The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard
"The Ends of the Earth" is a collection of fourteen short stories by Raymond Kingsley that explores themes of despair, transformation, and existential struggle, with many narratives set in surreal or dystopian locations. The title story follows Kingsley as he journeys from New York City to Livingston, Guatemala, where he encounters characters grappling with their own misfortunes while engaging in a Mayan board game that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare. Other stories in the collection delve into the harsh realities of war, such as "Delta Sly Honey," which addresses the psychological toll of a soldier's experience in Vietnam, and "Shades," where a veteran confronts the ghosts of his past.
The collection also features unique narratives like "The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter," in which a woman’s battle for survival unfolds in the belly of a mystical dragon. Each story is rich with symbolism, exploring how individuals respond to trauma, love, and their own identities in environments that feel otherworldly or oppressive. Through its varied characters and settings, "The Ends of the Earth" invites readers to reflect on the human condition and the often harrowing journeys to find meaning within it.
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Subject Terms
The Ends of the Earth
First published: 1991
Type of work: Stories
Type of plot: Fantasy—New Wave
Time of work: Primarily the late twentieth century
Locale: Primarily the United States, Central America, and Vietnam
The Plot
Lucius Shepards second story collection contains fourteen stories from the late 1980s. In the title story, author Raymond Kingsley leaves New York City for Livingston, Guatemala, referred to as the End of the Earth. There he meets Ryan, Carl Konwicki, and Odille LeCleuse, each fleeing some misery. Konwicki and Kingsley begin to play a Mayan board game. LeCleuse and Kingsley become lovers, and Kingsley writes a novel. He has frightening dreams about stone temples where aliens torture humans. He gradually changes into the character of one of the game figurines, and he kills Konwicki and some townspeople. His spirit is now trapped in the figurine. LeCleuse returns to Paris and Kingsley to New York, his new End of the Earth.
“Delta Sly Honey” is the story of a young soldier, Randall J. Willingham, who works on corpse detail during his tour in Vietnam. Moon, a sadistic top sergeant, makes Willingham his victim and whipping boy. Each night, the ordinarily withdrawn Willingham radio broadcasts to the platoons in the field, finally addressing a mythical, ghostly Delta Sly Honey patrol. One night the patrol answers him. Willingham goes AWOL, and the Delta Sly Honey company materializes and kills Moon. Willingham returns and is, in time, seduced by Delta Sly Honey.
In “Bound for Glory,” an unnamed man and his partner Tracy leave the southwestern town where they have been living. Traveling toward Glory by rail through the Patch, a dark place on Earth where mutant creatures live, Tracy metamorphoses into a strange animal. The hopeless protagonist survives the trip but later rides his horse triumphantly into the Patch, becoming a dark king.
After a shipwreck, Jack Tyrell and Bert Cisneros wash ashore on a blasted island south of Marthas Vineyard in the story “Nomans Land.” Tyrell meets Astrid, an enigmatic entomologist who studies the island’s spiders. She explains that the deadly white spiders control humans through dreams. The human race has been all but eliminated; only images of it are left in the minds of the few survivors, who are playthings for the spiders. Tyrell accidentally kills Astrid, then drowns. Misunderstanding the spider-gods, Cisneros is trapped in a wasteland, unable to commit suicide.
“Life of Buddha” is a meditation on love. Buddha is the nickname given to a squat black heroin addict who guards Pete’s shooting gallery in Detroit. Buddha has nearly transcended his physical existence but is “grounded” when a transsexual friend commits murder. Using magic, the friend changes into a woman, and Buddha makes love to her. The act destroys his transcendence, so he throws all his love onto Pete. Now free, Buddha disappears into his own spirit paradise.
Tom Puleo, a Vietnam veteran, returns to Vietnam in “Shades” because the ghost of one of his old platoon members, Stoner, has been sighted at the village where Stoner was killed. In a series of encounters with Puleo, Stoner talks about the “Land of Shades.” He draws energy from Puleo, enough to reach a kind of spiritual escape velocity. Puleo discovers that the Vietnamese have accomplished this before and that he has been manipulated again.
“The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter” is a novella about Catherine, an inhabitant of Hangtown, built on the side of an enormous, bewitched dragon named Griaule. Fending off a rape, Catherine kills her attacker and retreats into the dragon’s innards. There she meets Amos Mauldry and a group of Feelies, inbred humans who kill huge parasites that infest the sleeping dragon. Catherine is imprisoned for years and uses the time to learn about the dragon’s ecology. After a decade, she realizes that her purpose is to save the humans who protect Griaule. She is killed as she warns the Feelies but is duplicated by a curious plant called the Ghostvine. The new Catherine leaves the dragon.