Search Worlds Without End

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in the German language anthology Tor zu den Sternen (litt: Gate to the Stars, 1981), edited by Peter Wilfert. The first English publication was in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1984. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection (1985), edited by Gardner Dozois, Nebula Awards 20 (1985), edited by George Zebrowski, The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 11 (1985), Little People! (1991), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois, Modern Classics of Fantasy (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois and Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005), also edited by Dozois. It is included in the collections Endangered Species (1989) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009).

Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman invite you to tour the Shambles, that historic old Chicago neighborhood which miraculously survived the Great Fire of 1871. ('Ya can't burn Hell,' as one local politician laughingly remarked.) Uniquely Chicago, the Shambles offers an array of delights for the intrepid sightseer: Cereal House with its Terribly Strange Bed (be sure to fill out the 'next of kin' form if you stay the night: a quaint touch adding to the fun of an overnight visit); the House of Clocks boasts a collection of 20,000 time pieces Ñ make sure you arrive on the hour, for an unforgettable moment; the historic H.H. Holmes' House with the bars on his children's windows still intact; Saunders Park, a soothing respite from the city streets (if one is careful), with its gardens, statuary, ornamental lake and the infamous Petting Zoo (a favorite with children, but it's best not to bring your own); plus many more intriguing sights...

In the finest tradition of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, our trustworthy guides Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman reveal the secrets of the Shambles, finding the best places to eat, (and where not to accept food under any circumstances), where to begin your walking tour, and when to run.

The Shambles has been called a place of dark magic and deadly menace. Many will insist there is no such place. Most pray it does not exist. Certainly, a spot not to be missed by any avid sightseer.

Come along... walk lively, now. The inhabitants of the Shambles are dying to meet you.

This lovely edition of A Walking Tour of the Shambles sports a cover by Gahan Wilson, America's reigning King of Whimsical Terrors, plus interior illustrations of Shambles' locales by Randy Broecker and Earl Geier, two daring Chicagoans.

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared the anthology Again, Dangerous Visions (1972), edited by Harlan Ellison. It can also be found in the anthology The Time Traveler's Almanac (2014), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and the collections Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981) and Castle of Days (1992).

This short story originally appeared in the anthology The Universe (1987), edited by Byron Preiss. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The story is included in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

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."

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Swords & Dark Magic (2010), edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton, and The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2011, edited by Paula Guran.

This short story originally appeared on Sci Fiction, February 5, 2003. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 9 (2004), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Starwater Strains (2005).

This collection of fiction and nonfiction by one of sf's most luminescent writers includes "Gene Wolfe's Book of Days"--a cycle of 18 stories with holiday themes--and the collection "The Castle of the Otter" as well as speeches, essays, poems, and letters.

Arthurian legend collides with Main Street, USA, in Gene Wolfe's classic fantasy adventure. Castleview, Illinois, got its name from occasional sightings of a phantom castle on stormy nights--a place where the barrier between past and present is weak and strange things happen.

This short story originally appeared in Postscripts, Spring 2005. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006), edited by Gardner Dozois, Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition, edited by Rich Horton, and Year's Best Fantasy 6 (2006), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer.

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 1996. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois, Year's Best SF 2 (1997), edited by David G. Hartwell, and Robots (2005), edtied by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Strange Travelers (2000).

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Other Earths (2009), edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 15 (2010), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

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.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1989) - essay
• A Cabin on the Coast - (1984) - shortstory
• The Map - (1984) - shortstory
• Kevin Malone - (1980) - shortstory
• The Dark of the June - (1974) - shortstory
• The Death of Hyle - (1974) - shortstory
• From the Notebook of Doctor Stein - (1974) - shortstory
• Thag - (1975) - shortstory
• The Nebraskan and the Nereid - (1985) - shortstory
• In the House of Gingerbread - (1987) - shortstory
• The Headless Man - (1972) - shortstory
• The Last Thrilling Wonder Story - (1982) - novelette
• House of Ancestors - (1968) - novelette
• Our Neighbour by David Copperfield - (1978) - shortstory
• When I Was Ming the Merciless - (1976) - shortstory
• The God and His Man - (1980) - shortstory
• The Cat - (1983) - shortstory
• The War Beneath the Tree - (1979) - shortstory
• Eyebem - (1970) - shortstory
• The HORARS of War - (1970) - shortstory
• The Detective of Dreams - (1980) - shortstory
• Peritonitis - (1973) - shortstory
• The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus - (1979) - shortstory
• The Woman the Unicorn Loved - (1981) - novelette
• The Peace Spy - (1987) - shortstory
• All the Hues of Hell - (1987) - shortstory
• Procreation - (1983) - shortstory
• Lukora - (1988) - shortstory
• Suzanne Delage - (1980) - shortstory
• Sweet Forest Maid - (1971) - shortstory
• My Book - (1982) - shortstory
• The Other Dead Man - (1988) - shortstory
• The Most Beautiful Woman on the World - (1987) - shortstory
• The Tale of the Rose and the Nightingale (And What Came of It) - (1988) - novelette
• Silhouette - (1975) - novella

