New Releases by Michael Swanwick

A visitor from Moscow Center has Tanya seeing red, while Gabe baits his hook in the latest episode of Serial Box''s The Witch Who Came in from the Cold, featuring the distinctive storytelling magic of award-winning author and special-guest writer Michael Swanwick. When an unwanted interloper from Moscow Center intrudes on local KGB operations in Prague, Tanya finds that red tape can strangle as effectively as any garrote. Meanwhile, Gabe must deal with a new arrival from Washington, D.C., sent to command the ANCHISES operation. It seems that bureaucracy is the same on both sides of the Iron Curtain! Where can two enemy spies turn for help . . . but to each other? This episode is brought to you by the award-winning Michael Swanwick, who would like to warn you that looks can be deceiving. Praise for The Witch Who Came in from the Cold: "Those who like to mix magic, spycraft, and secret history should enjoy this—it may please fans of Stross’s Laundry series." —Locus Magazine "Full of fast-paced, high-intensity action paired with magic at a level that has not been seen until now, with a cliff-hanger that lets readers know that the game is not over and has only just begun." —The San Francisco Book Review "The Witch Who Came in from the Cold is a chilly evocation of a different kind of Cold War." —Charles Stross, author of the Laundry Files series “Take a double shot of Le Carré, a dash of Deighton, a twist of Quiller, a splash of Al Stewart’s The Year of the Cat, throw in a jigger full of elemental magic, mix well ... and voilà! The Witch Who Came In From The Cold.” —Victor Milán, author of The Dinosaur Lords "The occult love child of John le Carre and The Sandbaggers." —Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons "As soon as I saw that, I was instantly hooked, and the pilot jacked the intrigue to the max. Two female Soviet spy witches, an American spy with something weird drilling magical holes in his head, and a world of secrets within secrets in a locale where old-world myth and the Cold War face off, pedal to the metal . . . it’s awesome. Or as we said in 1970, Far out. " —Sherwood Smith, author of Crown Duel "The installments are easy to read one at a time, but the tangles of alliances, secrets, and shocking double-crosses will have readers up all night mumbling, “Just one more.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Todeszone Pennsylvania 1979 kommt es zur Katastrophe im amerikanischen Atomreaktor Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Die freigesetzte Radioaktivität verwandelt den Osten der USA in eine nuklear verseuchte Wüste. Hundert Jahre nach dem Super-GAU leben in der Todesschneise, der Fallout-Zone um das Kraftwerk, nur noch Mutanten und Ausgestoßene. Philadelphia ist die größte Stadt direkt an der Grenze zur Schneise. Dort sind nach dem Zusammenbruch der Machtstrukturen in den USA direkt nach dem GAU die Karnevalisten, einstmals ein Verein, der die Paraden zum Neujahrstag organisiert hat, an der Macht. Sie müssen immer häufiger Mutanten, die sich der Stadt nähern, erschießen. Das fällt Keith Piotrowicz, Fahrer eines Giftmülltrucks, und dem Journalisten Fletch auf. Sie stellen Nachforschungen in der Todesschneise an – die den Karnevalisten jedoch überhaupt nicht gefallen ...

Allein auf dem Mond Gunther Weil arbeitet als Wissenschaftler auf dem Mond. Als auf der Erde ein Atomkrieg ausbricht, werden auch die Mondbewohner in den Konflikt mit hineingezogen: zum einen ist die Basis auf Nachschublieferungen von der Erde angewiesen, zum anderen setzt ein Terrorist ein Kampfgas frei, das fast die gesamte Besatzung verrückt werden lässt. Gunther ist einer der wenigen, die von dem Gas verschont geblieben sind, weil er zum Zeitpunkt des Anschlags auf der Mondoberfläche unterwegs war. Zusammen mit seinen Kollegen sucht er nach einem Gegenmittel – und findet es auch. Doch dieses Mittel könnte jeden, der es einnimmt, radikal verändern ...

Vor der Großen Flut Der Planet Miranda hat einen so exzentrischen Orbit, dass seine Polkappen alle zweihundert Jahre schmelzen und den gesamten Planeten überfluten. Die einheimische Flora und Fauna ist an das Leben zu Land wie zu Wasser hervorragend angepasst, die Siedler von der Erde jedoch nicht. Als erneut eine Große Flut bevorsteht, werden die Kolonisten evakuiert. Doch Gregorian, der auf Miranda als Zauberer gilt, verspricht gegen Zahlung einer gewaltigen Geldsumme die Menschen so umzuwandeln, dass auch sie im Wasser überleben können. Die Abteilung für Techniktransfer vermutet, dass sich der ehemalige Wissenschaftler geheime Technik angeeignet und sie illegal nach Miranda gebracht hat. Sie schickt den Bürokraten aus, um Gregorian zu stellen. Doch dem Bürokraten bleibt nicht viel Zeit, denn die Flut rückt immer näher ...

