Gene Wolfe Books In Order

The Shadow of the Torturer

Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him…
until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman. Her excruciations are delayed for some months and, out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate. For a torturer, there is no more unforgivable act. In punishment he is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name. Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will only make his enemies pursue him with ever more determination…

The Citadel of the Autarch

Hardcover, New York : Timescape Books : Distributed By Simon And Schuster

The Urth of the New Sun

Tor presents the one volume sequel to The Book of the New Sun! ‘Another brilliantly inventive, dense, demanding, at times intellectually stunning effort. Dazzling.’ Kirkus. Advertising in Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle. HC: Tor.

Soldier of the Mist

‘A marvelously fluent, evocative historical…
glowing, fascinating intricate work, full of gods and ghosts and magical metamorphoses, set forth in a modern prose that agreeably captures the rhythm and spirit of the period’. Kirkus Reviews.

Latro in the Mist

A distinguished compilation of two classic fantasy novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Aret , in one volumeThis omnibus of two acclaimed novels is the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who while fighting in Greece received a head injury that deprived him of his short term memory but gave him in return the ability to see and converse with the supernatural creatures and the gods and goddesses, who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape. Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story’s hold on readers is powerful indeed, and many consider these Wolfe’s best books.

Soldier of Sidon

Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story’s hold on readers is powerful indeed. The two previous novels, combined in Latro in the Mist Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete are generally considered classics of contemporary fantasy. Latro now finds himself in Egypt, a land of singing girls, of spiteful and conniving deities. Without his memory, his is unsure of everything, except for his desire to be free of the curse that causes him to forget. The visions Gene Wolfe conjures, of the wonders of Egypt, and of the adventures of Latro as he and his companions journey up the great Nile south into unknown or legendary territory, are unique and compelling. Soldier of Sidon is a thrilling and magical fantasy novel, and yet another masterpiece from Gene Wolfe.

Litany of the Long Sun

Litany of the Long Sun contains the full texts of Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun, that together make up the first half of The Book of the Long Sun. This great work is set on a huge generation starship in the same future as the classic Book of the New Sun also available in two volumes from Orb.

Caldé of the Long Sun

In the third volume in the Book of the Long Run series, young Silk, inspired by the gods, fights for survival against the shadowy rulers of the city of Viron, who command the technological wonders of the future.

Epiphany of the Long Sun

The two novels combined in this omnibus Cald of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun comprise the second half of Gene Wolfes long novel, The Book of the Long Sun. Publishers Weekly calls it One of the major SF series of the decade The complex language is lovingly crafted.

Exodus from the Long Sun

The long awaited conclusion to ‘The Book of the Long Sun’. ‘Wolfe may already have established himself as the definitive voice in science fantasy. If he has not, ‘Long Sun’ is likely to do the job’. ‘Chicago Sun Times’. A ‘New York Times’ Notable Book of the Year.

On Blue’s Waters

On Blue’s Waters is the start of a major new work by Gene Wolfe, the first of three volumes that comprise The Book of the Short Sun, which takes place in the years after Wolfe’s four volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk, and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk. The story continues in In Green’s Jungles and Return to the Whorl.

In Green’s Jungles

Gene Wolfe’s In Green’s Jungles is the second volume, after On Blue’s Waters, of his ambitious SF trilogy, The Book of the Short Sun. It is again narrated by Horn, who has embarked on a quest from his home on the planet Blue in search of the heroic leader Patera Silk. Now Horn’s identity has become ambiguous, a complex question embedded in the story, whose telling is itself complex, shifting from place to place, present to past. Horn recalls visiting the Whorl, the enormous spacecraft in orbit that brought the settlers from Urth, and going thence to the planet Green, home of the blood drinking alien inhumi. There, he led a band of mercenary soldiers, answered to the name of Rajan, and later became the ruler of a city state. He has also encountered the mysterious aliens, the Neighbors, who once inhabited both Blue and Green. He remembers a visit to Nessus, on Urth. At some point, he died. His personality now seemingly inhabits a different body, so that even his sons do not recognize him. And people mistake him for Silk, to whom he now bears a remarkable resemblance. In Green’s Jungles is Wolfe’s major new fiction, The Book of the Short Sun, building toward a strange and seductive climax.