"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.

A collection with the stories assigned to specific dates within the year.

Contents:

• How the Whip Came Back (1970)
• Of Relays and Roses (1970)
• Paul's Treehouse (1969)
• St. Brandon (Excerpt from "Peace") (1975)
• Beautyland (1973)
• Car Sinister (1970)
• The Blue Mouse (1971)
• How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion (1973)
• The Adopted Father (1980)
• Forlesen (1974)
• An Article About Hunting (1973)
• The Changeling (1968)
• Many Mansions (1977)
• Against the Lafayette Escadrille (1972)
• Three Million Square Miles (1971)
• The War Beneath the Tree (1979)
• La Befana (1973)
• Melting (1974)

Locus Award winning and World Fantasy Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy (2004), edited by Al Sarrantonio. The story can also be found in the anthology Year's Best Fantasy 5 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is included in the collection Starwater Strains (2005).

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Moon Shots (1999), edited by Peter Crowther. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 5 (2000), edited by David G. Hartwell. The story is included in the collections Starwater Strains (2005) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009).

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.

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, May 1973. The story can also be found in the anthologyThe Best of Analog (1978), edited by Ben Bova and the collections Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981) and Castle of Days (1992).

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in the antholgoy The Architecture of Fear (1987), edited by Peter D. Pautz and Kathryn Cramer. The story can also be found in the anthology Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold (2016), edited by Paula Guran. It is included in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

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.

Hugo- and Nebula-nominated Novella

Humans go into space for many reasons. For some it's adventure and excitement. Others, it's 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 to 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...

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1997. The story can also be found in the anthology The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology (1999), edited by Edward L. Ferman and Gordon Van Gelder. It is included in the collection Strange Travelers (2000).

Operation Ares depicts a dystopian future, with the United States controlled by an anti-technological leftist regime. The story traces protagonist John Castle's conflict with the government and his increasing involvement with a rebellion backed by a Martian colony which has severed its ties to the U.S. government.

The box is heavy, locked, and very old. The only clue to its contents is the name written in gold upon its lid: PANDORA. Bright teenager Holly Hollander is understandably curious about what's inside, but when the box is opened, death is unleashed... and Holly is the only one who can solve the deadly puzzle.

Living out his final days in a small midwestern town, an embittered elderly man, Alden Dennis Weer, explores his unique imagination, which has the power to obliterate time and reshape reality.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Return of the Dinosaurs (1997), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Mike Resnick. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 3 (1998), edited by David G. Hartwell. The story is included in the collections Starwater Strains (2005) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009).

As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional... for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth.

Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where an unexpected new life awaits him. At first, he resists joining the notorious Brethren of the Coast, but he soon embraces the life of a buccaneer, even as he succumbs to the seductive charms of a beautiful and enigmatic senorita. As the captain of his own swift ship, which may or may not be cursed, he plunders the West Indies in search of Spanish gold. From Tortuga to Port Royal, from the stormy waters of the Caribbean to steamy tropical jungles, Captain Chris finds danger, passion, adventure, and treachery as he hoists the black flag and sets sail for the Spanish mainland.

Where he will finally come to port only God knows....

Contents:

• Gene Wolfe - (1984) - essay by David G. Hartwell
• Logology - (1984) - essay by Gene Wolfe
• The Books in The Book of the New Sun - (1984) - essay by Gene Wolfe
• In Looking-Glass Castle - (1980)
• The Rubber Bend - (1974)
• The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton - (1977)
• When I Was Ming the Merciless - (1976)
• The HORARS of War - (1970)
• A Criminal Proceeding - (1980)
• The Detective of Dreams - (1980)
• British Soldier Near Rapier Antiaircraft Missile Battery Scans for the Enemy - (1984)
• Last Night in the Garden of Forking Tongues - (1984)
• The Computer Iterates the Greater Trumps - (1977)
• The Anatomy of a Robot - (1983) - essay by Gene Wolfe

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2004. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 10 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Starwater Strains (2005).