The master of literary science fiction returns with this dazzling new collection. Michael Swanwick takes us on a whirlwind journey across the globe and across time and space, where magic and science exist in possibilities that are not of this world. These tales are intimate in their telling, galactic in their scope, and delightfully sesquipedalian in their verbiage. Join the caravan through Swanwick''s worlds and into the playground of his mind. Travel from Norway to Russia and America to Gehenna. Discover a calculus problem that rocks the ages and robots who both nurture and kill. Meet a magical horse who protects the innocent, a semi-repentant troll, a savvy teenager who takes on the Devil, and time travelers from the Mesozoic who party till the end of time...

Modern technology is pitted against ancient dinosaurs in this scientific thriller James Rollins calls “Jurassic Park set amid the paradox of time travel.” Paleontologist Richard Leyster is perfectly content in his position with the Smithsonian excavating dinosaur fossil sites and publishing his findings . . . until the mysterious Harry Griffin appears in his office with a cooler containing the head of a freshly killed Stegosaurus. The enigmatic stranger offers Leyster the opportunity to travel back in time to study living dinosaurs in their original habitats—but with strings attached. Soon, the paleontologist finds himself, along with a select team of colleagues—including his chief rival, the ambitious and often ruthless Dr. Gertrude Salley—making discoveries that would prove impossible working from fossils alone. But when Leyster and his team are stranded in the Cretaceous, they must learn to survive while still keeping alive the joy of scientific discovery. This shocking novel spans hundreds of millions of years and deals with the ultimate fate not only of the dinosaurs but also of all humankind. Nominated for the Locus Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Bones of the Earth cements author Michael Swanwick as an author who “proves that sci-fi has plenty of room for wonder and literary values” (San Francisco Chronicle).

A collection of nineteen short stories from the Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter and Stations of the Tide Written over the course of a decade, Tales from Old Earth contains nineteen masterful pieces of short fiction—including the Hugo Award–winning stories “The Very Pulse of the Machine” and “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur;” the World Fantasy Award–winning novella “Radio Waves;” Hugo Award finalists “The Dead,” “Radiant Doors,” and “Wild Minds;” and World Fantasy Award finalist “The Changeling’s Tale”—as well as an introduction by Bruce Sterling. From pure fantasy to hard science fiction, this finely crafted collection from one of the greatest science fiction writers of his generation promises to stretch readers’ minds far beyond ordinary limits. These tales are guaranteed to delight and are an excellent introduction to this highly praised author.

A cyberpunk thriller from Nebula Award winner Michael Swanwick that explores bioengineering, wetware, and the riddle of personality Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark is a recorded personality owned by corporate giant Deutsche Nakasone. When Rebel’s personality is uploaded to persona tester Eucrasia Walsh and burned into her brain, Rebel escapes the corporation and takes off across an exotically transformed solar system, hijacking Eucrasia’s body and becoming the most wanted fugitive in existence. A fast-paced technological thriller, Vacuum Flowers allows the reader to consider the implications of bioengineering while providing an entertaining and dynamic story. Reminiscent of the innovative work of Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, this high-tech work of science fiction carves out a niche all its own with themes as relevant today as when it was first published.

A New York Times Notable Book: “Combining cyberpunk’s grit with dystopic fantasy, this iconoclastic hybrid is a standout piece of storytelling” (Library Journal). Jane is trapped as a changeling in an industrialized Faerie ruled by aristocratic high elves and populated by ogres, dwarves, night-gaunts, and hags. She is the only human in a factory where underage forced labor builds cybernetic, magical dragons that are weaponized and sent off to war. When the damaged dragon Melanchthon tempts Jane with promises of freedom, the stage is set for a daring escape that will shake the foundations of existence. Combining alchemy and technology, a coming-of-age story like no other, The Iron Dragon’s Daughter takes place against a dystopic mindscape of dark challenges and class struggles that force Jane to make costly decisions at every turn. A finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the 1994 Locus Award, The Iron Dragon’s Daughter a is one-of-a-kind melding of grimdark fantasy and cyberpunk grit from the Nebula Award–winning author of Stations of the Tide. It engages the reader in a nihilistic world in which nothing is as it seems and everything comes at a steep and often horrific price.

