Most Popular Books by Michael Swanwick

From pure fantasy to hard science fiction, this finely crafted offering by one of the greatest science fiction writers of his generation promises to stretch readers' minds far beyond ordinary limits. Nineteen tales from Michael Swanwick's best short fiction of the past decade are gathered here for the first time, including the 1999 Hugo Award-nominated "Radiant Doors" and "Wild Minds" and this year's winning story, "The Very Pulse of the Machine." The collection also features "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O," written especially for this volume.

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).

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.

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.

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...

A science fiction masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick! In the distant future, Surplus arrives in China dressed as a Mongolian shaman, leading a yak which carries the corpse of his friend, Darger. The old high-tech world has long since collapsed, and the artificial intelligences that ran it are outlawed and destroyed. Or so it seems. 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 super-powers, 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. Chasing the Phoenix is a sharp, slick, witty science fiction adventure that is hugely entertaining from Michael Swanwick, one of the best SF writers alive.

A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST AND KIRKUS BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF 2019 Award-winning author Michael Swanwick returns to the gritty, post-industrial faerie world of his New York Times Notable Book The Iron Dragon’s Daughter with the standalone adventure fantasy The Iron Dragon’s Mother. Caitlin of House Sans Merci is the young half-human pilot of a sentient mechanical dragon. Returning from her first soul-stealing raid, she discovers an unwanted hitchhiker. When Caitlin is framed for the murder of her brother, to save herself she must disappear into Industrialized Faerie, looking for the one person who can clear her. Unfortunately, the stakes are higher than she knows. Her deeds will change her world forever.

A collection of sixteen stories from the Hugo-winner features such situations as time-traveling dinosaurs wreaking havoc on a quiet town in Vermont to a locked room murder of an ogre.

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.

These thirteen stories established Michael Swanwick as one of the brightest stars in the science-fiction firmament. Alongside its companion volume, Tales of Old Earth, Gravity's Angels showcases the very best of Swanwick's considerable talent, including the Sturgeon Award--winner "The Edge of the World." Each story is a unique and engrossing exploration of character, conflict, and conscience.

Often humorous, sometimes chilling, always entertaining, this collection of award-winning author Michael Swanwick's short-short fiction is a work of masterfully sustained whimsy for adults. Cigar-Box Faust contains more than seventy fantastical stories in fewer than a hundred pages. The title piece is a five-minute condensation of a classic of Western literature, featuring a cigar-cutter as Mephistopheles; a box of matches in the roles of Helen of Troy, an Angel of the Lord, and the Light of Ontology; and a cigar as Faust himself. Although it has previously been performed live by the author, this is its first appearance in print. There is also an abecedary showcasing Swanwick's bravura imagination with a separate story for every letter of the alphabet, another set of tales for every planet in the solar system, and a series of pieces that the author literally wrote in his sleep! To say nothing of a clutch of alternate autobiographies, a novella of decadence and corporate politics in a future Venice that has been boiled down to 416 words, Picasso and Philip K. Dick as existential heroes...and a rhyme for orange.

The first comprehensive overview of the extraordinary career of a master storyteller.

Three excursions through time, outer space, and imaginary worlds from “one of the most intellectually astute SF writers of his generation” (The Washington Post). Michael Swanwick is a legend in the science fiction and fantasy universe, having won five Hugos, a Nebula, a World Fantasy Award, and many more honors for his mind-bending work. This trio of acclaimed sci-fi thrillers showcases the versatility of an author who can build a world, foresee a future, and alter reality. Bones of the Earth: A remarkable scientific breakthrough presented to humankind by an enigmatic future race enables a team of paleontologists to travel back in time to study dinosaurs in their natural prehistoric habitat. But the greatest discovery in history threatens to foment terrorism and create dangerous time paradoxes that could alter tomorrow’s world in this Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated novel. In the Drift: On an alternate Earth, the meltdown at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant created a radioactive wasteland and caused the collapse of the US government. A century later, the mutants, monsters, and untouchables of the no-man’s-land called “the Drift” are descending on the city of Philadelphia. Vacuum Flowers: In this futuristic cyberpunk thriller, Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark is a recorded personality owned by a corporate giant. When Rebel’s personality is uploaded to an unsuspecting persona tester and burned into her brain, she escapes the corporation by hijacking her host’s body and embarking on a mad dash to freedom across the solar system.

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.

