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.

Limited: 150 signed numbered copies, bound in full leather
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition

Table of Contents

The Feast of St. Janis
Ginungagap
Trojan Horse
A Midwinter's Tale
The Edge of the World
Griffin's Egg
The Changeling's Tale
North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy
Radio Waves
The Dead
Mother Grasshopper
Radiant Doors
The Very Pulse of the Machine
Wild Minds
Scherzo with Tyrannosaur
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O
The Dog Said Bow-Wow
Slow Life
Legions in Time
Triceratops Summer
From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled...

From Publishers Weekly (Starred Review):
"More than a quarter century's worth of short fiction is gathered in this comprehensive collection of stories from Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award–winner Swanwick... Swanwick's blend of savvy science fiction, Freudian fantasy and top-notch storytelling both chills and charms."

From Booklist:
"One of the best things about Swanwick's storytelling is that it is always worth another read. This volume is the perfect package for assuring that his most rereadable fiction is always at hand."

From Library Journal (Starred Review):
"Spanning more than a quarter-century, the 21 short stories, including five winners of the coveted Hugo Award, demonstrate the author's breathtaking versatility and excellence of style."

From SciFi.com:
"Nearly two dozen stories, assembled over as many years, constitute a mid-career milestone from this writer, known equally well for his radical SF and fantasy novels as for his award-winning short fiction. Arrayed in chronological order, they chart Swanwick's evolution as a craftsman—although, truth be told, the stories display an uncanny talent right from the start...

"What the reader comes away with from the typical Swanwick tale is a set of intellectual frissons akin to those that might emerge from a Greg Egan story, along with the high emotions that one would expect from a Harlan Ellison production. This ability to blend heart and mind is the key to the attractiveness of Swanwick's fiction—hybrid virtues too often missing from SF in general."

From SfSite.com
"The Best of Michael Swanwick illustrates the same point over and over again. Here is the work of a writer who knows and understands the strengths and traditions of science fiction and fantasy and keeps finding new ways to make them his own. That's why, when finished with the collection, the reader is left with not just admiration and respect for Michael Swanwick the writer of story "A "or story "B," but for Michael Swanwick the writer, period."