The Universe Box

by Michael Swanwick

Discover the vast worlds and pocket universes of Michael Swanwick (Stations of the Tide), the only author to win science fiction’s most prestigious award five times in six years. In his dazzling new collection, the master of speculative short stories returns with new tales in which magic and science improbably coexist with myth and legend.

In engaging stories, Mischling the thief races through time to defeat three trolls before the sun rises for the first time and turns the inhabitants of her city into stone. A scientist is on the run from assassins, because her research in merging human intelligence with sentient AI is too dangerous. An aging veteran obtains a military weapon from his past: a VR robotic leopard in which he rediscovers the consequences of the hunt. In the biggest heist in the history of the universe, a loser Trickster (and the girlfriend who is better than he deserves) sets out to violate every trope and expectation of fiction possible.

With two stories original to this collection, Michael Swanwick aptly demonstrates with poignant humor why he is widely respected as a master of imaginative storytelling.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Collections, Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich Horton's is the review to read:
https://richhorton314252.substack.com...
Remarkable collection. I'm glad I bought a copy, because these stories are made for multiple reads. If you like Swanwick shorts, this is absolutely not to be missed. He's at the top of his form here. Even when the story turns truly horrible. Such as "Grandmother Dimetrodon," the new story I just finished. Good God.

$12 Kindle. You need this book. Trust me on this. For me, 4+ stars, with at least a couple of 5-star stories. Required reading for Swanwick fans.

See Gary K. Wolfe's review for the details:
https://locusmag.com/review/the-unive...

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories:

Starlight Express -- (5*) Haunting. Visceral, ghostly, and above all, rich in worldbuilding and future speculation. I'm sure it'll stick with me for some time.

The Last Days of Old Night -- (4*) A delightful retelling of old fairy tales, but with hardcore fantasy, rather SFish flare that's all Swanwick. Very entertaining.

The Year of the Three Monarchs -- (3*) Very Conan fantasy/allegory about living by, dying by swords.

Ghost Ships -- (4*) A self-proclaimed autobiographical story, down-to-earth and reflective for a ghost story.

The White Leopard -- (5*) Cool VR/Drone, but the connections with others gave it heart. Only then to twist a knife in by the end. Wicked.

Dragon Slayer -- (4*) Timey-Wimey fantasy done right.

The Warm Equations -- (4*) Disaster and friendship. But mostly about friendship.

Requiem for a White Rabbit -- (5*) DARK. So many great facets to this story, and each slams.

Dreadnought -- (5*) This one snuck up on me GOOD and kicked my ass. Loved, loved it. Wildly great characters.

Grandmother Dimetrodon -- (3*) I really wanted to like this more, but for the premise. It may be true, and the setting is interesting and strange, but the whole story just sat wrong to me.

The Star-Bear -- (4*) Reads like a love story to a literary friend. But very Russian, either way. :)

Nirvana Or Bust -- (4*) Change. Death, change, and synthesis. I rather liked this one.

Reservoir Ice -- (5*) Truly excellent time travel story. And extremely messy.

Artificial People -- (5*) People are people. What a damning sentiment.

Huginn And Muninn -- (5*) A proper send off for Alice Sheldon, her imagination, and a what-if about her suicide. Very creative.

Cloud -- (3*) More of a standard story without fantastical elements. Didn't really grab me.

Timothy: An Oral History -- (5*) Truly a fantastic story, stand out on all levels. No men. Just women in the world. :) Enter the only man... :)

Annie Without Crow -- (5*) Gods of Romance and Trickery up to their grand glories. Yet again.

The Universe Box -- (4*) Heist-like god wonkiness messing with them damn mortals again. And it's fun. Very fun.


Overall, I love this collection of short stories by Swanwick. I might even go as far to say that he's one of the best short fiction writers, period. The craft screams on page. I wouldn't miss it for the world, if I were you.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since his debut in 1980, Michael Swanwick has been a well-respected and award-winning writer of speculative fiction that crosses subgenres including fantasy, science fiction, and slipstream. Besides his nine novels, he has published over 150 stories. The Universe Box is his fifth “summary collection,” containing 19 of his stories from 2012-2026, mostly from the more recent end of that time span. Be aware that about half of these were also included in another series of collections, specifically The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two. If you’re previously unfamiliar with his darkly creative and adult writing, this collection would be an excellent place to dip in.

Swanwick’s writing is intoxicating, filled with creative plot twists and universe bending ideas. Some of his writing is fantasy and some is science fiction – although it’s almost as if science fiction is too confining for his imagination as he zooms off in time and space. Even I, an inveterate fan of science in my science fiction, appreciate and enjoy the ideas in most of his fantasy and slipstream writing. I’ve written a brief statement or two about each story, below. I’ve tried to avoid concept spoilers, but if you want to encounter each story with a totally blank slate, you might skip specific comments by me and others. My favorites? Starlight Express, Grandmother Dimetrodon, Reservoir Ice.

Thank you to Tachyon Publications for an Advance Review Copy of The Universe Box in epub format, in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 3 February 2026.

Starlight Express, Mag of Fantasy and Science Fiction Sep-Oct 2017. Science fiction. The woman walked out of the energy road into new old Roma with a look on her face that so distressed Flaminio that he thought he must befriend her and convince her not to suicide. The story took 6th place for 2018 Locus Short Story.

The Last Days of Old Night, Clarkesworld Dec 2022. Fantasy. Mischling was arbitrarily made from a mouse by the Three Brothers. Swanwick is an experienced writer, who writes for experienced readers who have already seen all the tropes, and like to be surprised by new twists.

The Year of the Three Monarchs, The Sword & Sorcery Anthology, 2012. Fantasy. Short piece about two turn-overs of rule in an imagined land.

Ghost Ships, Mag of Fantasy and Science Fiction Sep-Oct 2019. Slipstream. Attending a reunion and memorial, the narrator reminisces on interesting episodes from his college days, that touch on a nearly forgotten sighting of phantom sailing ships by some town kids he knew. "We are, all of us, involuntary passengers on fragile ships, visible from the shore for the briefest of moments and then forever gone."

The White Leopard, New Worlds Trade Paperback , 2022. Science fiction. A veteran of a future war, Ray has lost all meaning in his life until he buys up a broken-down leopard drone at an estate sale.

Dragon Slayer, The Book of Dragons, 2020. Fantasy. Olav is one of those who cannot stay home, who must venture out to follow his fate. “No man is more than three meals away from brigandage.” His road is complicated with many twists of magic and time travel.

The Warm Equations, The Sunday Morning Transport, Aug 7, 2022. Science Fiction. A pilot crashes his hopper on Mercury, and is facing the approach of a solar flair. He struggles with the logistics of saving himself, since rescue is unlikely.

Requiem for a White Rabbit, original to this collection. Science fiction. A robotic white rabbit becomes intelligent through a fluke accident and conspires with some other animatronics to escape the theme park where they live. It is a violent and wild ride out into the real world.

Dreadnought, The Mag of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jul-Aug 2021. Fantasy. A homeless man named Luke tolerates the untiring ministrations of old Reverend Howe for food. The Rev is often accompanied by a strange teenager named in Luke’s mind as Cthulhu, who may take on a supernatural role in his life.