The Book of the Short Sun

Gene Wolfe’s Return to the Whorl is the third volume, after On Blue’s Waters and In Green’s Jungles, of his ambitious SF trilogy The Book of the Short Sun…
It is again narrated by Horn, who has embarked on a quest in search of the heroic leader Patera Silk. Horn has traveled from his home on the planet Blue, reached the mysterious planet Green, and visited the great starship, the Whorl and even, somehow, the distant planet Urth. But Horn’s identity has become ambiguous, a complex question embedded in the story, whose telling is itself complex, shifting from place to place, present to past. Perhaps Horn and Silk are now one being. Return to the Whorl brings Wolfe’s major new fiction, The Book of the Short Sun, to a strange and seductive climax.

Return to the Whorl

Gene Wolfe’s Return to the Whorl is the third volume, after On Blue’s Waters and In Green’s Jungles, of his ambitious SF trilogy The Book of the Short Sun…
It is again narrated by Horn, who has embarked on a quest in search of the heroic leader Patera Silk. Horn has traveled from his home on the planet Blue, reached the mysterious planet Green, and visited the great starship, the Whorl and even, somehow, the distant planet Urth. But Horn’s identity has become ambiguous, a complex question embedded in the story, whose telling is itself complex, shifting from place to place, present to past. Perhaps Horn and Silk are now one being. Return to the Whorl brings Wolfe’s major new fiction, The Book of the Short Sun, to a strange and seductive climax.

The Wizard

A novel in two volumes, The Wizard Knight is in the rare company of those works which move past the surface of fantasy and drink from the wellspring of myth. Magic swords, dragons, giants, quests, love, honor, nobility all the familiar features of fantasy come to fresh life in this masterful work. The first half of the journey, The Knight which you are advised to read first, to let the whole story engulf you from the beginning took a teenage boy from America into Mythgarthr, the middle realm of seven fantastic worlds. Above are the gods of Skai; below are the capricious Aelf, and more dangerous things still. Journeying throughout Mythgarthr, Able gains a new brother, an Aelf queen lover, a supernatural hound, and the desire to prove his honor and become the noble knight he always knew he would be. Coming into Jotunland, home of the Frost Giants, Able now Sir Able of the High Heart claims the great sword Eterne from the dragon who has it. In reward, he is ushered into the castle of the Valfather, king of all the Gods of Skai. Thus begins the second part of his quest. The Wizard begins with Able’s return to Mythgathr on his steed Cloud, a great mare the color of her name. Able is filled with new knowledge of the ways of the seven fold world and possessed of great magical secrets. His knighthood now beyond question, Able works to fulfill his vows to his king, his lover, his friends, his gods, and even his enemies. Able must set his world right, restoring the proper order among the denizens of all the seven worlds. The Wizard is a charming, riveting, emotionally charged tale of wonders, written with all the beauty one would expect from a writer whom Damon Knight called ‘a national treasure.’ If you’ve never sampled the works of the man Michael Swanwick described as ‘the greatest writer in the English language alive today,’ the two volumes of The Wizard Knight are the perfect place to start.

The Knight

A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality. Very quickly transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Abel and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, a sword he will get from a dragon, the one very special blade that will help him fulfill his life ambition to become a knight and a true hero.
Inside, however, Abel remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive the dangers and delights that lie ahead in encounters with giants, elves, wizards, and dragons. His adventure will conclude next year in the second volume of The Wizard Knight, The Wizard.
Gene Wolfe is one of the most widely praised masters of SF and fantasy. He is the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Nebula Award, twice, the World Fantasy Award, twice, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the British Fantasy Award, and France’s Prix Apollo. His popular successes include the four volume classic The Book of the New Sun.
With this new series, Wolfe not only surpas*ses all the most popular genre writers of the last three decades, he takes on the legends of the past century, in a work that will be favorably compared with the best of J. R. R. Tolkien, E. R. Eddison, Mervyn Peake, and
T. H. White. This is a book and a series for the ages, from perhaps the greatest living writer in or outside the fantasy genre.

Peace

Mesmerizing sci fi from the author the Denver Post calls ‘one of the literary giants of science fiction.’ The melancholy memoir of Alden Dennis Weer, an embittered old man living in a small midwestern town, reveals a miraculous dimension. For Weer’s imagination has the power to obliterate time and reshape reality, transcending even death itself.

