Big G discovers a strange photograph of blue and white swirls of nothingness when responding to a Harvey call, it leads him to a woman and a world within the world he thought he knew. And a world outside it as well.

A novelette of a dystopic future Earth from a multi-award winning writer.

REVIEWS

"I first read this story nearly a decade ago. ... The images and the power of the story have stayed with me all this time. That's one of the strongest recommendations I can give." --Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award winning author

"Well conceived, but as always, it's Smith's characters that drive the story. Big G is pitch perfect. Every aspect of his personality is just spot on. ... he is completely there and three-dimensional and his reactions and motivations are plausible. It works! The ending is just right. It couldn't have been any other way..." --SF Crowsnest Reviews

"Fed into my natural fears, suspicions, and all-round disillusionment with authority...culminating eventually in sweat-soaked nightmares about a post-apocalyptic world." --Cicada Magazine

ABOUT THE 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

"One of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction." --Library Journal

"A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice." --Charles de Lint, award winning author

Douglas Smith is an award-winning Canadian author of speculative fiction, with over a hundred short story publications in thirty countries and twenty-five languages.

His collections include Chimerascope (2010) and Impossibilia (2008), as well as the translated fantasy collection, La Danse des Esprits (France, 2011). His first novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, will be released in 2013.

Doug has twice won Canada's Aurora Award, and has been a finalist for the international John W. Campbell Award, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane.

A multi-award winning film based on Doug's story "By Her Hand, She Draws You Down" will be released on DVD this year, and other films based on his stories are in the works. Doug's website is smithwriter.com and he tweets at twitter.com/smithwritr.