Grandmother Dimetrodon, original to this collection. Science Fiction. This is a first-person account of a man who fled to a settlement of humans and post-humans in the Permian Era, to avoid prosecution for the murder of his wife. He lives on a ranch where he raises dangerously aggressive Dimetrodons from egg up until it is time to harvest them for meat. A woman tourist hires him to demonstrate his operations for one week, but her motivations are dangerous in a different way. Is she the end product of our evolution?

The Star-Bear, Tor.com, Jun 7, 2023. Fantasy. An exiled Russian poet encounters a bear in Paris that debates politics and literature and changes his life.

Nirvana or Bust, Analog Mar-Apr 2022. Science Fiction. A woman scientist who wears an intelligent exoskeleton is tracked down by an ex-lover, that has become a secret agent of a repressive government. The symbiosis of the woman and the exoskeleton are representative of the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.

Reservoir Ice, Asimov’s Jul-Aug 2022. Science Fiction. Matt and Laura met through an app that senses their inner sexual desires and matches partners, without any other considerations. Unexpectedly Matt falls in love. He is a mathematician who has invented a form of time travel where one can go back to re-do their lives at some critical point. So, he goes back to manipulate Laura into falling in love with him too. A growing cast of characters begins to use the capability, each with their own agenda. Where does it end?

Artificial People, Clarkesworld Jul 2020. Science Fiction. A robot comes to consciousness, owned by a profit-scheming scientist. As things don’t work out, he keeps putting the robot to sleep in order to fix his last mistake. In a nod to Isaac Asimov’s Susan Calvin, the robot comes to love the scientist’s associate researcher, as she ages away from him.

Huginn and Muninn – and What Came After, Asimov’s Jul-Aug 2021. Fantasy. A suicidal girl goes through the looking glass. She emerges in another world that reverses many things, including a gradual gender change among those who transit. Sexual exploration ensues, as the girl struggles to understand who she is, and her relation with a mysterious agent who is her guide to this world. The girl is named Alice in honor of Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree). The story took 9th place for 2022 Locus Short Story.

Cloud, Asimov’s Nov-Dec 2019. Slipstream. A wealthy young woman brings her fiancé to a dinner party with her family in their city penthouse. There he meets family elders who interact with many layers of manipulation.

Timothy: An Oral History, Clarkesworld Oct 2023. Science Fiction. Told through document record, a scientist has created a human that breaks all the sexual and gender norms of her society, portending radical social change.

Annie Without Crow, Tor.com, Apr 7, 2021. Fantasy. This story has a wide plot with lords and ladies careening through a magical neo-medieval universe. I am not a devotee of high fantasy; it is possible that there are references here, making some kind of sense, that went over my head.

The Universe Box, Asimov’s Sep-Oct 2017. Fantasy. A cosmic thief has pulled off the biggest heist in the history of existence, packing everything that anyone could possibly desire into a small box. The thief hides it in an unsuspicious tiny corner of existence – in the care of a meek young man living in a declining port city on Earth. Howard and his would-be fiancé Mimi are pulled off on a roller coaster ride of Swanwick’s imagining.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Universe Box is the latest great collection of short fiction written by Swanwick. There is a nice mix of fantasy and science fiction and things which defy an attempt to label. There are stories infused with myth and godhood and occasional humor. Swanwick never repeats himself. There are a couple of new stories, but most are reprinted from genre magazines including Asimov's, Clarkesworld, and F & SF. I'd read a couple of them in The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two (which is not to be called the second-best stories of the author, I was reliably informed), and I thought it was odd that they appeared in a greatest hits volume before a standard collection. I recently read the excellent interview book conducted by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Being Michael Swanwick, and his discussion of some of the stories collected here helped me understand what he was doing; too, there's an introduction in which he offers comments about several of the stories. I'll confess that I wouldn't fully understand what I was reading without those guides in a couple of instances. There are do Darger & Surplus tales, but there's a Russian story and a dinosaur story and everything else you might need; I mean, the title says it all, the whole of creation lines between the covers, right? I enjoyed most of the stories and my particular favorites included Requiem for a White Rabbit, Grandmother Dimetrodon, Reservoir Ice, and Annie Without Crow.

[Carlex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three and a half stars

A real pleasure to read these delightful stories by Michael Swanwick.

Suffice it to say the book is made up of good, very good, and excellent stories (with the occasional one I didn’t quite get into).

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was asked for a blurb by the publisher, which I just sent them:

As someone who has spent years reading, studying and admiring Swanwick’s brilliant fiction, I can happily report that his talent has never blazed more brightly than with this new collection. Whether writing about a mouse-turned-thief, a murderer ranching dimetrodons in the Permian, a Russian émigré poet in Paris visited by a star-marked bear, or a scientist fused with her sentient exoskeleton, Swanwick’s wondrous tales climb every imaginable rung of the cosmic distance ladder leading to our innermost constellations. As befits a true literary spellcaster, Swanwick’s universe box proves infinitely larger on the inside.
—Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, author of Being Michael Swanwick

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the latest collection of stories by veteran SF&F writer Michael Swanwick, showcasing recent stories crafted in the past few years of his 45 year career (so far). Clever, creative and excellently written, Swanwick's stories always are a treat to read.

In an introduction he provides some comments about the genesis of some of the stories, which is especially helpful when reading the story that's an homage to Alice Sheldon, aka the writer James Tiptree, Jr. Also, it's amusing to note that his wife claims that everything in the story "Ghost Ship" actually happened, and that it's not really fiction. Really? If so, he had a pretty wild younger life.

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Universe Box is the latest collection published by Tachyon, though I'd already read a lot of it through other sources. It's a very good collection, and includes "Ghost Ships," one of my favorite stories by Swanwick. I enjoyed the stories I hadn't read yet, and the ones I had were great ones. "Starlight Express," "Dragon Slayer," "Dreadnought," and "Grandmother Dimetrodon" are ones I'd call out for special attention, but all of them have food for thought.

[Juli Rahel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adored Swanwick's Stations of the Tide when I read it a year or two age, so I was very excited to get the chance to read some of his short stories in this collection. The Universe Box is full of inventive tricks from an author clearly in command of his craft. While not all of it worked for me, it was a very fun read. Thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Swanwick has been writing since the 1980s, but the stories in this collection are gathered from the past few years. They really show Swanwick's control of the craft of writing. It's not the kind of writing where you can race through a story easily. Pretty much every sentence holds a different kind of surprise or twist and plays with language. There is not just the control of language, however, but also Swanwick's knowledge of the genres he's operating in. There is a confidence in how he moves away from the expected tropes and how he establishes his characters. In his preface to the collection, Swanwick talks about how the ending is crucial to a story and that some stories have had to wait on the shelf for years before he found an ending worthy of it. It is true that the stories in this collection don't usually end how you might expect them to and usually that twist is well-earned and set up properly in retrospect. For readers who are experienced in reading speculative fiction, sci-fi and fantasy, this makes his stories incredibly fun to read. I can imagine that perhaps, for readers less familiar with these waters, however, this can make some of the stories a bit more challenging. I think the work you might have to put in will be rewarded though!

