The Best of Michael Swanwick

It's here at last the first comprehensive overview of the extraordinary career of master storyteller Michael Swanwick. Covering over a quarter of a century, from his first two published stories both of them Nebula finalists to his most recent, these works bear witness to one of the most vivid and far-ranging imaginations in contemporary fiction. From the hardest of hard science fiction to the purest of core fantasy, from the heartwarming to the despairing, these are works incandescent with literary brilliance.

In these pages, Janis Joplin is worshiped as a god, teenagers climb down the edge of the world, zombies are commodified, a vengeful man tracks a wizard across the surface of a planet-sized grasshopper, dinosaurs invade Vermont, a train leaves New York City bound for Hell, and those lovable Post-Utopian con men, Darger and Surplus, seek their fortunes in Buckingham Labyrinth.

Michael Swanwick is one of the most acclaimed and prolific writers of his generation, as well as being the only person ever to win five Hugo Awards for fiction in the space of six years. All five of those stories are included here plus much, much more, all of it beautifully written, critically acclaimed, and deeply satisfying to read.

Contents

1 • Introduction (The Best of Michael Swanwick) • (2008) • essay by Michael Swanwick

13 • The Feast of Saint Janis • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

43 • Ginungagap • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

75 • Trojan Horse • (1984) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

111 • A Midwinter's Tale • (1988) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

125 • The Edge of the World • (1989) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

139 • Griffin's Egg • (1991) • novella by Michael Swanwick

213 • The Changeling's Tale • (1994) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

229 • North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy • (1995) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

249 • Radio Waves • (1995) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

269 • The Dead • (1996) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

281 • Mother Grasshopper • (1997) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

297 • Radiant Doors • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

313 • The Very Pulse of the Machine • (1998) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

333 • Wild Minds • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

343 • Scherzo with Tyrannosaur • (1999) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

355 • The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O • (2000) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

371 • The Dog Said Bow-Wow • [Darger and Surplus] • (2001) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

389 • Slow Life • (2002) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

413 • Legions in Time • (2003) • novelette by Michael Swanwick

437 • Triceratops Summer • (2005) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

449 • From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled • (2008) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick (variant of From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled ...)