The Devil in a Forest

Back in print after two decades, this fantasy tells of a young man who lives in a village deep in the forest in medieval times. Mark finds himself torn between his hero worship for charming highwayman Wat and his growing suspicion of Wat’s cold savagery. And Mother Cloot, who may have sorcerous powers, works in equally suspicious ways perhaps for evil, perhaps for good.

Free Live Free

‘Free Live Free,’ said the newspaper ad, and the out of work detective Jim Stubb, the occultist Madame Serpentina, the salesman Ozzie Barnes, and the overweight prostitute Candy Garth are brought together to live for a time in Free’s old house, a house scheduled for demolition to make way for a highway. Free drops mysterious hints of his exile from his homeland, and of the lost key to his return. And so when demolition occurs and Free disappears, the four make a pact to continue the search, which ultimately takes them far beyond their wildest dreams. This is character driven science fiction at its best by a writer whom, at the time of its first publication, the Chicago Sun Times called ‘science fiction’s best genuine novelist.’

There Are Doors

There Are Doors is the story of a man who falls in love with a goddess from an alternate universe. She flees him, but he pursues her through doorways interdimensional gateways to the other place, determined to sacrifice his life, if necessary, for her love. For in her world, to be her mate…
is to die.

Pirate Freedom

It starts with a confession from a priest. His past has reached further back than what many would consider possible. Before he was a priest, he was the pirate Captain Cristofo, and before he was a pirate, he was just Chris, a boy living in a monastery in Cuba the day after tomorrow.

One day Chris realizes that he is not meant for the monastery he has grown up in, and leaves. On the streets of Havana everything looks strange and out-of-date, but Chris is too busy trying to find his next meal and a safe place to sleep to contemplate the city’s odd lack of modern conveniences. He finds that this world is a much harder one than the one he remembers; it’s a place where people steal, lie, and cheat. Where slaves are sold at auction, and the Spanish, French, and English are all battling for supremacy. When Chris is offered the opportunity to work on a ship in exchange for food and a small bit of money, he takes it, and thus begins his life as a pirate. People die, treasures are found, women are taken captive, and crews rebel.

Gene Wolfe is a masterful storyteller, and in Pirate Freedom, he uses his customary vision to invite us into the captivating world of pirates, their lives, and their adventures.

An Evil Guest

Lovecraft mets Blade Runner. This is a stand alone supernatural horror novel with a 30s noir atmosphere. Gene Wolfe can write in whatever genre he wants and always with superb style and profound depth. Now following his World Fantasy Award winner, Soldier of Sidon, and his stunning Pirate Freedom, Wolfe turns to the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and the weird science tale of supernatural horror. Set a hundred years in the future, An Evil Guest is a story of an actress who becomes the lover of both a mysterious sorcerer and private detective, and an even more mysterious and powerful rich man, who has been to the human colony on an alien planet and learned strange things there. Her loyalties are divided perhaps she loves them both. The detective helps her to release her inner beauty and become a star overnight. And the rich man is the benefactor of a play she stars in. But something is very wrong. Money can be An Evil Guest, but there are other evils. As Lovecraft said, ‘That is not dead which can eternal lie.’

The Sorcerer’s House

In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, Bax, an educated man recently released from prison, is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail, to whom he progressively reveals the intriguing pieces of a strange and fantastic narrative. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is, to his utter surprise, the heir to a huge old house in town, long empty, he moves in. He is immediately confronted by an array of supernatural creatures and events, by love and danger. His life is utterly transformed and we read on, because we must know more. We revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter, piecing together more of the story as we go. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then knowing what we now know only in the end, perhaps we read it again.

Home Fires

Gene Wolfe takes us to a future North America at once familiar and utterly strange. A young man and woman, Skip and Chelle, fall in love in college and marry, but she is enlisted in the military, there is a war on, and she must serve her tour of duty before they can settle down. But the military is fighting a war with aliens in distant solar systems, and her months in the service will be years in relative time on Earth. Chelle returns to recuperate from severe injuries, after months of service, still a young woman but not necessarily the same person while Skip is in his forties and a wealthy businessman, but eager for her return. Still in love somewhat to his surprise and delight, they go on a Caribbean cruise to resume their marriage. Their vacation rapidly becomes a complex series of challenges, not the least of which are spies, aliens, and battles with pirates who capture the ship for ransom. There is no writer in SF like Gene Wolfe and no SF novel like Home Fires.