As with every story collection, there are some stories that align more with a reader than others. The collection begins with 'Starlight Express', where a woman arrives in old Roma by an energy road and it is unclear where she is from. There were aspects to this story I really enjoyed. 'The Last Days of Old Night' was one of my faovurites, in part because of its main character and in part because it was inspired by Iceland. Mischling is made human from her previous mouse-existence by three brothers with awesome powers. What comes next is an exploration of abuses of power, of creation, and the end of an endless night. 'The Year of the Three Monarchs' is brief but fun and reads more like a mini-history for an imagined empire than a full story. 'Ghost Ships' is, according to Swanwick's preface, a very personal story that is also a ghost story and although it didn't work entirely for me, I did think it was veyr well-written. 'The White Leopard' is a very intriguing story about a drone leopard, friendship, and marital betrayal. 'Dragon Slayer' was another favourite, I loved Swanwick's take on time travel in a magical storyworld. 'The Warm Equations' is also very short, almost like a one-shot, of a pilot who has crashed and is sure he won't be saved. 'Requiem for a White Rabbit' is a stunning story about robots, intelligence, violence, and the question of what is real and whether that really matters. 'Dreadnought' is very intriguing, combining a kind of dark social commentary about addiction, poverty, and being unhoused with a seemingly apocalyptic battle for the soul of the world. 'Grandmother Dimetrodon' is really intriguing, as a protagonist travels back in time and begins raising dimetrodons in order not to be found guilty for a crime. But a strange visitor throws his life off balance. It is a story about violence and evolution but it didn't fully pull those strings together in a decisive manner for me. 'The Star-Bear' is something of a double-edged love letter to Russian emigrees in Paris. 'Nirvana and Bust' was a delightful story about human and artificial intelligence that I really liked despite my general disdain for current AI. 'Reservoir Ice' is a really interesting take on time-travel, but also on consent and how the linearity of time matters. 'Artificial People' is about a robot learning about life and gaining consciousness in a strangely gentle way. I had some difficulty with 'Huginn and Muninn - and What Came After', which I will address below. 'Cloud' was a little unfocused for me, but this somehow added to its vibe. 'Timothy: An Oral History' is about a female world in which a man is once again created. Here it is the form that is interesting, which is made up of various testimonies, but the politics of it are also intriguing. 'Annie Without Crow' is a delightful medievalist tale of gods and powers and little baby Elizabeth I. Finally, 'The Universe Box' is a fun heist story that moves at an intense pace and is full of fun images and figures.

Like I said above, Swanwick is an excellent writer and there are images and ideas in this collection that will definitely stick with me. I did have, as said, a weird feeling about the story 'Huginn and Muninn'. In and of itself it is a stunning story about identity, gender, and depression. There are Alice in Wonderland-vibes, there are vultures, there is mild body horror suggested, and I think that the way mental health issues are addressed is really interesting. It is, however, also a story about Alice Sheldon, whose penname was James Tiptree, and her suicide, which includes the potential murder of her husband. Swanwick addresses some of his intent behind writing this story in the Preface and this had me intrigued about reading the story itself. I think that there is something beautiful about working through the violent loss of a respected colleague through art, but after reading the story I also just wonder where the line is between an author's public persona and their own personal struggles, and how much oft hat should (posthumously) be explored by others. I don't necessarily have a clear answer to this, I just know that it stuck with me, after the story was done. However, I still had a great time with this collection. While some stories are a bit briefer and more like one-shots than full stories, the ones that felt more worked out were stunning. I will definitely keep reading Swanwick's work and hope to get into more of his novels soon.

Not every story worked quite as well for me, but there are some very inventive approaches here and some very stark imagery, which will stay with me for quite some time!

URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...

[spalanai ⛤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

***I thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review***

open sesame, and here you stumble on stories about cultures lost to time or cultures that are yet to come, jumping between timelines, and colliding with new people and stranger worlds. michael swansick’s the universe box is not merely a collection of dream-like tales but a tribute to the adventure genre—definitely a cornerstone in sci-fi fantasy.

the writing style was remarkably well and the plot always had something essential and weird to give. as someone who loved books like king solomon’s mines and anything of the like i could find when i was little, this felt genuinely personal to me. deserves so much more hype! excited to read more of the author’s works. he is a pioneer of the genre.

x

[Ian Mond]

Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter is one of the great New Weird* novels of any century. The Dragons of Babel is also good, but nowhere near as thrilling as TIDD. (I have yet to get around to The Iron Dragon's Mother...). Those two novels are as far as I’ve gone with Swanwick. I own books like Dancing With Bears (a Darger and Surplus novel), Stations of the Tide and Jack Faust, but--do I need to say it? Do I need to tell you that there's simply too much to read?

Swanwick has published more than ten collections, including two best ofs (which is no mean feat). The Universe Box is his most recent, featuring stories from the last decade. It's not everything he wrote during that period, but a good chunk of it. As such, the quality across the collection does vary. But, if you enjoy Swanwick's blurring of genre boundaries, where a machine gun might pop up in an epic fantasy or a hard science fiction story might include orcs (neither of which happens... but you get my point), then there's plenty here to enjoy.

Starlight Express, the title story, is a good example. The heading refers to a defunct matter transmitter — a sort of Bifrost bridge — that once connected the galaxy to Rome. An earth tremor bumps the transmitter into action, spitting out from its buffers a woman in a luminous white gown. She's a copy of a woman who visited Rome two thousand years previously, and is shocked to find herself on Earth. The conceit is very Star Trek, but the plot is more a bittersweet love story, as Flamino, the water carrier and the first to encounter the woman in white, immediately falls for her. The conceit is science fiction, but the texture is fantasy, which is reinforced with the appearance of an all-knowing giant oracle known as the Great Albino.

There are other great stories, all powered by Swanwick's quirky imagination including "The Last Days of Old Night," (featuring three giant trolls and a terrific, albeit flawed, female hero) "The White Leopard", (a twisted love story involving killer bots) "The Warm Equations" (a funny take on an SF canard), "Requiem for a White Rabbit" (I'm not sure the ending works, but getting there is fun), and the title story "The Universe Box" (Swanwick in full madcap mode).

I had fun reading the collection. You probably will as well.

*New Weird was a sub-genre that existed for about eight years from the turn of this century. The term was coined by M. John Harrison, and China Mieville was one of the main proponents. If you go by Wikipedia, Swanwick is not viewed as a New Weird writer. And yet, I would argue that The Iron Dragon's Daughter (which, back in the day, was classified as "Science Fantasy") is as New Weird as Perdido Street Station and predates that novel by seven years. This is not a hill I will die on, given New Weird is effectively dead as a sub-genre.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This SFF short story collection pleasantly surprised me! It's not my usual genre as I tend to read more horror short stories, but this title, cover and blurb really intrigued me.

The collection as a whole is very interesting. It's creative, mind-bending and often plays with time in ways that leave you questioning what on earth is going on. Anything is possible in these stories and I was really impressed by the author's ability to craft entire worlds in so few words.

My favourites were:

- The Last Days of Old Night - very fable/fairytale/folklore feeling!
- The White Leopard - reminded me a little of Black Mirror and I loved the ending
- Requiem for a White Rabbit - looooved this one, I think this is my favourite. So surreal and fun to read.
- Reservoir Ice - kind of like About Time but anyone can go back?! I liked the romance element of this one.
- Artificial People - another favourite. I loved how much it made me care about this character in such a short story.
- Timothy: An Oral History - a fun concept and not something I would expect from a male author!

