Prayers to Broken Stones Read Free Page A

sentenced Simmons to a life of unending labor, probably very little recognition, and a curse that will not be lifted, even after death!
    “You are a
writer,
Mr. Simmons. And you know how you can make book on that? You know you’re a writer, when a
writer
says you’re a writer.
    “May I enter your story in the
Twilight Zone
magazine short story competition?” And everyone in the room fainted.
    Dan can tell of all this better than I. His memory of that morning in the Rockies is near letter-perfect. But what he
cannot
tell you, is the look on his face as I spoke. It was amazement, and pleasure, and stunned silence, and fear. It was the moment in which the poor dirty stablehand learns he is the Lost Prince of Dimension Exotica.
    He won the contest, of course. (On a technicality it was actually a tie with another yarn for first place, but each of the judges—including Peter Straub, Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson—went nuts for the piece.) Out of
thousands
of submissions, Dan Simmons took first place. The story was “The River Styx Runs Upstream” and it was only the first of many works that were to follow along the trail of awards.
    Dan told me that he had been trying to sell fiction forthree years, with very little success. He had sold a story to
Galaxy,
and the magazine had folded before it could see print. He sold a story to
Galileo,
and the magazine folded before it could see print. He had been batting his head against the market for three years, while he earned a living as an elementary school teacher, a specialist in gifted and talented education.
    He told me that he had come to this workshop as a last chance. It was clear to Dan, and to Karen, that with a child on the way, he had to make a commitment that could insure their security. Karen’s faith in Dan’s talent never wavered, but she could see he was torn, and tormented. So she urged him to go to the workshop. And Dan said to her, “If I don’t get some small reinforcement that I have talent, I’ll pack it in. This will be the watershed for me.”
    And he won the contest. And he sold a novella to
Omni.
And he got an agent, and the agent sold SONG OF KALI, and SONG OF KALI became the first first-novel ever to win the World Fantasy Award for best novel. And HYPERION came out, and HYPERION won the Hugo. And I spoke to Dan one night late, he in Longmont, me in L.A., and I said to him, “I once told you a true thing that I said would change your life completely and forever. Did you believe me, then?”
    “Yes.”
    “Will you believe me now, when I tell you another true thing that will alter your life again?”
    “Yes.”
    Across the night that separated us I said as quietly as I could, “Dan, you are going to become famous. Not just wealthy; that’s the easy part. You will become one of the most important writers of our time. Strangers will know your name, and recognize you on the street. People will seek your advice, and businessmen will try to attach themselves to you. What I’m telling you is not just that you will be a great writer, but more: you will become a famous writer. You’d better know it now, because it’ll all be coming faster than you can take note of it. And you’d damned well better start arming yourself now, because they’ll be on you in a trice, kiddo, and you won’t have time then to figure out where survival lies.”
    I have been where Dan Simmons is now, and I have been where he will be soon enough. I may be there now, and I may be there again. But this I know: if I stand a chance of being remembered, it may well be that it will come to me because I “discovered” Dan Simmons. Now ain’t
that
a pisser!

Introduction to
“The River Styx Runs Upstream”
    It’s a cliché that writing fiction is a bit like having children. As with most clichés, there’s a base of truth there. Having the idea for a story or novel—that moment of pure inspiration and conception—is as close to ecstasy as writing offers. The actual