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Orbit 20 (1978), edited by Damon Knight. It can also be found in the anthologies Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Eighth Annual Collection (1979), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1 (1979), edited by Terry Carr, Nebula Winners Fourteen (1980), edited by Frederik Pohl, and The Dark Descent: The Evolution of Horror (1987), edited by David G. Hartwell. It is half of Tor Double #10: Sailing to Byzantium/Seven American Nights (1989, with Robert Siverberg) and is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009).

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Mars Probes (2002), edited by Peter Crowther. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 8 (2003), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Starwater Strains (2005).

This short story originally appeared in the collection Strange Birds (2006). It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume One (2007), edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection (2007), edited by Ellen Datlow, Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link, and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18 (2007), edited by Stephen Jones.

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.

Table of Contents

• Introduction - essay
• Viewpoint - (2001) - novelette
• Rattler - (2004) - short story with Brian A. Hopkins
• In Glory Like Their Star - (2001) - short story
• Calamity Warps - (2003) - short story
• Graylord Man's Last Words - (2003) - short story
• Shields of Mars - (2002) - short story
• From the Cradle - (2002) - novelette
• Black Shoes - (2003) - short story
• Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon? - (1999) - short story
• Pulp Cover - (2004) - short story
• Of Soil and Climate - (2003) - short story
• The Dog of the Drops - (2002) - short story
• Mute - (2002) - short story
• Petting Zoo - (1997) - short story
• Castaway - (2003) - short story
• The Fat Magician - (2000) - short story
• Hunter Lake - (2003) - short story
• The Boy Who Hooked the Sun - (1985) - short story
• Try and Kill It - (1996) - novelette
• Game in the Pope's Head - (1988) - short story
• Empires of Foliage and Flower - (1987) - novelette
• The Arimaspian Legacy - (1987) - short story
• The Seraph From Its Sepulcher - (1991) - short story
• Lord of the Land - (1990) - novelette
• Golden City Far - (2004) - novelette

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.

Table of Contents:

• 7 - Storeys from the Old Hotel: An Introduction - (1988) - essay
• 14 - The Green Rabbit from S'Rian - [Liavek] - (1985) - short story
• 32 - Beech Hill - (1972) - short story
• 38 - Sightings at Twin Mounds - (1988) - short story
• 43 - Continuing Westward - (1973) - short story
• 49 - Slaves of Silver - (1971) - short story
• 66 - The Rubber Bend - (1974) - novelette
• 86 - Westwind - (1973) - short story
• 94 - Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee - (1970) - short story
• 99 - The Packerhaus Method - (1970) - short story
• 105 - Straw - (1975) - short story
• 113 - The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton - (1977) - novelette
• 131 - To the Dark Tower Came - (1977) - short story
• 137 - Parkroads—A Review - (1987) - short fiction
• 140 - The Flag - (1988) - short story
• 142 - Alphabet - (1988) - short story
• 145 - A Criminal Proceeding - (1980) - short story
• 151 - In Looking-Glass Castle - (1980) - short story
• 164 - Cherry Jubilee - (1982) - novelette
• 191 - Redbeard - (1984) - short story
• 197 - A Solar Labyrinth - (1983) - short story
• 200 - Love, Among the Corridors - (1984) - short story
• 204 - Checking Out - (1986) - short story
• 207 - Morning-Glory - (1970) - short story
• 214 - Trip, Trap - (1967) - novelette
• 240 - From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton - (1983) - short story
• 245 - Civis Lapvtvs Svm - (1975) - short story
• 252 - The Recording - (1972) - short story
• 256 - Last Day - (1982) - short story
• 260 - Death of the Island Doctor - [Archipelago] - (1983) - short story
• 266 - On the Train - [Redwood Coast Roamer] - (1983) - short fiction
• 267 - In the Mountains - [Redwood Coast Roamer] - (1983) - short fiction
• 268 - At the Volcano's Lip - [Redwood Coast Roamer] - (1983) - short fiction
• 269 - In the Old Hotel - [Redwood Coast Roamer] - (1983) - short fiction
• 270 - Choice of the Black Goddess - [Liavek] - (1986) - novelette

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.