There were a few misses for me, particularly ones where they used other SFF references I'm not familiar with, or more personal stories that didn't resonate with me as much as the ones listed above.

However, I was really glad to have given this a go and I would recommend it as Swanwick is clearly a very talented writer!

[Isa Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I opened The Universe Box expecting what I would out of any sci-fi collection: dark themes of a far flung future, echoes of human civilization long lost, machinery corrupted into evil by the hands of its creators-

What I got, however, was the most unexpected series of stories ranging from stories that made me feel like I was watching events unfold through the bright orange lens of an 80s film, a fantasy tale with elements of time travel and folklore, heartache and wonder learned and loved by a machine, and so much more.

I loved and couldn't get enough of the anachronistic elements throughout the stories in The Universe Box, it being one of my favourite themes already, Swanwick does an incredible job at seamlessly creating these encapsulated worlds that, while having their feet on the ground, explode with abstract elements that at some points have me feeling like I've been dreaming.

Thank you to net galley for the ARC of this book. I look forward to the release date!

[Chloe Eaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

*To be published February 3rd, 2026*

This was fun! Swanwick has great writing range across genres, settings, characters, and paces. The only thing that didn’t work for me was how abruptly some stories ended.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

[aanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

hit or miss. a lot of the plots felt flat to me, which i guess can be a common issue with stories of this length, but still disappointing. the ones that were good were GOOD though oh my gosh

[Jasen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat short story collection I’ve read in a while! Sublime.

“The Universe Box” by Michael Swanwick
From “The Last Days of Old Night”:
“So it went. When Mischling was done gathering information, she shared it with the brothers, concluding, “Night, they say, she’ll no longer be eternal, but punctuated by something called ‘day.’ but what they will be like, no one can say.”
“What sort of thing is about?” Bone-Grinder asked.
“It is like a pair of shoes that allow one to stand on water and it is like a steed which will carry one across the water. It has a large cloth called a sale which gathers the wind, a stick at the back which you point out whatever direction you wish not to go, and the wheel in between which turns the stick and the opposite direction it spins.” P.26

“Also, she sent them to building a boat that would carry three giants.
Always come in the back of your mind, Mischling pondered the brothers. They had never, she realized, chosen to give themselves wisdom. Having power, they did not need it. She, however, commanded to understand what she needed to understand and needing to understand everything, was well on our way to being wise.
With wisdom came judgment – and in her judgment, the New World that was coming would be far better off if she could read it of the brothers
But how?” P.28-29

From “Ghost Ships”:
“It came to me then that everything was provisional. Our perhaps the better word was temporary. All the heroic actions of the past or destined to be unmade, the small memories carefully preserved must inevitably come to be forgotten, and everything we are and do and care about will in time be undone. You can save someone’s life, but it’s not permanent.
We are, All of us, involuntary passengers on fragile ships, visible from the shore for the brief of moments and then forever gone. No one can say why. Perhaps we were sent here as punishment. Perhaps we were never here in the first place.
Soon enough, there will be no witnesses to prove otherwise.” P.53

From “Dreadnought”:
“It wasn’t alcohol that had brought Luke down, but purpose. Life was just too big, too complicated, too difficult, to meaningless for him. He kept waiting to want something badly enough to be worth the trouble that staying alive seem to require. And he never did. The problem had begun so long ago he could no longer remember being without it. Through childhood and school it had been held in checked by necessity: There were always parents, teachers, ministers, authorities of all kinds to keep him in line. He’d never really had any say in it. Get up and go to school. Get dressed or I’ll send your father in there. Take out the garbage. Sit up straight. Pass forward your homework. If you don’t have a date for the prom why don’t you ask Mrs. Hawson‘s daughter Linda? Get out your pencils and put away your books. A few boys don’t get off my stoop, I’m calling the police
Everything had come to head when he graduated from high school and the old man put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Well, son, what are your plans?” and he realized with a sudden cold emptiness that he had no plans at all. None, Nada, zilch. There was nothing he particularly cared to do, and certainly nothing he wanted so badly that it was worth the whore of a lifetime of what they called honest labor to get it.” P.120

“Between the two of them, it was a tossup. Thinking this, the notion came on Luke that maybe all the world was a madhouse. Maybe it wasn’t asylum for all the damaged minds of the universe, a place where all its broken souls could be dumped and forgotten. It would explain a lot.” P.124

From “Grandmother Dimetrodon”:
“Xanadu was a city of some twenty or thirty thousand residents, a constantly turning populous of unimaginably rich, drawn from thousands of years of temporal civilizations, ranging from the most primitive (mine) to people so highly evolved in sophisticated that they hardly seemed human anymore. All under a single sweeping and soaring white shell which from one angle looked like the silhouette of the only indigenous animal everybody had heard of. People came for a variety of reasons: to hunt big game, to sail the world-ocean Panthalassa in search of armored sharks, to snap a few thousand memegrams of wildlife, to duration-trek the interior desert, to climb the Central Pangean Mountains, or just to get a sense of what the world was like hundreds of millions of years before people like themselves spoiled it. Tours and expeditions sallied out constantly, accompanied by music, loud talk, and chill laughter. Scattering trash behind them secure in the knowledge that it would all be buried miles deep in the bedrock by the time they returned home.” P.133

“If you intend to assassinate Judas Iscariot or invest in a judiciously chosen line of stocks. But if all you want is a couple of those candy bars you used to get when you were a kid, the powers that be turned a blind eye. Despite what you’ve heard, butterflies don’t change the weather when they flap their wings and you can’t alter history by stomping on one of them. Small changes dampen out. Lepidoptera are overrated as agents of fate.” P.136

“Tell whoever winds up with my ranch to take good care of the dimetrodons. Yes, they’re nasty, violent creatures. Murderous, spiteful, and mindful only of their own blinkered passions. But they don’t know any better. That’s just the way they are.” P.157

From “Reservoir Ice:
“Everyone changing everything over and over. Not just people but businesses, governments, religions, cloud funding groups...It’s like yesterday and tomorrow are at war and you’re caught in the middle. Sometimes you wake up not knowing who the hell you are.” P.187

From “Artificial People”:
“So I proceeded, blackness upon blackness, hopscotching into the future. I grew new older, but Dr. Lange did. This did not trouble me until I saw, by various small signs, that it did her. At last I realized that she was aging away from me. Experience was making her less and less like the woman I had first fallen in love with. She grew heavier and slower. The lions on her face deepened into a mask of sadness and disappointment.
Yet I still loved her.” P.194

From “Huggin and Minnie - and What Came After”:
“A side effects of passing through the mirror. You’re ten years younger than you were a few minutes ago. You’ll feel progressively better for quite some while. Time flows backward on this side, though it won’t seem that way to you. People here grow younger and younger till they dwindle away. Those lucky few – like me, like you – who have figured out how to cross between realms can balance their time on each side of the glass, so they need never die or be unborn.” P.206

“Vultures don’t hunt. They’re carrion eaters.”
“Not hear they’re not. Passing through a mirror flips your essentials in interesting ways.” P.207

