A graduate student watches a secluded house with two important rules: any friends of the owner who come to the back door are to be let in, but under no circumstances may the owner be allowed in when he comes to the front.
This is a very Linkian story, with tales-within-tales, fairy tale motifs, general weirdness, and a lot of humor. The two strands of the story – the house’s many visitors, not all of them human, and the girl who is followed by a ghost – are never quite pulled together but tantalizingly run side by side. The ouroboros structure is tantalizing and strange, and another very Kelly Link attribute.
Overall, Datlow’s “When Things Get Dark” is a remarkable collection; there were very few stories that I didn’t enjoy, and some were among the strongest weird fiction I’ve read in a long time.