Table of Contents

• Bluesberry Jam - (1996) - novelette
• One-Two-Three for Me - (1996) - short story
• Counting Cats in Zanzibar - (1996) - short story
• The Death of Koshchei the Deathless (a tale of old Russia) - (1995) - short story
• No Planets Strike - (1997) - short story
• Bed and Breakfast - (1996) - short fiction
• To the Seventh - (1996) - novelette
• Queen of the Night - (1994) - short story
• And When They Appear - (1993) - novelette
• Flash Company - (1997) - short story
• The Haunted Boardinghouse - (1990) - novelette
• Useful Phrases - (1993) - short story
• The Man in the Pepper Mill - (1996) - novelette
• The Ziggurat - (1995) - novella
• Ain't You 'Most Done? - (1996) - novelette

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Edges (1980), edited by Ursula K. Le Guin and Virginia Kidd, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, September 2013. The story is included in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

From a literary perspective, this will certainly be the best collection of the year in science fiction and fantasy. Gene Wolfe, of whom The Washington Post said, "Of all SF writers currently active none is held in higher esteem," has selected the short fiction he considers his finest into one volume.

There are many award winners and many that have been selected for various Year's Best anthologies among the thirty-one stories, which include: "Petting Zoo," "The Tree Is My Hat," "The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories," "The Hero as Werewolf," "Seven American Nights," "The Fifth Head of Cerberus," "The Detective of Dreams," and "A Cabin on the Coast." Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last fifty years, and is certainly among the greatest living writers to emerge from the genres. This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career.

It is for the ages.

Table of Contents:

• The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories - [Archipelago] - (1970) - short story
• Afterword (The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories) - essay
• The Toy Theater - (1971) - short story
• Afterword (The Toy Theater) - essay
• The Fifth Head of Cerberus - [The Fifth Head of Cerberus] - (1972) - novella
• Afterword (The Fifth Head of Cerberus) - essay
• Beech Hill - (1972) - short story
• Afterword (Beech Hill) - essay
• The Recording - (1972) - short story
• Afterword (The Recording) - essay
• Hour of Trust - (1973) - novelette
• Afterword (Hour of Trust) - essay
• The Death of Dr. Island - [Archipelago] - (1973) - novella
• Afterword (The Death of Dr. Island) - essay
• La Befana - (1973) - short story
• Afterword (La Befana) - essay
• Forlesen - (1974) - novelette
• Afterword (Forlesen) - essay
• Westwind - (1973) - short story
• Afterword (Westwind) - essay
• The Hero As Werwolf - (1975) - short story
• Afterword (The Hero as Werwolf) - essay
• The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton - (1977) - novelette
• Afterword (The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton) - essay
• Straw - (1975) - short story
• Afterword (Straw) - essay
• The Eyeflash Miracles - (1976) - novella
• Afterword (The Eyeflash Miracles) - essay
• Seven American Nights - (1978) - novella
• Afterword (Seven American Nights) - essay
• The Detective of Dreams - (1980) - short story
• Afterword (The Detective of Dreams) - essay
• Kevin Malone - (1980) - short story
• Afterword (Kevin Malone) - essay
• The God and His Man - (1980) - short story
• Afterword (The God and His Man) - essay
• On the Train - [Redwood Coast Roamer] - (1983) - short fiction
• Afterword (On the Train) - essay
• From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton - (1983) - short story
• Afterword (From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton) - essay
• Death of the Island Doctor - [Archipelago] - (1983) - short story
• Afterword (Death of the Island Doctor) - essay
• Redbeard - (1984) - short story
• Afterword (Redbeard) - essay
• The Boy Who Hooked the Sun - (1985) - short story
• Afterword (The Boy Who Hooked the Sun) - essay
• Parkroads--A Review - (1987) - short fiction
• Afterword (Parkroads--A Review) - essay
• Game in the Pope's Head - (1988) - short story
• Afterword (Game in the Pope's Head) - essay
• And When They Appear - (1993) - novelette
• Afterword (And When They Appear) - essay
• Bed and Breakfast - (1996) - short fiction (variant of Bed & Breakfast)
• Afterword (Bed and Breakfast) - essay
• Petting Zoo - (1997) - short story
• Afterword (Petting Zoo) - essay
• The Tree Is My Hat - (1999) - novelette
• Afterword (The Tree Is My Hat) - essay
• Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon? - (1999) - short story
• Afterword (Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?) - essay
• A Cabin on the Coast - (1984) - short story
• Afterword (A Cabin on the Coast) - essay

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.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Future Power (1976), edtied by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. The story can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year #6 (1977), edited by Terry Carr. It is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009).

