Moon Dogs

by Michael Swanwick

Moon Dogs is a sampling of Michael Swanwick's work, with seven stories, one play, six essays, and two speeches. Two of the stories, "Moon Dogs" and "Mickelrede," are new. Michael Swanwick has given readings of the title story to general acclaim, and the NESFA Press is proud to make it available. "Mickelrede" is one of his posthumous collaborations with Avram Davidson, and gives an intriguing look into the creative process. His other such collaboration, "Vergil Magus: King Without Country," is another chance for the reader to visit with the mage from The Phoenix and the Mirror. The range of his fiction work is represented with the short novel Griffin's Egg, and the award-winning play "The Dead." Among the essays here are the hard-to-find "The Death of the Magus: Two Myths" and "The Hagiography of Saint Dozois," and the bizarre tale of "Jane Swanwick and the Search for Identity." His discussions of the SF field, "A User's Guide to the Postmoderns" and "In the Tradition .," are witty and insightful surveys-so much so that the former has even been pirated in countries around the world. His collaboration with Jack Dann, "Ships" (in its first American publication), and two of his several collaborations with Gardner Dozois, "Ancestral Voices" and "The City of God," are further demonstrations of the range of his fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy

410 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2000

Reviews

[Karl]

This hard cover edition is numbered 53 of 175 copies published.

This copy is signed by Michael Swanwick.

Contents:

Introduction: The Chameleon Eludes the Net by Gardner Dozois
Author Profile
Moon Dogs Hugo Nominee!
The Death of the Magus: Two Myths
Mickelrede by Michael Swanwick and Avram Davidson
Vergil Magus: King Without Country by Michael Swanwick and Avram Davidson
Jane Swanwick and the Search for Identity (article)
The Hagiography of Saint Dozois (article)
Ancestral Voices by Michael Swanwick and Gardner Dozois
The City of God by Michael Swanwick and Gardner Dozois
The Dead
They Fell Like Wheat
A User’s Guide to the Postmoderns (article)
Ships by Michael Swanwick and Jack Dann
In the Tradition…
Growing Up in the Future (article)
Griffin’s Egg

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read the essay 'In the Tradition', an essay 'in the tradition of' the imaginative literature criticism of le Guin's 'From Elfland to Poughkeepsie' or Moorcock's 'Wizardry and Wild Romance'. Excepting that it's apologetic and thus maybe less interesting. For if you're reading it, you're probably already a convert.

[Bill Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

In addition to publishing what may be the best single author omnibus collections extant, NESFA Press publishes the annual Boskone Guest of Honor books. Swanwick was GoH at Boskone 37 (February 18 - 20, 2000). As such, this book contains material that wouldn't have been appropriate for a commercial collection. In addition to essays and a speech, this includes 5 collaborations. There are 2 posthumous collaborations with Avram Davidson. In one, Swanwick interpolates his own remarks into Davidson's uncompleted original. In the other (a long Vergil the Magus story) it wasn't possible for me to tell which parts of the text had been written by whom, so well does Swanwick appropriate Davidson's voice. There are 2 stories that Gardner Dozois put aside without finishing that Swanwick finished and one unexplained collaboration with Jack Dann, which was my favorite story in the book. The essays, written for The New York Review of Science Fiction, are excellent pieces covering the infamous cyberpunk vs. humanist "war" and modern "hard fantasy". I enjoyed both. There is also a short play. This is probably more appropriate for people who are already fans, but as such I really enjoyed it.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short stories and essays.