Memorare

Humans go into space for many reasons. For some its adventure and excitement. Others, its the solitude. And some choose it for their final resting place. March Wildspring is a freelance cameraman, working on a documentary on the memorials drifting in the emptiness of space. Some are lovely, peaceful monuments to the deceased. Others are built not to honor the dead but trap the living. Memorial 19 is like nothing March has ever seen before. And when he and his crew enter it, they will not be allowed to leave unchanged…
. Only 500 signed numbered copies of this book were published.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Back in print for the first time in more than a decade, Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a universally acknowledged masterpiece of science fiction by one of the field’s most brilliant writers. Far out from Earth, two sister planets, Saint Anne and Saint Croix, circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in the back of the beyond. In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to create a mesmerizing pattern: the harrowing account of the son of a mad genius who discovers his hideous heritage; a young man’s mythic dreamquest for his darker half; the bizarre chronicle of a scientists’ nightmarish imprisonment. Like an intricate, braided knot, the pattern at last unfolds to reveal astonishing truths about this strange and savage alien landscape.

The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction

In a dark near future, global warming and a ruined ecology is causing the continents to sink into the oceans just as the towers of Atlantis re emerge above the sea. Hugo Award Nominee, Locus Poll Award Winner, Nebula Award Nominee

The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

A superb collection of science fiction and fantasy stories, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories is a book that transcends all genre definitions. The stories within are mined with depth charges, explosions of meaning and illumination that will keep you thinking and feeling long after you have finished reading.

Storeys from the Old Hotel

Hailed as ‘one of the literary giants of science fiction’ by The Denver Post, Gene Wolfe is universally acknowledged as one of the most brilliant writers the field has ever produced. Winner of the World Fantasy Award for best fiction collection, Storeys from the Old Hotel contains thirty one remarkable gems of Wolfe’s short fiction from the past two decades, most unavailable in any other form. Storeys from the Old Hotel includes many of Gene Wolfe’s most appealing and engaging works, from short shorts that can be read in single setting to whimsical fantasy and even Sherlock Holmes pastiches. It is a literary feast for anyone interested in the best science fiction has to offer.

Endangered Species

Wolfe, whose tetralogy The Book of the New Sun was the most acclaimed science fiction work of the 1980s, offered his second collection of short fiction in 1990 to universal acclaim. This is a hefty volume of over 30 unforgettable stories in a variety of genres SF, fantasy, horror, mainstream many of them offering variations on themes and situations found in folklore and fairy tales, and including two stories, ‘The Cat’ and ‘The Map,’ which are set in the universe of his New Sun novels. Wolfe’s deconstructions/reconstructions are provocative, multilayered, and resonant. This embarrassment of literary riches is a must for all Gene Wolfe fans, and anyone who loves a good tale beautifully told.

Castle of Days

The Washington Post has called Gene Wolfe ‘the finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced.’ This volume joins together two of his rarest and most sought after works Gene Wolfe’s Book of Days and The Castle of the Otter and add thirty nine short essays collected here for the first time, to fashion a rich and engrossing architecture of wonder.

Strange Travelers

Gene Wolfe is producing the most significant body of short fiction of any living writer in the SF genre. It has been ten years since the last major Wolfe collection, so Strange Travelers contains a whole decade of achievement. Some of these stories were award nominees, some were controversial, but each is unique and beautifully written.

Starwater Strains

Gene Wolfe follows his acclaimed all fantasy short story collection, Innocents Aboard, with a volume devoted primarily to his science fiction. The twenty five stories here amply demonstrate his range, excellence, and mastery of the form. A few tantalizing samples: ‘Viewpoint’ takes on the unreality of so called ‘reality’ TV and imagines such a show done truly for real, with real guns. ‘Empires of Foliage and Flower’ is in the classic Book of the New Sun series. ‘Golden City Far.’ is about dreams, high school, and finding love, which Wolfe says ‘is about as good a recipe for a story as I’ve ever found.’ You’re sure to agree.

Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories

Gene Wolfe may be the single best writer in fantasy and SF today. His quotes and reviews certainly support that contention, and so does his impressive short fiction oeuvre. Innocents Aboard gathers fantasy and horror stories from the last decade that have never before been in a Wolfe collection. Highlights from the twenty two stories include ‘The Tree is my Hat,’ adventure and horror in the South Seas, ‘The Night Chough,’ a Long Sun story, ‘The Walking Sticks,’ a darkly humorous tale of a supernatural inheritance, and ‘Houston, 1943,’ lurid adventures in a dream that has no end. This is fantastic fiction at its best.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection

Third in series, winner of the 1987 Locus Poll Award, Best Anthology. Contents include Introduction: Summation: 1985, essay by Gardner Dozois; The Jaguar Hunter, by Lucius Shepard nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1985 World Fantasy Award; Dogfight, by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; Fermi and Frost, by Frederik Pohl winner, 1986 Hugo Award; Green Days in Brunei, by Bruce Sterling nominated, 1985 Nebula Award; Snow, by John Crowley nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; The Fringe, by Orson Scott Card nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things, by Karen Joy Fowler; Sailing to Byzantium, by Robert Silverberg winner, 1985 Nebula Award; nominated, 1986 Hugo Award; Solstice, by James Patrick Kelly; Duke Pasquale’s Ring, novella by Avram Davidson; More Than the Sum of His Parts, by Joe Haldeman nominated, 1985 Nebula Award; Out of All Them Bright Stars, by Nancy Kress Winner, 1985 Nebula Award; Side Effects, by Walter Jon Williams; The Only Neat Thing to Do, by James Tiptree, Jr. nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; winner, 1986 Locus Poll Award; Dinner in Audoghast, by Bruce Sterling nominated, 1986 Hugo Award; Under Siege, by George R. R. Martin 1986 Locus Poll Award, 6th Place; Flying Saucer Rock & Roll, by Howard Waldrop nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; A Spanish Lesson, by Lucius Shepard Locus Poll Award, 11th Place; Roadside Rescue, by Pat Cadigan; Paper Dragons, by James P. Blaylock winner, 1986 World Fantasy Award; nominated, 1985 Nebula Award; Magazine Section, by R. A. Lafferty; The War at Home, by Lewis Shiner 1986 Locus Poll Award, 21st Place; Rockabye Baby, by S. C. Sykes nominated, 1985 Nebula Award; Green Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection

Join twenty eight of today’s finest writers for a host of imaginative tours through worlds as fabulous as the farthest galaxy and as strange as life on earth can be. Among the talented story tellers in this volume are: Stephen Baxter, James P. Blaylock, Tony Daniel, Gregory Feeley, Gwyneth Jones, Jonathan Lethem, Robert Reed, Michael Sanwick, Cherry Wilder, Walter Jon Williams, Gene Wolfe, Steven Utley, and many more of tomorrow’s leading imaginations. Gardener Dozois’s summary of the year in science fiction and a long list of honorable mentions round out this volume, making it the one book for anyone who’s interested in SF today.

Snow White, Blood Red

Once upon a time, fairy tales were for children…
But no longer. You hold in your hands a volume of wonders magical tales of trolls and ogres, of bewitched princesses and kingdoms accursed, penned by some of the most acclaimed fantasists of our day. But these are not bedtime stories designed to usher an innocent child gently into a realm of dreams. These are stories that bite lush and erotic, often dark and disturbing mystical journeys through a phantasmagoric landscape of distinctly adult sensibilities…
where there is no such thing as ‘happily ever after.’

Black Thorn, White Rose

Once Upon A Time…
A seduced prince willingly fell prey to a sensuous usurper’s erotic treacheries…
a flesh eating ogre gamboled in the footlights…
a gingerbread man fled in terror from the baking pan to the fire…
The award winning editors of Snow White, Blood Red return us to distinctly adult realms of myth and the fantastic with eighteen wondorous works that cloak the magical fictions we heard at Grandma’s knee in mantles of darkness and dread. From Roger Zelansky’s delightful tale of Death’s disobedient godson to Peter Straub’s blood chilling examination of a gargantuan Cinderella and her terrible twisted ‘art,’ here are stories strange and miraculous remarkable modern storytelling that remold our most cherished childhood fables into things sexier, more sinister…
and more appealing to grown up tastes and sensiblilities.

