Michael Swanwick's Blog

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October has come and gone and with it,  the first month's (plus one week's) Universe Box Mondays. These short essays on File 770 are, obviously, meant to promote my forthcoming Tachyon Publications short story collection The Universe Box. But they were written to be as entertaining as I could make them, each one meant to serve as an amuse-bouche to start out your week.

 Structurally, these writings are meant to serve as a short nonfiction anthology. And the rule for constructing an anthology is to "start and end long and strong." None of these essays is long. But the series starts out with one of the strangest objects I own: 

September 29: a devil stone 

Then burns gracefully toward one of the homier pleasures of summer:

October 6: home grown tomatoes

 And from there segues into how, for the proverbial fifteen minutes, I became a cocktail mahoff:

October 13: a martini  

 And how I spent my summer vacation:

October 20: mermaid's toenails 

 And, finally, how J. G. Ballard shamed me into writing a story on a life-mask of my wife:

October 27: a mask 

 It occurred to me a little late that I ought to be bundling these essays in monthly installments. So the next bundle ought to come out in only two weeks.

In the meantime, enjoy!

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October has come and gone, and with it my serialized written-on-leaves Halloween story, Autumn Dreams.

My son Sean has crafted an Imgur post containing the whole story. If you want to re-read it in ease, of if you'd like to share the story with a friend... well, there it is.

You can read the story here. 

Enjoy!

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The End

Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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