“When you passed through the mirror, you created a Pocket universe. There are potential universes in every dust mote, Adam, and quirk in existence. Almost all of them are void and without form. We were one such. Then you brought us to life.” P.219

“You’re a parasite,” Alice said, “ and you have no right to my life. The old universe, the one I grew up in, was like you in a lot of ways – tyrannical, inconsistent, sometimes even cruel. But still, there was room in it for courage and cowardice, generosity and selfishness, honesty, wonder, awareness. Oh, and the glorious, rapacious, loving, destructive, yearning human race! In place of all that, you offer me – what? A shadow play? False friends, imaginary enemies, elaborate scripts to keep me dancing for your amusement? The opportunity to sit in the dark talking to myself for all eternity? Better to die in reality than live forever here. You presumed to understand what I need and what I want. You say you know who I am-”
“I do! I know you’re better than you know yourself.”
“You don’t know who I am!” Alice cried in a fury. “Only I know who I am.” P.219-220

From “Annie Without Crow”:
“You dare called me out on aesthetics? Fuck you! Do you imagine that romance is neat and tidy? Meek, mild, and easily defeated? Polite? It invades the heart like a conquering army and it takes no prisoners. Whatever stands in its way it lays to waste. Family, friends, duty, love of country, common sense – all fall before it. Decency is set a flame! Morality is tossed aside! Reason is trampled underfoot! Self-preservation? Don’t make me laugh. There has never been a tyrant more ruthless or less prone to mercy than I. And I claim this era – Nay, all eras!-for my own.” P.260-261

From “Universe Box”:
“Out of the everywhere and nowhere the thief fled, corks and galaxies crunching under foot, vacuum rippling like a banner in his way. Skipping nimbly in and out of space and time, he dropped down into the quantum slush underline physical existence and then up again into the macrocosmic realms of which reality is but the tiniest province. Nightmare is beyond human imagining how old and ravaged at his heels. Nihilism and despair sleeted it down on his upturned face. But the thief couldn’t have been happier. His grin was so mad and bright that it would melt granite.” P.264

“Howard had never read anything so blithe in final in his life. When he was done reading, he cried for a very long time.
“Asked to ashes and tit for tat,” Uncle Paulie said when he was finally done. “Do you remember playing London Bridge as a child? This is the price of being alive. We all fall down of the end.” P.292

“But before he did, Howard walked out into the city night, leaving his apartment door unlocked and opened behind him, only to discover that in his absence it had begun to snow. The flakes came slanting down from the north, hurrying through the air, pausing in mid-flight to dance about the street lights and traffic signals, creating white and red and yellow and green halos that diminished the farther away they were. But through some minor miracle of meteorology, though the clouds were heavy on all sides, dwindling patch of sky overhead was clear as glass and thrown to a stars. Howard gaped up at them, breathing in fugitive flakes, feeling tiny bursts of ice implode on his tongue and deep within his lungs, and in a moment of sudden lucidity realized that it didn’t matter whether he ever got together with Mimi again or not. He could die right now and it wouldn’t make any difference. Hearts were broken every day and mended themselves every bit is reliably. Lives went on, tedious, underwent unexpected renewals, changed direction for no discernible reason, lingered beyond their natural spans, came to abrupt ends. In the meantime, the night was cold and holy, the air is pure and exhilarating as antique wine, the stars as thick as snowflakes and every snowflake as large as any star.” “
P.294

[Zuzana Be · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories of black holes in Martian's Rome; crashing in the Mercury; robotic White Rabbit with the clock. Myths about giants in the never-ending night, kings, trolls and Alice in the other side of dark mirror; gruesome living in the Permian period with dinosaurs. Oh, and don't forget about lost box which contains whole universe. And that is by no means all there is.

It is an eclectic book indeed. I recommend taking it in batches and not cracking it all at once. Enjoy the stories individually, so you won't have chaos in them, they are so different from each other.
Personally, I liked twists in the stories which you think you know what's going on, but in fact, you don't. Sometimes, stories was too much for me, but overall, I think I need to research Michael Swanwick's other books. I cannot help myself but marvel at author's creativity to stretch reality into fantastical fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley for ARC. Tachyon Publications need more attention, I love their books.

[Lizardley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and fun short story collection. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I didn't find these overly complex, but I did very much enjoy them. Swanwick is good at taking a concept and playing with in a fairly clear manner. Don't get me wrong, I do love a short story with layers, but sometimes you just want to read something that essentially asks the question "would that be crazy or what?". The prose isn't particularly noteworthy, but it is perfectly serviceable. He even manages to not be particularly weird about women, which not every spec fic author can claim. It brought me back to reading massive short story collections from the library when I was a teenager.

Definitely a worthwhile and entertaining read.

[Austin Beeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE UNIVERSE BOX
RATED 92% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.0 OF 5
19 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 13 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF

This is Michael Swanwick 20th appearance in a book that I’ve reviewed: beaten only by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. When you notice that one of those books was a large single author collection, Swanwick becomes the author I’ve reviewed more than any other. Any for good reason. He is on the short list of greatest science fiction writers and one of the very few who are still producing an ocean of good short stories. And this collection shows that he hasn’t lost a step. The stories in this collection cover 2012 to 2026, but that vast majority of them around from the 2020s

One thing I noticed reading Swanwick this time was how good his first sentences were. More than once, I finished a story, thinking I’d goto bed, and that first sentence pulled me all the way into the next story. Well done.

“Driving from Philadelphia to Williamsburg that morning, casting about in my mind for memories of Rabbit’s exploits to share at his memorial, I found myself thinking of the time that Sam the Townie saw the ghost ships. ….

Dimetrodons are a nasty piece of business. You have no idea how they stink. Nor how violent they are. In a good mood, a dimetrodon will bite you for no reason at all. Which, their bite being septic, is bad news no matter how you look at it. They’re predators and scavengers and if one of their kind dies nearby, they’re cannibals. But it’s possible to like them, once you get to know their ways. …

It begins with a half-cyborg girl dangling her legs over the edge of the Grand Canyon at midnight. Below her are hundreds of millions of years of geological history, sliced open by a knife of water. Billions of years of stellar evolution shine down on her from above. Her head is raised and her eyes are wide.”

Four Stories Join My All-Time Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories

“The White Leopard” © copyright 2022 by Michael Swanwick. Great. Ray is a former military drone operator. He is retired and unhappy until he rebuilds a ground surveillance drone and starts hunting at night.

“Requiem for a White Rabbit” © copyright 2026 by Michael Swanwick. Great. A robot in a Disney-like amusement park achieves a higher level of sentience, liberates a violent cinderella (Cindy), and kidnaps a cleaning gnome. They escape into the wild and pick up a hitchhiker. But nothing is quite what it seems.

“Cloud” © 2019 by Michael Swanwick. Great. At an opulent party held high above Manhattan on a man-made Cloud, a corporate lawyer begins to sense that both his world and his carefully curated life may be far less stable than he believes.

“Timothy: An Oral History” © copyright 2023 by Michael Swanwick. Great. Transcript of a series of interviews. In a future Earth where only women exist, a scientist discovers how to make a male and it creates upheaval.