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. The story originally appeared in the anthology Orbit 10 (1972), Damon Knight. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #2 (1973), edited by Terry Carr, Nebula Award Stories Eight (1973), edited by Isaac Asimov, The World Treasury of Science Fiction (1989), edited by David G. Hartwell and Modern Classics of Science Fiction (1991), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009). It was expanded to a the full novel The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972).

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 Hero as Werwolf" combines SF, surrealism, and horror tropes, producing an unusual and unique concoction. Wolfe uses the original spelling of werwolf because that spelling describes a man who is to be feared because he became like a wolf, rather than someone who literally transforms into a wolf.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology The New Improved Sun (1975), edited by Thomas M. Disch. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 (1976), edited by Terry Carr, Aliens Among Us (2000), edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, and Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future (2002), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009). A chapbook editon appeared in 1991.

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.

Table of Contents:

• The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories - (1970) - shortstory
• Alien Stones - (1972) - novelette
• La Befana - (1973) - shortstory
• The Hero as Werwolf - (1975) - shortstory
• Three Fingers - (1976) - shortstory
• The Death of Dr. Island - (1973) - novella
• Feather Tigers - (1973) - shortstory
• Hour of Trust - (1973) - novelette
• Tracking Song - (1975) - novella
• The Toy Theater - (1971) - shortstory
• The Doctor of Death Island - (1978) - novella
• "Cues - (1974) - shortstory
• The Eyeflash Miracles - (1976) - novella
• Seven American Nights - (1978) - novella

An American writer of travel guides in need of a new location chooses to travel to a small and obscure Eastern European country. The moment Grafton crosses the border he is in trouble, much more than he could have imagined. His passport is taken by guards, and then he is detained for not having it. He is released into the custody of a family, but is again detained. It becomes evident that there are supernatural agencies at work, but they are not in some ways as threatening as the brute forces of bureaucracy and corruption in that country. Is our hero in fact a spy for the CIA? Or is he an innocent citizen caught in a Kafkaesque trap?

In The Land Across, Gene Wolfe keeps us guessing until the very end, and after.

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October-November 1992 and was reprinted in Lightspeed, March 2012. The story can also be found in the collection Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories (2004).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology The First Heroes: New Tales of the Bronze Age (2004), edited by Harry Turtledove and Noreen Doyle. The story can also be found in the anthologies Science Fiction: The Best of 2004, edtied by Karen Haber and Jonathan Strahan, and The Time Traveler's Almanac (2014), edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer. It is included in the collection Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories (2004).

In a contemporary town in the American Midwest where he has no connections, 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. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is the heir to a huge old house, long empty, he moves in, though he is too broke to even buy furniture, and is immediately confronted by supernatural and fantastic creatures and events.

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. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then perhaps we read it again.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - essay
• Death of the Island Doctor - shortstory
• The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories - shortstory
• The Death of Dr. Island - (1973) - novella
• The Doctor of Death Island - (1978) - novella

An all new collection from an American literary icon...

The circus comes to town... and a man gets to go to the stars.

A young girl on a vacation at the sea meets the man of her dreams. Who just happens to be dead. And an immortal pirate.

A swordfighter pens his memoirs... and finds his pen is in fact mightier than the sword.

Welcome to Gene Wolfe's playground, a place where genres blend and a genius's imagination straps you in for the ride of your life.

The Wolfe at the Door is a brand new collection from one of America's premiere literary giants, showcasing some material never been seen before. Short stories, yes, but also poems, essays, and ephemera that gives us a window into the mind of a literary powerhouse whose world view changed generations of readers in their perception of the universe.

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 8, 1981. The story can also be found in the anthologies Unicorns! (1982) edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois and The Best Science Fiction of the Year #11 (1982), edited by Terry Carr. It is included in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

This novella originally appeared in the anthology Full Spectrum 5 (1995), edited by Tom Dupree, Jennifer Hershey and Janna Silverstein. It can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF (1995), edited by David G. Hartwell, and The Secret History of Science Fiction (2009), edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. The story is included in the collection Strange Travelers (2000).

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.

