5 ratings | 2 reviews | avg rating:5.00

more photos (1)

Alex Shvartsman’s Followers (143)

Alex’s Bookshelves

to-read (4)
currently-reading (2)
read (7)

Alex’s Friends (226)

Jamie

1,032 books | 253 friends

Yaroslav Barsukov

60 books | 111 friends

Chris Bauer

2,476 books | 65 friends

Adam McPhee

4,323 books | 4,850 friends

John Goodwin

88 books | 251 friends

Christa

6,650 books | 809 friends

P.D. Haggerty

18 books | 11 friends

L. Lawson

1,348 books | 101 friends

More friends…

Alex Shvartsman

Goodreads Author

Born

in Odessa, Ukraine

November 19, 1975

Website

http://www.alexshvartsman.com

Twitter

AShvartsman

Genre

Science Fiction, Fantasy

Member Since

April 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/alexshvartsman

edit data

Alex Shvartsman is a writer, editor, and translator from Brooklyn, NY. He's the author of The Middling Affliction (2022) and Eridani's Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Kakistocracy, a sequel to The Middling Affliction, is forthcoming in 2023.

Over 120 of his stories have been published in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and many other venues. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a two-time finalist (2015 and 2017) for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.

His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were published in 2015. His second collection, The Golem of Deneb Seven and Other Stories followed in 2018.

Alex is the edito ...more

Combine Editions
Alex Shvartsman’s books

Average rating: 3.97 · 7,045 ratings · 1,192 reviews · 158 distinct works • Similar authors

	Unidentified Funny Objects (UFO #1) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Scott Almes (Goodreads Author), Sergei Lukyanenko 3.78 avg rating — 362 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Middling Affliction (Conradverse Chronicles #1) 3.89 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 2022 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unidentified Funny Objects 2 (UFO #2) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick 3.98 avg rating — 170 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Funny Science Fiction by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Mike Resnick, Ken Liu (Goodreads Author) 3.74 avg rating — 179 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unidentified Funny Objects 3 (UFO #3) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jim C. Hines (Goodreads Author), James A. Miller 3.95 avg rating — 140 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Funny Fantasy by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author), Gail Carriger (Goodreads Author), Esther M. Friesner 3.70 avg rating — 144 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unidentified Funny Objects 4 (UFO #4) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author), Andrew Kaye 3.87 avg rating — 112 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author), Ken Liu (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 4.24 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unidentified Funny Objects 7 (UFO, #7) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Mike Resnick, Seanan McGuire (Goodreads Author) 3.94 avg rating — 96 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unidentified Funny Objects 5 (UFO #5) by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), David Gerrold (Goodreads Author), Esther M. Friesner 4.01 avg rating — 79 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Alex Shvartsman…

Series by Alex Shvartsman

UFO (9 books)
by

Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

Mike Resnick,

Seanan McGuire (Goodreads Author),

Esther M. Friesner,

Gini Koch (Goodreads Author),

Laura Resnick

3.88 avg rating — 1,469 ratings

Conradverse Chronicles (2 books)
by

Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author)

3.99 avg rating — 222 ratings

Future Science Fiction Digest (18 books)
by

Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

Julie Nováková (Goodreads Author),

Ken Liu (Goodreads Author),

Irene Punti,

Evgeny Lukin

3.73 avg rating — 109 ratings

Conrad Brent (2 books)
by

Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author)

3.72 avg rating — 18 ratings

Alex is Currently Reading

Alex Shvartsman is currently reading

The Middling Affliction (Conradverse Chronicles #1)

by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jan 27, 2022 11:50AM

Alex Shvartsman is currently reading

Eridani's Crown

by Alex Shvartsman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 22, 2019 03:41PM

rss
Alex’s Recent Updates

Alex Shvartsman is now friends with John Goodwin
Oct 29, 2025 08:07PM · like
Alex Shvartsman rated a book it was amazing The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting by Rob Kutner (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A highly entertaining book with just the right amount of snarky humor. The only downside? You might actually learn something.
Apr 21, 2025 10:41AM · like · see review
Alex Shvartsman wants to read Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Debut Novel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 03, 2024 03:46PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Alex's books…

Quotes by Alex Shvartsman (?)

“If you want to get anything done, you don’t go to the government.”
― Alex Shvartsman, Unidentified Funny Objects

1 likes

“Ah, yes, well that’s the problem with the English language, isn’t it? All the words mean different things.”
― Alex Shvartsman, Unidentified Funny Objects 2

1 likes

“I make a terrible first impression, and the second impression tends to be worse,” said Moira. “But in time, I grow on you. Like a fungus.”
― Alex Shvartsman, Kakistocracy

0 likes

See all Alex Shvartsman's quotes »

Polls

February 2023 BOTM: An anthology

The Best of World SF: Volume 2, edited by Lavie Tidhar

9 votes, 47.4%

Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World, edited by Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro

6 votes, 31.6%

The Rosetta Archive: Notable Speculative Short Fiction in Translation, edited by Alex Shvartsman

4 votes, 21.1%

19 total votes

2 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Riyria Revela...: Fantasy Writers Helping Victims of Hurricane Sandy	2	18	Jan 12, 2013 07:27AM
Fantasy Book Club: Triumph Over Tragedy - an anthology to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy	2	22	Jan 12, 2013 07:29AM
The Sword and Laser: Fantasy Writers Helping Victims of Hurricane Sandy	1	32	Jan 12, 2013 07:54AM
The Riyria Revela...: New Release: Triumph Over Tragedy to Benefit Hurricane Sandy Victims	3	26	Jan 13, 2013 08:08AM
WACKY READING CHA...: 16X16 Challenge	381	223	Nov 20, 2018 06:43AM
WACKY READING CHA...: To Infinity & Beyond	106	141	Dec 24, 2018 09:53AM
Horror Aficionados : Track the Short Fiction You've Read in 2019!	54	155	Jan 09, 2020 05:56AM
WACKY READING CHA...: Beatlemania!	390	152	Jun 24, 2020 06:40PM