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears

‘Once upon a time…
‘ So begin the classic fairy tales that enthralled and terrified us as children. Now, in their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling bring us twenty one new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Joyce Carol Oates, Gahan Wilson, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman these are but a few of the accomplished literary sorcerers who have gathered here to remold our timeless myths into more sensuous and disturbing forms. Like the fabled ruby slippers, there is powerful magic here. Rich witches in trendy resorts cast evil spells…
beautiful princesses age and wither in sleeping worlds…
terrible beasts reside beneath flawless skin. Dark, disturbing, delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown up fantasy a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling’s acclaimed anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red and Black Thorn, White Rose.

Black Swan, White Raven

A stellar assymbly of many of today’s most creative and accomplished storytellers has gathered around the tribal fire to embroider well worn yarns with new golden thread. Black Swan, White Raven revisits the tales that charmed, enthralled, and terrified us in our early youth carrying us aloft into the healthy, beating heart of cherished myth to tell once again the stories of Rumpelstiltskins and sleeping beauties, only this time from an edgy, provocative and distinctly adult perspective. The themes and archetypes of our beloved childhood fiction are reexamined in a darker light by 21 superb teller of tales who deftly uncover the ironic, the outrageous, the enigmatic and the erotic at the core of the world’s best known fables, while revealing the sobering truths and lies behind ‘happily ever after.’

Silver Birch, Blood Moon

The four previous volumes in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s anthology series of fairly tales retold with a distinctively modern edge have been hailded by reviewers as ‘brilliant,’ ‘provocative,’ and ‘disturbing.’ In this triumphant new collection of original fiction, twenty one of today’s leading writers spin the cherished fables of childhood into glittering gold offering magical tales for adults, as seductive as they are sophisticated.A jealous prince plots the destruction of his hated brother’s wedding by inventing a ‘magic’ suit of clothing visible only to the pure at heart…
A young girl’s strange fairy tale obsession results in a brutal murder…
An embittered mother cares for her dying son who is trapped in a thicket that guards a sleeping beauty…
In a bleak and desolate industrial wasteland, a group of violent outcasts lays the tattered myths of one Millenium to rest, and gives terrifying birth to those of the next. Erotic, compelling, witty, and altogether extraordinary, these stories lay bare our innermost demons and desires imaginatively transforming our youthful fantasies into things darker, slyer, and more delightfully subversive.

Black Heart, Ivory Bones

Hair bright as gold…
Lips red as blood…
Heart black as sin…
Truth sharp as bone…
As in their previous critically acclaimed volumes of reconsidered fairy tales, award winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together remarkable stories that illuminate the more sinister, sensual, and sophisticated aspects of the tales we cherished in childhood; the fables of witches and princes and lost children that we once imagined we knew.’ Black Heart, Ivory Bones‘ showcases twenty beguiling tales for the child that was and the adult that is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.’ A lovelorn prince seeking his father’s blessing concocts a fantastic tale of a witch, a tower, and lustrous long hair…
A pair of accursed red boots punishes a beautiful dancer for her pride…
A troll killing, princess rescuing warrior is compelled to consider events from his adversaries’ point of view…
In a blistering tell all memoir, Goldilocks reveals the sordid truth about her brutal foster parent, Papa Bear…
‘Rich, surprising, funny, erotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional anew treasures as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft told tales. As in their previous critically acclaimed volumes of reconsidered fairy tales, award winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together remarkable stories that illuminate the more sinister, sensual,and sophisticated aspects of the tales we cherished in childhood; the fables of witches and princes and lost children that we once imagined we knew. Black Heart, Ivory Bones showcases twenty beguiling tales for the child that was and the adult that is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.’A lovelorn prince seeking his father’s blessing concocts a fantastic tale of a witch, a tower, and lustrous long hair…
A pair of accursed red boots punishes a beautiful dancer for her pride…
A troll killing, princess rescuing warrior is compelled to consider events from his adversaries’ point of view…
In a blistering tell all memoir, Goldilocks reveals the sordid truth about her brutal foster parent, Papa Bear…
Rich, surprising, funny, erotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional new treasures as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds, and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft told tales. As in their previous critically acclaimed volumes of reconsidered fairy tales, award winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together remarkable stories that illuminate the more sinister, sensual, and sophisticated aspects of the tales we cherished in childhood; the fables of witches and princes and lost children that we once imagined we knew. Black Heart, Ivory Bones showcases twenty beguiling tales for the child that was and the adult that is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists incontemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.’A lovelorn prince seeking his father’s blessing concocts a fantastic tale of a witch, a tower, and lustrous long hair…
A pair of accursed red boots punishes a beautiful dancer for her pride…
A troll killing, princess rescuing warrior is compelled to consider events from his adversaries’ point of view…
In a blistering tell all memoir, Goldilocks reveals the sordid truth about her brutal foster parent, Papa Bear…
Rich, surprising, funny, erotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional new treasures as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds, and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft told tales.