94 Anthologies + 30 Author Collections + 18 Slates of Award Finalists + 3 Magazine Issues + 2 Novel(la)s. at https://www.shortsf.com
***

THE UNIVERSE BOX: Complete Story Reviews
19 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 13 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF

“Starlight Express” © copyright 2017 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September-October 2017.

Good. In a future Rome, where humanities technology persists as a tourist attraction, a woman arrives via a teleporter that no one believed what able to receive.

“The Last Days of Old Night” © copyright 2020 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on Clarkesworld, December 2022.

Good. In a time before light, three powerful trolls turn a mouse into a woman and give her the power to rally the people. The purpose is to build a boat that will help them escape the coming Sun.

“The Year of the Three Monarchs” © copyright 2012 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in The Sword & Sorcery Anthology, edited by David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman (Tachyon Publications: San Francisco).

Good. Short, but powerful, vignettes about power, monarchy, assassination, and trust.

“Ghost Ships” © copyright 2019 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September-October 2019.

Good. Swanwick mentions in his introduction that nothing in this story is fiction, except a few name changes. This is a powerful story of nostalgia for the friends we lose after college. And the way that small decisions - made in fear or selfishness - change the course of lives. This is a great story but because it isn’t science fiction, it cannot get a great rating on this blog.

“The White Leopard” © copyright 2022 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in New Worlds, edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (PS Publishing: Hornsea).

Great. Ray is a former military drone operator. He is retired and unhappy until he rebuilds a ground surveillance drone and starts hunting at night.

“Dragon Slayer” © copyright 2020 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in The Book of Dragons, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Harper Voyager UK: Glasgow).

Good. A pleasant fable with time travel, dragons, magical artifacts, and a coming-of-age moment.

“The Warm Equations” © copyright 2022 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on The Sunday Morning Transport, August 7, 2022.

Good. When you look past the name, you find a story about a man dying alone on the surface of a planet. He doesn’t believe the rest of the crew will rescue him, because he didn’t make friends with them.

“Requiem for a White Rabbit” © copyright 2026 by Michael Swanwick. Original to this collection.

Great. A robot in a Disney-like amusement park achieves a higher level of sentience, liberates a violent cinderella (Cindy), and kidnaps a cleaning gnome. They escape into the wild and pick up a hitchhiker. But nothing is quite what it seems.

“Dreadnought” © copyright 2021 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July-August 2021.

Good. A homeless man under a bridge and a crazy evangelist may be the last line defense against the destruction of the world.

“Grandmother Dimetrodon” © copyright 2026 by Michael Swanwick. Original to this collection.

Good. A man murders his wife and starts a new life in the distant past raising Dimetrodon’s as a luxury meat for the wealthy. He get entangled with a woman who can a strange obsession for violence.

“The Star-Bear” © copyright 2023 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on Tor.com, June 7, 2023.

Good. A Russian political exiled writer is tempted to return home by a magical bear.

“Nirvana or Bust” © copyright 2022 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in Analog, March-April 2022.

Good. In a future where artificial intelligence dominates the Solar System, one researcher believes that technological progress cannot be stopped. Only delayed. This story explores inevitability, fear, and the moment when humanity’s future quietly slips beyond its control.

“Reservoir Ice” © copyright 2022 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July-August 2022.

Good. A man invents a way to travel back in time and uses it to ‘fix’ his relationship. Unfortunately, his invention is now public science and everyone is using it. This leads to chaos in his life and the lives of everyone in the world.

“Artificial People” © copyright 2020 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on Clarkesworld, July 2020.

Average. From the perspective of a robot that is awakened and bonds in love to one of the scientists who created him. Well written, but we’ve read this kind of thing over and over.

“Huginn and Muninn—and What Came After” © 2021 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July-August 2021.

Good. A strange, sexual fantasy of what control you really have over your life. Much more powerful if you know that this Alice is Alice Sheldon (author James Tiptree Jr) in the moment before her Murder-Suicide.

“Cloud” © 2019 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, November-December 2019.

Great. At an opulent party held high above Manhattan on a man-made Cloud, a corporate lawyer begins to sense that both his world and his carefully curated life may be far less stable than he believes.

“Timothy: An Oral History” © copyright 2023 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on Clarkesworld, October 2023.

Great. Transcript of a series of interviews. In a future Earth where only women exist, a scientist discovers how to make a male and it creates upheaval.

“Annie Without Crow” © 2021 by Michael Swanwick. First appeared on Tor.com, April 7, 2021.

DNF. I couldn’t get through this chaotic tale where medieval romance and 20th century counterculture collide.

“Universe Box” copyright 2016 by Michael Swanwick. (Dragonstairs Press: Philadelphia).

Good. Wildly fun sexual romp with orgies, demi-gods, tricksters, bored girlfriends and their boring boyfriends, and the theft of a cigar box that contains everything in the universe that anyone could ever want. Felt a lot like a Neil Gaiman story, but - you know - not written by a monster..

[DarkPlotsAndLipGloss (Carlie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of glittering dystopias and sci-fi fantasy brilliance. I honestly couldn't figure out the ending for any one of these short stories!

✨The ones that altered my brain chemistry were: Dragon Slayer, Requiem for a White Rabbit, The Last Days of Old Night, The Year of Three Monarchs, Reservoir Ice, Artificial People, Huginn and Muninn, The White Leopard, and The Starlight express. ✨

The remaining short stories were 4 to 4.5 stars, so still amazing and worth the read!

Immediately preordered.

Thank you NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for this ARC!

[Rob McMinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Tachyon.
I first read Michael Swanwick back in the 80s, when he was regularly featured in the Gardnor Dozois World’s Best annual anthologies.
I had thought I had gone off the short story, as so many I have read (or tried to read) recently left me impatient and bored (I’m looking at you Someone in Time). But it turns out I was just missing decent writing.
Michael Swanwick has a masterful ability to drop you into the middle of a world, give you exactly what you need to get started, and then deliver the rare, the unusual, the unexpected, in a deceptively easy way. Two pages, max, is what it takes to deliver enough back story, or information, to have you hooked on whatever current story you’re reading.
An eclectic mixture of science fiction, fantasy, time travel, and the simply strange, this is thought provoking, easy-reading, entertainment.

[Lachlan Finlayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of short stories is my first exposure to this author. It is a collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy stories with several that merge aspects of both genres. The good thing about a collection like this is that not all is lost if you do not enjoy a particular story. They are not a large investment of your time to finish reading. Or you can always skip a story if it really does nothing for you, and go to the next one. This was my approach. Some I enjoyed much more than others.

The author writes a few paragraphs in the Introduction on how each story came about. These are interesting to read and also quite touching. They mention several other authors who I was not familiar with. Shame on me ! Several of these authors are certainly oddities with unusual life-stories. I had to Google some to see if they really existed. They did ! Once again, truth is sometime stranger than fiction.

Of the collection, I enjoyed the dominantly Sci-Fi stories the most. Other readers may enjoy the Fantasy stories more. Purely due to a personal preference.

“Starlight Express” was particularly enjoyable. A tale invoking a future Rome and an unusual alien. A little dry humour and a bittersweet conclusion.

“The White Leopard” is the story of military veterans reliving their wartime experiences in a world of Virtual Reality. A story of people aging physically while their youthfulness still exists internally. While the world has changed, people have not. They still seek out companionship and community.