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction (2001), edited by Al Sarrantonio. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 7 (2002), edited by David G. Hartwell and Karhryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Starwater Strains (2005).

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Omni, December 1979. The story can also be found in the anthology Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Tenth Annual Collection (1981), edited by Gardner Dozois and the collections Endangered Species (1989) and Castle of Days (1992).

It is perhaps a hundred years in the future, our civilization is gone, and another is in place in North America, but it retains many familiar things and structures. Although the population is now small, there is advanced technology, there are robots, and there are clones.

E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person. He is a clone who lives on a third-tier shelf in a public library, and his personality is an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human.

A wealthy patron, Colette Coldbrook, takes him from the library because he is the surviving personality of the author of Murder on Mars. A physical copy of that book was in the possession of her murdered father, and it contains an important secret, the key to immense family wealth. It is lost, and Colette is afraid of the police. She borrows Smithe to help her find the book and to find out what the secret is. And then the plot gets complicated.

Interlibrary Loan is the brilliant follow-up to A Borrowed Man: the final work of fiction from multi-award winner and national literary treasure Gene Wolfe.

Hundreds of years in the future our civilization is shrunk down, but we go on. There is advanced technology, there are robots.

And there are clones.

E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person, his personality an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human.

As such, Smithe can be loaned to other branches. Which he is. Along with two fellow reclones, a cookbook and romance wrtier, they are shipped to Polly's Cove, where Smithe meets a little girl who wants to save her mother, a father who is dead but perhaps not.

And another E. A. Smith... who definitely is.

Locus and Nebula Award winning and Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Universe 3 (1973), edited by Terrry Carr. The story can also be found in the anthologies:

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3 (1974), edited by Terry Carr
• Nebula Award Stories Nine (1974), edited by Kate Wilhelm
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986, edited by Terry Carr
• Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction (1994), edited by Gardner Dozois
• Visions of Wonder (1996), edited by David G. Hartwell and Milton T. Wolf

It is half of Tor Double #25: Fugue State/The Death of Doctor Island (1990, with John M. Ford) and is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980), The Wolfe Archipelago (1983) and The Best of Gene Wolfe.

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appaered in Orbit 7 (1970), edited by Damon Knight. The story can also be found in the anthologies Nebula Award Stories Six (1971), edited by Clifford D. Simak, and The Road to Science Fiction 4: From Here to Forever (1982), edited by James Gunn. It is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980), The Wolfe Archipelago (1983) and The Wolfe Archipelago (2009).

A distinguished compilation of two classic fantasy novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Areté, in one volume

This 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.

Latro, a mercenary soldier from the north, has suffered a head wound in battle but has developed the ability to see and converse with all of the invisible gods, goddesses, ghosts, demons, and werewolfves that inhabit the land.

Of all mortals Latro was the least favoured - or the most. The wound that had destroyed his memory had given him the ability to see the unseen: the world of the gods, the demi-gods and the fabulous.

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, he is unsure of everything, except for his desire to be free of the curse that causes him to forget.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology World Fantasy 1983: Sixty Years of Weird Tales (1983), edited by Robert Weinberg. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection (1984), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Magicats! (1984), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Endangered Species (1989) and The Castle of the Otter (2016).

This short story originally appeared in Light Years and Dark: Science Fiction and Fantasy Of and For Our Time (1984), edited by Michael Bishop. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection (1985) and The Furthest Horizon: SF Adventures to the Far Future (2000), both edited by Garnder Dozois. The story is included in Endangered Species (1989).

Nightside the Long Sun is the beginning of the science fiction masterpiece from Gene Wolfe, Book of the Long Sun

Life on the Whorl, and the struggles and triumphs of Patera Silk to satisfy the demands of the gods, will captivate readers yearning for something new and different in science fiction, for the magic of the future.

Enormous in breadth and scope, Wolfe's ambitious new work opens out into a world of wonders, of gods and humans, aliens and machines, and mysterious adventures far out in space and deep inside the human spirit. It is set on a ship-world whose origins are shrouded in legend, ruled by strange gods who appear infrequently to their worshippers on large screens, and peopled by a human race changed by eons of time, yet familiar.