The “shocking [and] powerful” classic of postapocalyptic terror by the Nebula Award–winning author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter (New York Daily News). It’s been one hundred years since Three Mile Island went into full meltdown, filling the atmosphere with a radioactive poison that would contaminate the skies for hundreds of generations. Since then, the area around the island—now known as the Drift—has been a wasteland of disease and deformity, madness and monsters. It’s been one hundred years since humanity knew what order and hope were. The Drift has a law unto itself—one of vampires and mutants and outcasts left to struggle for daily survival. Within its bounds, the simplest act—even asking the wrong questions—can mean death. Or worse. Praised by George R. R. Martin as “a potent new myth from the reality of radioactive waste,” In the Drift is an inventive and unsettling look at the lives of those who are left to deal with the fallout of a nuclear disaster—a towering work of postapocalyptic fiction that provokes conversation and consideration even as it produces nightmares.

We tamper with time at our peril. The Phantom in the Maze, a new story in the Mongolian Wizard series by award-winning author Michael Swanwick. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Wizard has swallowed more and more of Europe--and inside his shuttered realm are magic and mass death. The Pyramid of Krakow is the sixth of Michael Swanwick''s "Mongolian Wizard" tales. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Darger and Surplus, a human and a genetically engineered dog with human intelligence who walks upright, are a pair of con men and the heroes of a series of prior Swanwick stories. They travel to what was once China and invent a scam to become rich and powerful: pretending to have limited superpowers, they aid an ambitious local warlord who dreams of conquest and once again reuniting China under one ruler. And, against all odds, it begins to work--but it seems as if there are other forces at work behind the scenes.

A locked room, a murder, and an unexpected kind of magic: the fifth of Michael Swanwick''s "Mongolian Wizard" tales. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An unabridged audio collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Marielena,” by Nina Allan, an immigrant is haunted by his past, as well as his present and future, in a disturbingly mean-spirited near-future England. A convicted serial killer is sentenced to “rightminding” to cure his neurological disorder that resulted in the sociopathic murdering of thirteen women in “Covenant,” by Elizabeth Bear. “The Magician and LaPlace’s Demon” by Tom Crosshill, follows a powerful AI that discovers the existence of magic and then prosecutes a vendetta against the magicians who grow more powerful as their numbers dwindle. In “Sadness,” by Timons Esaias, a man strikes back, as best he can, against the powerful aliens who conquered Earth long ago. In “Amicae Aeternum,” by Ellen Klages, a young girl shares her last morning on Earth with her girlfriend before boarding a generation starship. “Red Lights, and Rain,” by Gareth L. Powell, is a blend of sci-fi and vampire-hunting lore in which the vampires are made, not born. In “The Sarcophagus,” by Robert Reed, the maintenance cyborgs of the Great Ship encounter a stranded spacer in a derelict lifesuit from a long ago ship. “In Babelsberg,” by Alastair Reynolds, showcases a robot whose account of the dead colonists recently found on Titan are challenged by another AI. In “Passage of Earth,” by Michael Swanwick, a coroner gets a taste of the Earth invaders’ superior intelligence while dissecting a giant worm-like alien. Finally, in “The Colonel,” by Peter Watts, Colonel Moore tries to assess the capabilities of the hived human intelligences that have attacked a compound under his command.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2013 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Zero for Conduct,” by Greg Egan, an Afghani teenager, living in a near-future Iran with her exiled grandfather, makes a game-changing superconductor discovery. A young girl struggles to survive on a planet, with a stringent class structure, where Doors are used to go off-world in “Exit, Interrupted,” by C. W. Johnson. “Pathways” by Nancy Kress, follows a teenage girl from a small Kentucky mountain town, in a near-future U. S., struggling with her family and culture as she seeks treatment for Fatal Familial Insomnia. In “Entangled,” by Ian R. MacLeod, an Indian woman, in a Britain turned upside down by a disease that links people’s minds, searches for answers to her personal catastrophe. In “The Irish Astronaut,” by Val Nolan, a colleague brings the ashes of an astronaut, who died in the Aquariusdisaster, to Ireland for final burial. In “Among Us,” by Robert Reed, a government agency goes to extraordinary lengths to identify and track the aliens among us. “A Map of Mercury,” by Alastair Reynolds, showcases the plight of a failed artist dispatched to retrieve an artistic genius from a collective of cyborgs parading across the face of Mercury. In “Martian Blood,” by Allen M. Steele, a researcher from Earth goes on an expedition into the untamed regions of Mars to extract blood from its natives. “The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin,” by Michael Swanwick, set in the same milieu as Gene Wolfe’s “The Fifth Head of Cerberus,” follows the childhoods of two sisters on a planet far from Earth. Finally, in “The Best We Can,” by Carrie Vaughn, a frustrated scientist pursues first contact among an apathetic populace.