“The Warm Equations” is another with human emotions to the forefront in a story set on Mars, amongst danger and isolation.

Other stories explore various issues of morality and challenging situations in a Sci-Fi or Fantasy situation. Plots that are sometimes almost familiar, but others are truly innovative and stunning. These include complications that might arise from time travel. Or a world where males are no longer necessary to propagate humanity. One where Women

“…built a society…considered Utopian. One without war, without hunger, without the exploitation of the weak by the strong.”

Another story is set in a world where violence is all but absent, although there are still those with a deep desires to seek it out. Quite thought provoking and memorable.

“We talk about human beings becoming more highly evolved. But evolution doesn’t more in any particular direction. It just preserves those qualities that promote survival”

“Nirvana or Bust” is perhaps the one I remember most vividly. A sobering tale involving characters with a blended make-up of human physicality, manufactured additions and AI. Or as the author explains:

“ More than symbiosis, less than a merger…”

I was disappointed with the title story, one of the longer ones in the book. It was Fantasy, but with an odd mixture of locations, characters and events. Silly might be a bit strong, but I found it just a little too jarring and meandering, eventually loosing energy and finally ending with an unsatisfying conclusion.

Nevertheless, I think there is something in this collection for everyone who enjoys Sci-Fi or Fantasy. Some stories I found much more satisfying than others. Sometimes the plots are stronger than the conclusions, which are sometimes a bit disappointing. Sometimes it is the characters who are the more memorable. Overall I think this collections provides a good introduction to the author. Quirky stories with inventive plots, a little humour, the human condition explored amongst imaginative often futuristic scenarios. I must read more from this author.

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars (rounded up)

I always struggle to rate short story collections. This book is a great example of why this is a problem. Michael Swanwick presents us a very creative, dark, diverse and multi-layered range of stories. It’s always tricky to craft entire worlds in so little words, but, for the most part, Swanwick does it brilliantly. Over the course of this book, I’ve learned to expect the unexpected and appreciated the mix of traditional sci-fi elements with speculative, experimental science fiction.

There were, however, some stories that I could not connect with and while they were interesting to read, and in some I was mildly surprised to see where it was going, they were nothing to write home about. I will, instead, focus on the ones that now join the ranks of some of my favourite short stories:

“The White Leopard” Ray is a retired military drone operator who rebuilds a drone from scratch and starts hunting with it. Dark, twisted, reminded me of Dark Mirror.

“The Warm Equations”. An anti-social pilot crashes his hopper in Mercury and has hours before eminent death. He thinks rescue is unlikely. This was such a powerful reminder of the importance of life and human connections.

“Requiem for a White Rabbit” A white rabbit robot in an amusement park achieves a higher level of intelligence and somehow turns into a very violent cinderella (Cindy) to escape into the wild. But it was never that simple and this short story left me starting into space after finishing it.

“Dreadnought” I thought long and hard if I liked this short story or not. I don’t think I can even summarise it now and I’m not ashamed to admit that I had to re-read it, because after finishing it the first time, I was not sure what I just read.

“Reservoir Ice” Time traveling is a thing, so why wouldn’t people go back in time to change the fact that time travel is a thing? Multiple people while we are at it, all with different purposes? This was such a great story and I was kind of sad that it was just a short story, it has potential for so much more!

“Artificial People” Love between a robot and the human scientist, while she ages and eventually goes where the robot can never follow. The idea in itself is almost cliché at this point, but it was brilliantly done here.

“Huginn and Munnin - and What Came After” A girl emerges in another world where things are reversed, including genre. This is one of those stories that I had no idea where it was going or if I even liked it until after thinking on it after finishing.

Overall, I think this is a must read for fans of speculative sci-fi. As always, there will be stories that are just ok, but the ones that speak to you will move you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to die ignorant so I’m gonna check out Sandwick’s other works.

Thank you so much to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It is that region midway between essence and appearance that I try to write about.”
“Once a story is written, it belongs as much to the reader as it does to the writer.”

-Michael Swanwick

“It had an accidental reset earlier today…when I saw what my life was like, decided to escape the park”, so claimed Whitey, the White Rabbit. Cinderella was game…She had a metal frame and a vague human shape. Short Stuff was a janitorial bot. The trio abandoned the park without official sanction. Why not pick up a human hitchhiker as well? Let the fun begin! (Requiem For a White Rabbit)

Raphael became aware when his brain started sparking. This was his first moment of consciousness. Subroutes booted up his vocal cords and musician abilities…then Blackness. Next time he was aware, “My protocols had been extensively reworked. When I wasn’t here, I wasn’t anywhere. I was property, part of the artificial neuronics industry.” “Always…there was a new startup version of artificial person.” Suddenly Raphael was turned off ahead of schedule. “What’s so special about existence that I should continue to live it?” (Artificial People)

An imaginary vulture sat on each of Alice’s shoulders. Huginn and Muninn flew her directly to a fireplace where she passed through a black mirror...a portal to an oppositional world. The side effect of passing through-people got younger and younger until they dwindled away. With luck, a few had puzzled out how to cross between realms balancing their time on each side of the glass… immortalized. They would never die or be unborn. When Mistral, Alice’s guide, brings her to Mueller’s Truck Stop she asks her waitress why she works there. “Gotta earn a living…I was a truck driver on the other side”. Was Mistral a devil in disguise? (Huginn and Muninn-And What Came After)

“The thief had just pulled off the biggest heist in the history of existence…Tucked under one arm was a box containing everything that anybody could possibly desire…he had one tactical advantage…no laws had any hold over him, not even physical ones…opponents would not dare to follow him…” He wrecked havoc upon the life of predictable ho-hum Howard who was readying his proposal to Mimi, the love of his life. How would he know that adventure starved Mimi would be prepared to break up with him that very night? Howard Pendleton- a Nobody in Particular. (Universe Box)

Universe Box is a collection of nineteen short stories and one novella. The excellent writing is versatile and inventive. Swanwick’s creative bent cannot be denied since he is the recipient of numerous Hugo Awards. “We are, all of us, involuntary passengers on fragile ships, visible from the shore for the briefest of moments and then forever gone…Perhaps we were never here in the first place.”


