The Button Collector: A serial fiction by T.M. Daniel

The Button Collector: Part I

Swain finds the world of lost things

This is a story about lost things and the place where they end up. This place has neither a proper name nor one precise location, and so it cannot be drawn up on any map, and it cannot be sent letters. Now of course there are ways of getting there (or else we might not believe that it existed at all), but the tricky thing to doing it is discovering the doorway,  Full story

The Button Collector: Part II

The doorway to the world of lost things was near, and Claude Swain would soon have it. Presently he was leaping at the shimmering button on Mrs. Gordon’s coat; only an inch or so more and he would just be able to grab it between his fingertips. Full story

The Button Collector: Part III

Swain meets the girl who lost all her color

Something was wrong with Verow Drange. It was something very dreadful, and very strange. Swain could first see it on the girl’s hands when her gloves came off. Then the scarves unwound and he could see her face, and the robes fell so that he could see her arms, and Swain saw that the terrible thing had taken her all over. Full story

The Button Collector: Part IV

Swain and Drange plan to steal the button

One by one, the lampposts blinked into life. Candles were lit on windowsills to keep the shadows out, and the stars woke up, each one, and the nightlights were put on, and flashlights went on beneath the bedcovers, and my reason for telling you these things is that despite all that light, Swain had never known a night to be so dark. Full story

The Button Collector part V

Claude Swain stumbles upon a mysterious room

This next is the most unpleasant part. Let’s hurry through it. If you are grown you might cover your ears while it is told, or else you will remember something you once had and which is yours no longer; and if you are young then you might brighten the night lights, but sometimes this only draws out the shadows. Full story

The Button Collector part VI

When Swain and Verow stopped running it was not because they felt safe from Mrs. Gordon’s terrible rage. That would have taken much longer, and they would still be running now, and the rest of the story would never have happened.  Full story

The Button Collector part VII

Swain and Drange open THE DOORWAY

The pouch at Swain’s side was alive with the humming of the buttons. Now that the pieces were all together THE DOORWAY was ready to be opened. You are probably wondering how to do it, and so was Verow, but Swain knew and shall tell us how. Full story

The Button Collector part VIII

Swain and Drange meet a strange man

Where before there had been darkness there was suddenly a blinding white light. At least, it seemed to be a light at first, but after a few moments they began to realize that they could feel this light, and they could not remember ever having felt light before. Full story

Online Exclusive: How NOT to look like a freshman

This story is from September 3, 1993

Think way back. For some, this may be five years, for others, it may have been last week. Remember when you were… FRESHMEAT? There you were, right out of high school, ready to hit the college scene, without a clue of where you were going. Full story

Online Exclusive: Student sends threatening emails, faces up to five years in prison if guilty

Biology junior Evelyn Hubbard was arrested after police said she sent emails threatening to blow up Monroe Hall and kill five professors, according to an FBI affidavit. Full story