An alternate-history reimagining of the Faust legend from the Nebula Award–winning author of Stations of the Tide Taking as his canvas the classic tale of the temptation of Faust—made famous by such literary luminaries as Goethe, Marlowe, and Mann—author Michael Swanwick paints a fresh vision of the dangers posed by the pursuit of knowledge. Set in Old World Germany, this tale of science and damnation begins with the great scholar Dr. Johannes Faust burning his books, having concluded that all his knowledge is nothing compared to the vast sea of ignorance surrounding him. Out of his despair, he inadvertently summons the tempter spirit, Mephistopheles, who is the projection of a dying alien race determined to make the destruction of humankind its final deed. Their weapon is knowledge—of science and technology, the mechanics of flight, the nature of the atom, and the secrets of economics. When, in an act of defiance, Faust nails the Periodic Table of the Elements to a church door in Wittenberg, he ushers in a golden age of prosperity for Germany that will make him the most powerful man in the world. But the love of the beautiful Margarete will be his downfall. What happens when the greed for knowledge and glory goes unchecked? Has a demon ever made a bad deal yet? Nominated for the Hugo Award, the Locus Award, and the British Science Fiction Award, Jack Faust is a masterful retelling of legend by one of science fiction’s finest craftsmen.

A Russian émigré poet living in Paris is visited by a mysterious bear with an agenda... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A fantasy masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner! A war-dragon of Babel crashes in the idyllic fields of a post-industrialized Faerie and, dragging himself into the nearest village, declares himself king and makes young Will his lieutenant. Nightly, he crawls inside the young fey's brain to get a measure of what his subjects think. Forced out of his village, Will travels with female centaur soldiers, witnesses the violent clash of giants, and acquires a surrogate daughter, Esme, who has no knowledge of the past and may be immortal. Evacuated to the Tower of Babel -- infinitely high, infinitely vulgar, very much like New York City -- Will meets the confidence trickster Nat Whilk. Inside the Dread Tower, Will becomes a hero to the homeless living in the tunnels under the city, rises as an underling to a politician, and meets his one true love–a high-elven woman he dare not aspire to. You've heard of hard SF: This is hard fantasy from a master of the form.

Michael Swanwick—The Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award- winning author of Stations of the Tide—delivers a stunning "Postutopian" novel of swashbuckling adventure, dangerous women, and genocidal AIs. Dancing with Bears follows the adventures of notorious con men Darger and Surplus: They've lied and cheated their way onto the caravan that is delivering a priceless gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to the Duke of Muscovy. The only thing harder than the journey to Muscovy is their arrival in Muscovy. An audience with the duke seems impossible to obtain, and Darger and Surplus quickly become entangled in a morass of deceit and revolution. The only thing more dangerous than the convoluted political web surrounding Darger and Surplus is the gift itself, the Pearls of Byzantium, and Zoësophia, the governess sworn to protect their virtue. This steampunk-esque adventure explores the great game of espionage and empire building, from the point of view of the world’s most accomplished con men, Darger and Surplus.

The Nebula Award-wining novel from Michael Swanwick—one of the most brilliantly assured and darkly inventive writers of contemporary fiction—a masterwork of radically altered realities and world-shattering seductions. The Jubilee Tides will drown the continents of the planet Miranda beneath the weight of her own oceans. But as the once-in-two-centuries cataclysm approaches, an even greater catastrophe threatens this dark and dangerous planet of tale-spinners, conjurers, and shapechangers. A man from the Bureau of Proscribed Technologies has been sent to investigate. For Gregorian has come, a genius renegade scientist and charismatic bush wizard. With magic and forbidden technology, he plans to remake the rotting, dying world in his own evil image—and to force whom or whatever remains on its diminishing surface toward a terrifying and astonishing confrontation with death and transcendence. This novel of surreal hard SF was compared to the fiction of Gene Wolfe when it was first published, and the author has gone on in the two decades since to become recognized as one of the finest living SF and fantasy writers. 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 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.

Black Cat Weekly 16 is a special holiday issue, featuring three holiday-themed mysteries for your reading pleasure. We didn’t have any holiday science fiction or fantasy stories on tap this time, but we will definitely try to do better next year. (Decembers are always a bit chaotic at Wildside Press—we also have to get out the year-end royalties for hundreds of authors.) If you are a fan of classic science fiction, you’ll appreciate “The Star Sneak,” by Larry Tritten—a Jack Vance parody, unearthed from 1974. And Darrell Schweitzer and Cindy Ward bring in stories by two masters—Michael Swanwick and Nisi Shawn. Tarnished Utopia by Malcolm Jameson is our pulp classic from the legendary Startling Stories magazine. For the mystery reader, we lead off with my own “Christmas Pit,” an entry in my “Pit-Bull” Peter Geller series. Our editors Barb Goffman and Michael Bracken bring in holiday tales (with very similar titles!) by Paige Sleuth and Stacy Woodson. Plus a classic hardboiled story from Frank Kane, and a Mr. Clackworthy story by Christopher B. Booth. And what issue would be complete without a solve-it-yourself story by Hal Charles? Without further ado, here is the lineup: Mysteries / Suspense “A Christmas Pit,” by John Gregory Betancourt [short story] Sister Knows Best, by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] Frame, by Frank Kane [short novel] “Mr. Clackworthy Forgets His Tonic,” by Christopher B. Booth [short story] “Holiday Holdup,” by Paige Sleuth [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “Holiday Hitman,” by Stacy Woodson [Michael Bracken Presents short story] Science Fiction & Fantasy “Maggies,” by Nisi Shawl [Cynthia M. Ward Presents short story] “A Small Room in Koboldtown,” by Michael Swanwick [Darrell Schweitizer Presents short story] Tarnished Utopia, by Malcolm Jameson [novel] “The Star Sneak,” by Larry Tritten [short story]