Lake of the Long Sun is the second volume in the Book of the Long Sun series from science fiction and fantasy master Gene Wolfe

It is the far future, and the giant spaceship, The Whorl, has traveled for forgotten generation towards its destination. Lit inside by the artificial Long Sun, The Whorl is so huge that you can see whole cities in the sky. And now the gods of The Whorl begin to intervene in human affairs. A god speaks to Patera Silk, a clergyman at work in the schoolyard of his church. Silk must go on a quest to save his church and his people.

A Nebula Award Finalist and Winner of the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, Caldé of the Long Sun is the third volume in science fiction Grand Master Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun tetralogy.

Journeying aboard the generational starship the Whorl, the young priest Patera Silk becomes a prophet and revolutionary as he questions his faith while confronting a crime lord in a saga where "[Wolfe] continues to prove himself one of the genre's most literate writers and luminescent thinkers" (Library Journal).

Exodus from the Long Sun concludes Gene Wolfe's masterful sci-fi epic series, the Book of the Long Sun

It is the far future, and the giant spaceship, The Whorl, has traveled for forgotten generations toward its destination.

Lit inside by the artificial Long Sun, The Whorl is so huge that whole cities can be seen in the sky. And the gods of The Whorl have begun to intervene in human affairs. An entirely unexpected future awaits as Patera Silk and the other inhabitants are confronted with the world of an alien race.

Wolfe's great work is complete, with the mysterious fullness of life itself.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

Contents:

• 5 - The Shadow of the Torturer - [Book of The New Sun - 1] - 1980
• 249 - The Claw of the Conciliator - [Book of The New Sun - 2] - 1981
• 483 - The Sword of the Lictor - [Book of The New Sun - 3] - 1982
• 715 - The Citadel of the Autarch - [Book of The New Sun - 4] - 1983

The Shadow of the Torturer is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim.

The second volume of "The Book of the New Sun". The torturer Severian continues his journey of exile to the city Thrax, carrying with him the ancient executioner's sword and the Claw of the Conciliator, a gem of extraterrestrial power and beauty which no one man is meant to possess.

Banished for the sin of mercy, Severian, one of the ancient guild of Torturers, flees from exile.

In a mountain wilderness Severian, the disgraced apprentice torturer, has reached his place of exile - Thrax, the city of Windowless Rooms, where he must take up his post as Lictor, executioner and torturer. However, he flees the city and heads into the mountains. There he meets the Alzabo, in whom those eaten seem to live on, adopts a son only to lose him in battle and discharges an old debt to vengeance. As his exile takes stranger and stranger turns, he encounters fanged aliens who hide behind masks of beauty, and meets the mysterious Dr Talos . . .

Severian the Torturer continues his epic journey across the lands of Urth, carrying with him the Claw of the Conciliator and the great sword, Terminus Est. All his travels are leading towards a destiny that he dare not refuse.

Severian, formerly a member of the Torturers' Guild and now Autarch of Urth, travels beyond the boundaries of time and space aboard the Ship of Tzadkiel on a mission to bring the New Sun to his dying planet.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

This edition contains the first two volumes of this four volume novel, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

This book has recently been re-printed as part of the SF Masterworks series - see the new image below.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory.

Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

This edition contains the second two volumes of this four volume novel, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch.

This book has recently been re-printed as part of the SF Masterworks series - see the new image below.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

This edition contains the first two volumes of this four volume novel, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory.

Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

This edition contains the second two volumes of this four volume novel, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch.

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.

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.

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.

One of five stories inspired by the same painting by John Jude Palencar. Anthologized in The Palencar Project and later in The Year's Best SF 18.

Read this story online for free at Tor.com.

THE WIZARD KNIGHT springs from the myths, legends and literature of times past. A teenager passes from Earth to a magical realm of seven worlds, where he is given a hero's adult body and named Able. Though forced to act as a man, inside he is still a boy, even as he sets off to find his destined sword and become a knight. In his quest he battles giants, meets gods, heroes and a sorceress (who repeatedly tries to seduce him), and serves the mercurial dragon king Arnthor in a way that could end everything.

This is the Omnibus edition containing both The Knight and The Wizard.

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.

Sir Able returns 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.

Sailing To Byzantium:

An Eternal party with the people of the future... in the cities of the past.

Seven American Nights:

The story unfolds with a diary of an Iranian visitor to the ruins of a future United States. The diary tells a story of an adventure in a land of mutants and ruined treasure for the taking.

Fugue State:

Once you start forgetting, where do you stop?

The Death of Doctor Island:

A dreamy young boy, who is reading a SF novel modeled after The Island of Doctor Moreau.