A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy *** ISSUE 9: July 2014 *** Mike Resnick, Editor Shahid Mahmud, Publisher *** Stories by: Kary English, Gardner Dozois, Andrea G. Stewart, Robert Sheckley, Laurie Tom, Lou J. Berger, Michael Swanwick, Lisa Tang Liu & Ken Liu, Kay Kenyon. *** Serialization: Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp *** Columns by: Barry Malzberg, Gregory Benford *** Book Reviews: Paul Cook. *** Interview: Joy Ward interviews Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon *** Galaxy''s Edge is a bi-monthly (every two months) magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old (reprint) stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by Barry Malzberg and Gregory Benford, book reviews by Paul Cook and an interview conducted by Joy Ward.

Dans les entrailles d''un paquebot transformé en palace, deux hommes pleurent la mort d''un de leurs amis en écoutant le douzième album des Beatles qui n''a jamais existé. A l''atterrissage de son avion, Buddy Holly ne sait pas qu''il va participer au plus grand concert de sa vie. Elvis le rouge restera dans les mémoires comme l''un des plus grands chanteurs de rock et l''un des syndicalistes les plus charismatiques. Revenu d''entre les morts, Jimi Hendrix se paye une dernière virée avec un de ses roadies. Difficile de trouver un boulot quand on s''appelle John Lennon et qu''on a quitté un groupe qui a, par la suite, connu un certain succès : les Beatles. Stephen Baxter, Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Walter Jon Williams, Michael Moorcock et Ian R MacLeod nous offrent cinq nouvelles où le rock''n''roll est roi, cinq textes mettant en scène des icônes de la musique du XXe siècle, cinq alternatives à notre triste réalité.

Dans les entrailles d’un paquebot transformé en palace, deux hommes pleurent la mort d’un de leurs amis en écoutant le douzième album des Beatles... qui n’a jamais existé. À l’atterrissage de son avion, Buddy Holly ne sait pas qu’il va participer au plus grand concert de sa vie. Elvis le rouge restera dans les mémoires comme l’un des plus grands chanteurs de rock et l’un des syndicalistes les plus charismatiques. Revenu d’entre les morts, Jimi Hendrix se paye une dernière virée avec un de ses roadies. Difficile de trouver un boulot quand on s’appelle John Lennon et qu’on a quitté un groupe qui a, par la suite, connu un certain succès : les Beatles. Stephen Baxter, Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Walter Jon Williams, Michael Moorcock et Ian R. MacLeod nous offrent cinq nouvelles où le rock’n’roll est roi, cinq textes mettant en scène des icônes de la musique du XXe siècle, cinq alternatives à notre triste réalité.

In un futuro post apocalittico dal sapore ottocentesco, in cui Internet non esiste più... Darger e Surplus sono due truffatori gentiluomini: Darger è un malinconico amante dei libri antichi; Surplus un cane geneticamente modificato per comportarsi come un uomo. Con l''inganno si sono uniti alla carovana dell''ambasciatore di Bisanzio per raggiungere sani e salvi Mosca, dove intendono dare vita a una truffa ai danni del Duca. Però il Duca non è un personaggio così facile da avvicinare, nonostante il dono che gli stanno portando: sette donne bellissime, create solo per soddisfarlo. Darger e Surplus si troveranno nel mezzo di una rete di intrighi tra fanatici religiosi, politici affamati di potere, macchine viventi che odiano il genere umano e perfino Lenin ritornato ad arringare le folle. Riusciranno i due truffatori gentiluomini a cavarsela? [Romanzo di fantascienza post apocalittica, collana Vaporteppa, 111.500 parole, circa 388 pagine]