The Book of Cthulhu

The Cthulhu Mythos is one of the 20th century”s most singularly recognizable literary creations. Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries the so called ‘Lovecraft Circle’, The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own. Some of the most prodigious writers of the 20th century, and some of the most astounding writers of the 21st century have planted their seeds in this fertile soil. The Book of Cthulhu harvests the weirdest and most corpulent crop of these modern mythos tales. From weird fiction masters to enigmatic rising stars, The Book of Cthulhu demonstrates how Mythos fiction has been a major cultural meme throughout the 20th century, and how this type of story is still salient, and terribly powerful today. Table of Contents: Caitlin R. Kiernan Andromeda among the Stones Ramsey Campbell The Tugging Charles Stross A Colder War Bruce Sterling The Unthinkable Silvia Moreno Garcia Flash Frame W. H. Pugmire Some Buried Memory Molly Tanzer The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins Michael Shea Fat Face Elizabeth Bear Shoggoths in Bloom T. E. D. Klien Black Man With A Horn David Drake Than Curse the Darkness Charles Saunders Jeroboam Henley”s Debt Thomas Ligotti Nethescurial Kage Baker Calamari Curls Edward Morris Jihad over Innsmouth Cherie Priest Bad Sushi John Hornor Jacobs The Dream of the Fisherman”s Wife Brian McNaughton The Doom that Came to Innsmouth Ann K. Schwader Lost Stars Steve Duffy The Oram County Whoosit Joe R. Lansdale The Crawling Sky Brian Lumley The Fairground Horror Tim Pratt Cinderlands Gene Wolfe Lord of the Land Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. To Live and Die in Arkham John Langan The Shallows Laird Barron The Men from Porlock

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection

A consistently award winning collection once again provides the best science fiction stories of the year, featuring work by veterans and newcomers including Michael Bishop, Nancy Kress, Ursula Le Guin, Mike Resnick, Geoff Ryman, Brian Stableford, and many others.

The Third Omni Book of Science Fiction

Vintage, 1985 paperback, Zebra Books, 479 pages. This is a collection of short stories from Omni magazine some of the language is objectionable.

The Ascent of Wonder

Featuring more than sixty groundbreaking short stories by modern science fiction’s most important and influential writers, The Ascent of Wonder offers a definitive and incisive exploration of the SF genre’s visionary core. From Poe to Pohl, Wells to Wolfe, and Verne to Vinge, this hefty anthology fully charts the themes, trends, thoughts, and traditions that comprise the challenging yet rich literary form known as ‘hard SF.’

Cthulhu 2000

In Cthulhu 2000, a host of horror and fantasy’s top authors captures the spirit of supreme supernatural storyteller H. P. Lovecraft with eighteen chilling contemporary tales that would have made the master proud.

The Barrens by F. Paul Wilson: In a tangled wilderness, unearthly lights lead the way to a world no human was meant to see.
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite: Two dabblers in black magic encounter a maestro of evil enchantment.
On the Slab by Harlan Ellison: The corpse of a one eyed giant brings untold fortune and unspeakable fear to whoever possesses it.
Pickman’s Modem by Lawrence Watt Evans: Horror is a keystroke away, when an ancient evil lurks in modern technology.

PLUS FOURTEEN MORE BLOOD CURDLING STORIES

Year’s Best SF

WORLD ALTERING SCIENCE FICTIONTales of wonder and adventure, set on distant planets or in the future of our ownStories that go beyond the limits of Space and Time David G. Hartwell has brought together only the best of this year’s new SF from established pros and audacious newcomers, selecting only those that share the universal quality of great science fiction. Our familiar world will look a little less familiar after you read one. Includes stories by:Joe HaldemanUrsula K. Le GuinRobert SilverbergRoper Zelazny

Space Opera

Twenty original science fiction tales based on the theme of music by such authors as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Charles de Lint, and Gene Wolfe include the story of a singer whose ear for music helps her fight crime.