Thank you Tachyon Publishers and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Universe Box is a lively collection of stories that roam freely across genres and moods, shifting from speculative science fiction to folkloric fantasy to pieces that sit somewhere in the uncanny borderlands between them. This book feels like an open invitation to follow the author wherever his imagination wanders.
Because the stories vary so widely in tone and style, assessing the collection as a single entity is almost impossible. That’s the inherent challenge of reviewing short fiction: no matter how skilled the writer, each reader will gravitate toward different pieces. Some stories here strike immediately with their emotional clarity or conceptual sharpness; others charm through their oddness or quiet humour; a few didn't align with my tastes, and I am sure this will be the same for others. The book feels less like a unified statement and more like a treasure box of curiosities, each item waiting for the right reader to pick it up and feel the spark.
What does hold the collection together is Swanwick’s command of craft. His prose is crisp and confident, and he has a gift for opening lines that drop you straight into a world with almost no friction. Even the lighter stories carry a sense of intention, and the darker ones often reveal a sly wink beneath the surface. There’s a playfulness running through the whole book, a sense that Swanwick delights in the act of storytelling itself, and that delight becomes part of the reading experience.
Taken as a whole, The Universe Box succeeds not because every story will resonate equally, but because it showcases the breadth of what short fiction can achieve. It’s a collection best approached with curiosity rather than expectation, ready to encounter the strange, the moving, the mischievous, and the unexpected. For readers who enjoy variety and the thrill of not knowing what the next page will bring, Swanwick’s latest offering is a rewarding journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Trevin Sandlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delightful story collection. Like any collection of works from a single author, there are going to be some unifying themes (particularly a collection like this, which is a snapshot of the last decade or so) as the author reacts to the world around them. Here we get a lot of stories about the intersection of 'artificial intelligence' and humanity. There's a nice mix of both science fiction and fantasy here (I actually really really really enjoyed some of the fantasy stories, which was a shock to me). There's also a lot of the author playing with time (and time travel) - one of my favorite stories, "Reservoir Ice" really turned time travel in science fiction on its head with repercussions I'd never really considered. Not every story worked for me, but that's often what I find in a collection.

What you really and truly see is Swanwick working with the implications of intelligence that is created. And robots. And love. It shouldn't be a surprise that he's had his work done in "Love, Death and Robots" on Netflix - this is right up his alley. And there is definitely an exploration of death, which is only natural in a storyteller advancing in age.

There's a line in "Ghost Ships," which is a story that is unlike any of the others in the collection in that it isn't really fiction. Towards the end, the author says:

"We are, all of us, involuntary passengers on fragile ships, visible from the shore for the briefest of moments and then forever gone. No one can say why. Perhaps we were sent here as punishment. Perhaps we were never here in the first place. Soon enough, there will be no witnesses to prove otherwise."

It hit me. Hard. This is an author nearing the end. And approaching it the only way he can - with his words.

4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for a chance to read an advance review copy. All opinions are my own and were not compensated. "The Universe Box" is out on February 3rd and you can preorder it now!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the digital ARC for review.

This is one of my favorite short story collections I have ever read. These short stories, while diverse and unique, all feel as though they are strange fables that exist within a universe that isn’t quite like ours. You can tell by his writing that Swanwick is one heck of a storyteller. These stories bring on emotions so quickly and strongly that I could not stop turning the pages looking for the next emotional high. Each story also has its own place in time that I find very enthralling. Swanwick has a unique and special mind in which he uses to come up with unimaginable futures and pasts. The way that he uses time passing as a horror is fascinating. Time cannot be trifled with, leave it alone and let things be as they may, or don’t…either way an interesting story lies ahead.

These stories are whimsical, foreboding, time breaking and so much more. Swanwick uses gender, time, technology, human existence and mind-breaking ideas to create unfathomable stories that can break reality.

My favorite stories in no particular order:
The Last Days of Old Night
Dragon Slayer
Requiem for a White Rabbit
Reservoir Ice
Artificial People
Huginn and Muninn – and What Came After (wtf honestly)

This had everything I was looking for in a short story collection. Please give it a read if you enjoy fantastical and interesting literature. I will end my review with a quote that really resonates with me:
“It came to me that everything was provisional. Or perhaps the better word was temporary. All the heroic actions of the past are destined to be unmade, the small memories carefully preserved must inevitably come to be forgotten, and everything we are and do and care about will in time be undone.”

[WorldconReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The anthology of Michael Swanwick short stories “The Universe Box” is probably the most familiar collection of stories that I have ever read that was written by an author that I didn’t instantly recognize. That’s on me, but fortunately, there was no way I could ignore this book once I realized it was published by the renowned Tachyon Publications and written by an author described as a “Five-time Hugo winner”. Though, I am still somewhat stunned that there was a five-time Hugo winner who was not already on my radar. In addition to science fiction, Swanwick also writes excellent fantasy, speculative fiction, and crossover stories based in mythology.

Among the 19 stories within, I instantly recognized and enjoyed rereading several. I am certain that I have read about half of the remaining stories one time or another, and the rest of the stories felt comfortably familiar. A couple of my favorites include:
- “The Warm Equations” - Survival in space against all odds, a brilliant but antisocial scientist, and a realistic heartwarming and perfect ending.
- “Grandmother Dimetrodon” Ranks right up there with Ray Bradbury’s classic “Sound of Thunder” butterfly crushing time travel safari tale.
- “Nirvana Or Bust” - Starts out kind of cute, but in fairly few pages, turns out to be a very hard core SF tale that speculates on what humanity may turn into.
- “Reservoir Ice” - Excellently fresh time travel with enough creative turns to make it stand out in a crowded field.

I whole heartedly recommend this to fans of fantasy, speculative fiction, and science fiction.

I thank the author and publisher for kindly sharing an electronic advanced review copy of this excellent work with me. I look forward to reading much more by Michael Swanwick.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

I am not usually a short-story collection reader. Mostly because I usually get invested in the stories and become disappointed that they end so quickly but lately I have gotten into 90’s fantasy and Michael Swanwick name popped up so I decided to dive in. This collection blends sci-fi, fantasy, and humor and explores technology or humanities relationship with it.

Some of my favorites in this collection are:
Dragon Slayer- Instead of rising toward a victorious showdown, the story drifts toward a disturbing truth: the dragon slayer is not vanquishing evil, but helping to erase it from existence.
Requiem for a White Rabbit- Set in an amusement park where animatronic figures develop an awareness. Playful at first glance, ruthless at the core. I really think this one would be an amazing novel.
Dreadnaught- An alcoholic homeless guy, a reverend, a demon named Cthulhu and insect like warriors sent to destroy the world. What more needs to be said.
Nirvana Or Bust- A woman on the run wearing a sentient exoskeleton she calls Nirvana or Bust being hunted by the government. This story explores artificial intelligence and its potential hazards. Surreal, Introspective Sci-Fi.

Overall, These tales are funny, eerie, and unexpectedly tender, haunted by the awareness that consciousness itself can be a burden and that the universe remains vast, beautiful, and indifferent. Of course some are stronger and will resinate better than others but that will vary for each reader. In my opinion worth the read.

[Jemima Pett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the cover that caught my eye, followed by the title. It’s a cover worthy of recognition, I feel.

Fortunately what’s inside is worthy of the cover. Michael Swanwick is a master of the imagination, but he can also transform some pretty bizarre worlds into well-crafted images in your own mind. And as for circumstances and plot twists, well, his imagination has no bounds.

My taste leans towards his fantasy rather than his more sci-fi orientated work, although the ones involving time travel (in both genres) are superb. There is a tendency towards more horrific events, but nothing unduly gratuitous. The robot rabbit escaping from the theme park is particularly brilliant, from execution to denouement.

I was slightly put off at the start, having seen the contents list and started on what appeared to be a piece of witchy domesticity, only to discover it was a forward outlining the stories! I hate that, since I may remember early ones to the extent it spoils them. For one story, he repeated its origin at the end, which was a waste, since it was only a couple of stories in, and I’d remembered the legend already. So skip that introduction, and read it afterwards if you want to know where the inspiration comes from.

All in all an excellent collection, with plenty of food for thought, and hopefully not enough for nightmares.