The fourth in Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Michael Swanwick''s "Mongolian Wizard" series of tales set in an alternate fin de siècle Europe shot through with magic, mystery, and intrigue. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This collection of unabridged, spectacular steampunk speculations includes several classics of the genre. These tales will sweep you away with their amazing automata, daring dirigibles, grinding gears, and scintillating steam as days long gone are infused with tech. In “Smoke City,” by Christopher Barzak, a woman comes to terms with the loss of her family to the child labor mills of the city. A doctor tries to cope with a strange plague terrorizing the citizens of London in Jeffrey Ford’s “Dr. Lash Remembers.” In “Machine Maid,” by Margo Lanagan, a sexually repressed wife gets revenge on her husband through a robot maid. Friedrich Engels strives to spread class revolution as a labor organizer for factory cyborg matchstick girls in Arbeitskraft, by Nick Mamatas. In “Ninety Thousand Horses,” by Sean McMullen, an acclaimed mathematician, with a murky past, is forced to spy for an industrialist prior to becoming Britain’s foremost rocket expert during World War II. An orphan boy builds an automaton, in an aging scientist’s laboratory, that becomes more than an idle companion in Cherie Priest’s “Tanglefoot (A Clockwork Century Story).” In “Clockwork Fairies,” by Cat Rambo, an English aristocrat courts a woman who would rather spend her time in a laboratory than at high society balls. At Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, in 1893, an Algerian bodyguard crosses paths with a disoriented naked man in Chris Roberson’s “Edison’s Frankenstein.”. In “A Serpent in the Gears,” by Margaret Ronald, a dirigible journeys to an isolated land and discovers people and animals merged with machine parts. Radio Jones finds a way to listen in on the Naked Brains, who rule the world, while Rudy the Red fights against the oppressors in “Zeppelin City,” by Michael Swanwick& Eileen Gunn.

A collection of some of the best original short fiction published on Tor.com in 2012. Includes stories by Elizabeth Bear, Adam Troy Castro, Paul Cornell, Kathryn Cramer, Brit Mandelo, Pat Murphy, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Rachel Swirsky, and Gene Wolfe. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A second "Mongolian Wizard" tale from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick – continuing an epic of magic and deception in an alternate Europe of railroads and sorcery. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

With "The Mongolian Wizard," Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick launches a new fiction series at Tor.com -- beginning with this story of a very unusual international conference in a fractured Europe that never was. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories written in 2011 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Dying Young,” by Peter M. Ball, cyborgs, clones and post-humans collide with a dragon bent on revenge in a post-apocalptic space western. “Martian Heart,” by John Barnes, chronicles a teenage couple taken to Mars as indentured servants in a “rags to riches” tale. In “Canterbury Hollow,” by Chris Lawson, two lovers on a planet orbiting a killer sun share their few remaining weeks together before they die. “The Choice,” by Paul McAuley, set in the author’s Jackaroo universe, follows two boys who set sail to investigate a beached alien vessel on the English coast. In “After the Apocalypse,” by Maureen McHugh, a mother and daughter traverse a ravaged U.S. in a tale that takes on McCarthy’s, The Road, from a female viewpoint. “Purple,” by Robert Reed, tells of a blind and maimed young man convalescing in an off-world menagerie of wayward alien species, prior to returning to Earth. In “Laika’s Ghost,” by Karl Schroeder, a Russian and an American search the steppes of the former U.S.S.R. for metastable weapons that terrorists could use to make nuclear bombs. “Bit Rot,” by Charles Stross, follows post-humans struggling to survive after their generation ship is struck by a Magnetar ray in this clever zombies-in-space tale. In “For I Have Laid Me Down on The Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again,” by Michael Swanwick, Irishmen plot to strike back against alien occupiers by enlisting an Irish American tourist to their cause. Finally, Steve Rasnic Tem, tells of a young man awakened from suspended animation, on a future Earth, with the technological know-how of plant-like aliens in “At Play in the Fields.”

This collection of unabridged, unforgettable tales, written by some of science fiction’s most esteemed authors, pays homage to one of the genre’s most cherished story types. Whether time travel stories leap forward in time or slip into the past, they remain popular with fans. John Barnesspins a tale of intrigue as the principles of science are discovered centuries ahead of time while mankind is divided into classes (Com''n and Liejt) and the Irish people are slaves in “Things Undone.” Nancy KressAnne Boleyn and that of historians from a distant future to which pivotal historic figures are taken in order to prevent otherwise inevitable bloodshed in “And Wild for to Hold.” Ian R. MacLeodsends three time traveling historians from the future to rescue Captain Oatesfrom the doomed Scott party amidst the race to the South Pole in the early 20thcentury in “Home Time.” Tom Purdomsets historians from the future on a high seas adventure to document a 19thcentury British Admiralty anti-slavery patrol in “The Mists of Time.” Science fiction grand master, Robert Silverberg, slowly slides the fifty-seven year old owner of a Toyota dealership in the San Francisco Bay area backwards in time towards his birth in “Against the Current.” Allen M. Steeletells the story of how a U.S. Navy blimp crewmember happens upon time travelers while monitoring Soviet sea traffic around Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in “The Observation Post.” Michael Swanwickfollows the director of a dinosaur research center holding a timeline-polluting fund raiser located in the late Cretaceous period in the Hugo award winning story, “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur.” Genevieve Valentineobserves the detrimental effects of time travel on the timeline through the eyes of a seamstress whose wealthy patrons are obsessed with their time period costumes in “Bespoke.”