Once Again, The Best of Michael Swanwick

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For the second time in my life, Subterranean Press is issuing a The Best of Michael Swanwick, this time collecting all the best of my fiction written after the first collection. This is, of course, a very big deal for me and I'm extremely happy about it.

The book will be issued in July of this year in a signed limited edition of one thousand. It costs fifty dollars which is a pretty good price if you're a collector, and judging by the first book, it should be a beautifully-made object.

Here are the contents:

Introduction: The Apple Tree, the Vacuum Tubes, and All the World BesidesThe Mongolian WizardThe Man in GreyAncient EnginesStarlight ExpressUrdumheimTin MarshDragon SlayerSteadfast CastleNirvana or BustThe Last GeekOf Finest Scarlet Was Her GownEighteen Songs by DebussyThe She-Wolf’s Hidden GrinMoon DogsHuginn and Muninn—and What Came AfterThe Dala HorseLibertarian RussiaDreadnoughtAn Episode of StardustThe Skysailor’s TaleGhost ShipsAn Empty House with Many DoorsAnnie Without CrowPassage of EarthThe New PrometheusFor I Have Lain Me Down on the Stoneof Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back AgainThe Beast of TaraPushkin the American“Hello,” Said the Stick”There Was an Old WomanThe Bordello in FaerieCloudThe Woman Who Shook the World TreeGoblin LakeThe Last Days of Old NightThe Scarecrow’s BoyUniverse Box

Among the above are the first Mongolian Wizard story and the most recent tale of Darger and Surplus; my homage to Gene Wolfe; the closest thing (and not very close at that) I'll ever write to an autobiography; a story containing not one word of fiction, though I did change the names; an Icelandic origin story I felt needed to exist; and two stories inspired by my visits to Russia in far happier times. Some of these stories are my absolute favorites among all that I've written. And, though it is immodest to say so out loud, I think they show that my writing has gotten better since the first Best of Me was published.

If you're interested in pre-ordering a copy, you can find the order page here.  Or you can just go to the Subterranean Press website and wander about, marveling at how many books there are that you'd love to own there.

And since I know you're curious . . .

Here's how the introduction begins:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who on a summer’s day would climb the apple tree in her back yard to read books. She knew already that she would grow up to be a biologist. Five hundred miles away lived a boy with vacuum tubes in his pockets. He was going to be an inventor. Once he built a rocket ship from a broken ladder, a battered trash can lid, and scrap lumber, though it never actually flew. He too read books.

 And it goes on from there.

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