Introduction
David Redd writes: If Ron Bennett had lived to see AnthologyBuilder, the cover of this book would bear two names, not one.

Back in the Sixties, Ron and I were two new writers with a couple of short stories each in New Worlds SF – although Ron had published professionally earlier – and we thought a shared anthology would be a neat fast-track route to book publication. Half his stories, half mine. Of course it never happened.

Later, while real life was imposing its own priorities, we still maintained involvement with science fiction and with sf fandom. I stayed in Wales and he was the world traveller. (Postcards from Ron to Davidbach could arrive from anywhere, even from the UK!) Eventually, by chance, a few stories by us did end up between the covers of the same book at last. One of his and two of mine appeared in FANTASY ANNUAL 5 (Cosmos/Wildside, 2003) and our old never-forgotten idea of the shared anthology began to seem almost possible. But not quite; Ron died in 2006.

So this present collection can only be a statement of intent, waiting here in case Ron’s stories become available. For my part, I've chosen some of my favourite story ingredients: snow, Nancy, Green England, the Senechi and the Nameless Land. That's about 250 pages from a possible 350; plenty of room for more. Anyone can add bonus content...as I hope to. Here's how. If Ron's stories do reach AB one day, I'll click "Build an Anthology based on this template" and add them in. And I'll amend the title. “THE RON AND DAVIDBACH ANTHOLOGY." There's still a chance it might happen…

– David Redd, April 2008

Acknowledgments: grateful thanks to the editors who first accepted these stories. (The actual first appearances are listed on the copyright page.)

Hilary Bailey (New Worlds) for “On the Deck of the Flying Bomb”

Elizabeth Counihan (Scheherazade) for “The Lantern in the Nest of Twigs”

Ed Ferman (F&SF) for “Morning” and “The House on Hollow Mountain”

Paul Fraser (Spectrum SF) for “Eternity-Magic” and “Green England”

Uwe Luserke (FROHES FEST!) for “When Jesus Came to the Moon for Christmas”

Michael Moorcock (New Worlds) for “The Mammoth Hunters”

Peter Weston (ANDROMEDA) for “Brother Ape”