The Cold War rages in the back rooms and dark alleys of 1970s Prague—and on one misty night a CIA agent discovers that the city and its spies have become the new front of another, and more ancient war. A war of magic. When spies and sorcerers cross murky lines to do battle for home and country—who do you trust? Can you even trust yourself?

Michael Swanwick's "Annie Without Crow" is a historial fantasy short story--a Tor.com Original An act of indiscretion from her immortal trickster companion sends Annie and her league of ladies-in-waiting on a time-defying adventure that becomes the inspiration for William Shakespeare. An act of indiscretion from her immortal trickster companion sends Annie and her league of ladies-in-waiting on a time-defying adventure that becomes the inspiration for William Shakespeare. 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.

Reactor presents a new Mongolian Wizard story about a battle to save Paris from an unexpected new foe . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ritter grapples with a cunning adversary in this new Mongolian Wizard story . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Brand-new contributions to the hoard of dragon lore by five top fantasy authors. Orson Scott Card's "In the Dragon's House" is a gothic yarn about the mysterious dragon that lives in the wiring of an old house, noticed by a young boy who shares its body in dreams and feels its true size and power. Mercedes Lackey's "Joust" tells the story of a slave boy who is chosen to care for a warrior's dragon--a dragon whose secrets may be the key to his freedom. Tanith Lee's "Love in a Time of Dragons" is a fable is imbued with her signature atmosphere--Old World, moody, erotic--as a kitchen maid goes a-questing with a handsome champion to slay the local drakkor. Elizabeth Moon's "Judgment" tells the tale of a young man forced by lies to flee his village . . . into an adventure of dwarfs and dragonspawn. Michael Swanwick's "King Dragon" invokes a truly sinister and repellent creature--a being with the soul of a beast and the body of a machine--part metal, part devil . . . all merciless.

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.

Long after the wars, there are things abroad in the world—things more than human. And they have scores to settle with one another. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A tale of hope in the midst of dystopia by the Nebula Award–winning authors—an expansion of their novella The City of God. God was in his Heaven—which was fifteen miles away, due east. Far in Earth’s future, in a post-utopian hellhole, Hanson works ten solid back-breaking hours a day, shoveling endless mountains of coal, within sight of the iridescent wall that separates what’s left of humanity from their gods. One day, after a tragedy of his own making, Hanson leaves the city, not knowing what he will do or how he will survive in the wilderness without work. He finds himself drawn to the wall, to the elusive promise of God. And when the impossible happens, he steps through, into the city beyond. The impossible was only the beginning. City Under the Stars completes a journey undertaken by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick when they published the novella The City of God. Over two decades later, the two realized there was more to the story, and began the work of expanding it. Now, after Gardner Dozois’ tragic passing in 2018, the story can be told in full.

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.”

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.

When the elves come out of the mirrors one Christmas, they send Sasha on a harrowing train trip to get back a brother she never knew she had. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The New Prometheus is the ninth story in the Mongolian Wizard universe. Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick has been building the world of the Mongolian Wizard on Tor.com since its first installment in 2012. The series depicts an alternate fin de siècle Europe shot through with magic, mystery, and intrigue, unveiled piece by piece in a series of stand-alone stories, and visualized with art by Greg Manchess. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our December 2020 issue (#171) contains: * Original fiction by Fiona Moore ("The Island of Misfit Toys"), Lisa Nohealani Morton ("Things That Happen When You Date Your Ex''s Accidentally Restored Backup From Before The Divorce"), Michael Swanwick ("The Last Days of Old Night"), Robert Reed ("Conversations in the Dark"), Chi Hui ("No Way Back"), AnaMaria Curtis ("Forward Momentum and a Parallel Toss"), and Andy Dudak ("Songs of Activation"). * Non-fiction by Carrie Sessarego, interviews with Stina Leicht and Tim Pratt, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

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.

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.

A sampling of Michael Swanwick's work, with seven stories, one play, six essays, and two speeches. All selections written by Michael Swanwick, except as noted.