The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: The 50th Anniversary Anthology

Since its founding, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has been acclaimed as one of the pinnacles of the field, the source of fantastic fiction of the highest literary quality. Now the magazine known to its readers as ‘F&SF’ celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a spectacular anthology of the best recent work from the magazine. Included are stories from major writers like Bruce Sterling, John Crowley, and Harlan Ellison. Also here are award winners like Ursula K. Le Guin’s Nebula winning ‘Solitude,’ Maureen F. McHugh’s Hugo winning ‘The Lincoln Train,’ and Elizabeth Hand’s Nebula and World Fantasy Award winning ‘Last Summer at Mars Hill.’The fiftieth anniversary collection for the most distinguished magazine of the science fiction and fantasy world. Contributors include:Dale BaileyTerry BissonMichael BlumleinRay BradburyJohn CrowleyBradley DentonPaul Di FilippoS.N. DyerHarlan EllisonEsther M. FriesnerElizabeth HandTanith LeeUrsula K. Le GuinMaureen F. McHughRachel PollackRobert ReedBruce Holland RogersBruce SterlingRay VukcevichKate WilhelmGene Wolfe

Such a Pretty Face: Tales of Power and Abundance

Think all heroes have washboard abs? Think all hero*ines wear Size 3 Junior Petite? Think again! Come join Gene Wolfe, Elizabeth Anne Scarborough, Jane Yolen, Jody Lynn Nye, and Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, who along with nineteen other authors, introduce you to some of the funniest, wildest, sexiest, most powerful, and normal considering these are science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories fat people on earth and a few other planets. Meet a pirate named ‘Valkyrie’ and a cardsharp named ‘Fat Moriah’. Meet a xeno fitness instructor and an earth mage who don’t apologize for taking up space. Meet fat cats on a mission and a very different kind of vampire. Meet characters for whom ‘plus size’ is about body size and heart. Brought together in this first of its kind collection are stories that raise the set point on adventure and redraw the picture of ‘the hero’ along the way. Tales of power and abundance that prove that heroes and hero*ines come in all sizes.

Graven Images

In this thrilling new anthology from the editors of In the Shadow of the Gargoyle cited by Locus as one of the year’s best anthologies, today’s top fantasy and horror talents take a close look at our distant idols. Ancient gods who faded into history, all that remains are the mortal made likenesses of their images sacred relics, holy statues, and hallowed trinkets bearing the images of those fabled gods who ruled over of all creation…
Now, at last, the old gods have returned in these all new tales of the sacred and profane, the beautiful and grotesque, the loving and vengeful. Includes stories by: Nebula and Hugo Award winner Robert Silverberg Nebula winner Esther M. Freisner World Fantasy Award winner Brian McNaughton, Tanith Lee, and Gene Wolfe Hugo Award winner Lawrence Watt Evans and Other acclaimed authors, including Jack Ketchum, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Storm Constantine, Chelsea Quinn Yarboro, Kathe Koja, and Yvonne Navarro

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteenth Annual Collection

For more than a decade, readers have turned to The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors’ invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, a new Year’s Best section, on comics, by Charles Vess, and on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.

This Is My Funniest 2

This collection of 29 short stories from masters of science fiction each tale chosen by the authors as the funniest they have ever written presents wildly hilarious accounts accompanied by a preface that offers valuable insight into the authors and their selections. Contributors include David Drake, Gregory Benford, Janis Ian, Gene Wolf, Brian Hopkins, Kevin Anderson, and many more, with stories such as, Tapestries, Rattler, The Robot Who Came to Dinner, and The Acid Test.

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection

For twenty years this award winning compilation has been the nonpareil benchmark against which all other annual fantasy and horror collections are judged. Directed first by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and for the past four years by Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, it consistently presents the strangest, the funniest, the darkest, the sharpest, the most original in short, the best fantasy and horror. The current collection, marking a score of years, offers more than forty stories and poems from almost as many sources. Summations of the field by the editors are complemented by articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint and Jeff VanderMeer highlighting the best of the fantastic in, respectively, media, music and comics as well as honorable mentions notable works that didn t quite make the cut but are nonetheless worthy of attention. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: 20th Annual Collection is a cornucopia of fantastic delights, an unparalleled resource and indispensable reference that captures the unique excitement and beauty of the fantastic in all its gloriously diverse forms, from the lightest fantasy to the darkest horror.