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Tales of Old Earth: Stories
A collection of nineteen short stories from the Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter and Stations of the Tide Written over the course of a decade, Tales from Old Earth contains nineteen masterful pieces of short fiction—including the Hugo Award–winning stories “The Very Pulse of the Machine” and “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur;” the World Fantasy Award–winning novella “Radio Waves;” Hugo Award finalists “The Dead,” “Radiant Doors,” and “Wild Minds;” and World Fantasy Award finalist “The Changeling’s Tale”—as well as an introduction by Bruce Sterling. From pure fantasy to hard science fiction, this finely crafted collection from one of the greatest science fiction writers of his generation promises to stretch readers’ minds far beyond ordinary limits. These tales are guaranteed to delight and are an excellent introduction to this highly praised author.
297 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
March 24, 2023
“The Very Pulse of the Machine” review only:
A trippy episode of Love, Death and Robots is based on this trippy story that’s set on Jupiter’s volcanic moon, Io.
A trippy episode of Love, Death and Robots is based on this trippy story that’s set on Jupiter’s volcanic moon, Io.
May 18, 2019
Read the story Ice Age which is featured in the animated Netflix series Love, Death and Robots
October 8, 2024
This is an early collection of nineteen examples of Swanwick's short fiction, which won a Locus Award for best single collection of Y2K. Curiously, there's no copyright page with details of original publication provenance, but the majority of the stories are from Gardener Dozois-edited issues of Asimov's, with a few from other random genre publications and one original. (The volume itself was published by a curiously named division of North Atlantic named Frog.) The majority of the stories date from the mid- to late-1990s. There are several dinosaur themed stories (and note the nifty cover which was done by Michael Dashow), but there are also representatives from some of Swanwick's other favorite sub-genres. I thought all were of good quality, though no one in particular stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Bruce Sterling provided a nice appreciation/introduction which, again curiously, primarily discussed works not included here. You can't go wrong with Swanwick... (well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't be easy...)
August 14, 2017
I recently heard about Swanwick from a random list off the Internet, and looked up a copy at my local library. Little did I realize how masterful this collection of sci-fi and fantasy stories would be, and how powerfully they would affect me. Swanwick brutally and subtly (I know!) examines the deep issues of life from unexpected angles, pulling no punches as he smashes the implications of daily living into the reader's face.
"The Very Pulse of the Machine" uses an abandoned astronaut on the surface of Io to question the very nature of consciousness and humanity. "Riding the Gigantosaur" examines our traditional notions of male gender identity and "success." And my favorite, "The Dead," is perhaps the most outright critique of the deadly excesses of capitalism in story form that I have ever seen. And Swanwick pulls it all off while being wildly entertaining, with vivid writing and characters you sympathize with even if you hate them.
Bruce Sterling (another of my favorite authors) says in his introduction, "His approach to theme, plot, character, situation, are all completely orthogonal to the norm." As the best science fiction always does, Swanwick uses the absurd and the impossible to force us to recognize the absurd and impossible in our own lives.
"The Very Pulse of the Machine" uses an abandoned astronaut on the surface of Io to question the very nature of consciousness and humanity. "Riding the Gigantosaur" examines our traditional notions of male gender identity and "success." And my favorite, "The Dead," is perhaps the most outright critique of the deadly excesses of capitalism in story form that I have ever seen. And Swanwick pulls it all off while being wildly entertaining, with vivid writing and characters you sympathize with even if you hate them.
Bruce Sterling (another of my favorite authors) says in his introduction, "His approach to theme, plot, character, situation, are all completely orthogonal to the norm." As the best science fiction always does, Swanwick uses the absurd and the impossible to force us to recognize the absurd and impossible in our own lives.
October 8, 2024
Read this years ago, saw it and shelved it.
May 23, 2022
“And now I see with eye serene. The very pulse of the machine.”
new fav episode of love, death + robots just dropped ✌️😗 and just like with sonnie's edge, i had to read the short story it was inspired from.
the very pulse of the machine is a survivalist adventure story about a female astronaut, martha kivelsen, stranded on the surface of the moon io. to make contact with the orbiter, she must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with her body's exhaustion, and ultimately stay sane as a voice starts reciting poetry to her.
while the episode was a psychedelic dream i felt entranced by, this short story was a delight i enjoyed from beginning to end. i loved every second of reading this. for a limited number of pages, it surprised me to feel connected with martha and to still worry for her fate, even though i already knew how it'll end. despite being a dire survivalist story, there was still an air of amusement about how martha first perceived io, its nature, and its communication with her. io's interaction with her blurs between mysterious, inscrutable, and compassionate. i liked that. i don't mind a few laughs and "awww" moments. there's something funny and scary with how our minds work under dreadful situations, which was neatly portrayed in this—that, and the fact that martha was high on meth and might or might not be hallucinating and projecting her memories of her dead expedition partner into her environment, a moon that designs itself as a machine, and martha its creator. which is interesting. lots to chew about on that one. was any of it real or was she just super high? was io really a machine or was everything about it just martha's way of coping, heightened with hallucinogenic drugs and sleep deprivation? my only gripe is that it's too short—i would've loved to read more about martha. melancholic and strangely uplifting, this is a great short story, one that builds up to a worthwhile, slightly ambiguous ending and leaves you wanting for more.
if you only had to watch one episode of love, death + robots this season, watch the very pulse of the machine. i promise it's irrevocably beautiful—the animation is like a moving moebius painting, the score and dialogue are evocative, the story is compelling, existential, and a little bit heart-wrenching at the end. i teared up. then watched it again and again. it even gives a new meaning to the phrase "spacing out", and i love it all the more for that. read this short story too, for a richer experience.
being able to consume this story through different forms was something i hold dear. it resonated with me—it felt special. it made me feel a lot—in the best possible way. i can't even begin to articulate it.
if it counts, both the episode and short story reminded me of the luminous dead (another piece of literature that i really loved) what with the concept of being/getting drugged to survive in an unstable and dangerous environment. such great examples of stories with man vs. nature/man vs. himself conflicts. that's what drew me in once i knew what exactly was happening in the episode.
new fav episode of love, death + robots just dropped ✌️😗 and just like with sonnie's edge, i had to read the short story it was inspired from.
the very pulse of the machine is a survivalist adventure story about a female astronaut, martha kivelsen, stranded on the surface of the moon io. to make contact with the orbiter, she must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with her body's exhaustion, and ultimately stay sane as a voice starts reciting poetry to her.
while the episode was a psychedelic dream i felt entranced by, this short story was a delight i enjoyed from beginning to end. i loved every second of reading this. for a limited number of pages, it surprised me to feel connected with martha and to still worry for her fate, even though i already knew how it'll end. despite being a dire survivalist story, there was still an air of amusement about how martha first perceived io, its nature, and its communication with her. io's interaction with her blurs between mysterious, inscrutable, and compassionate. i liked that. i don't mind a few laughs and "awww" moments. there's something funny and scary with how our minds work under dreadful situations, which was neatly portrayed in this—that, and the fact that martha was high on meth and might or might not be hallucinating and projecting her memories of her dead expedition partner into her environment, a moon that designs itself as a machine, and martha its creator. which is interesting. lots to chew about on that one. was any of it real or was she just super high? was io really a machine or was everything about it just martha's way of coping, heightened with hallucinogenic drugs and sleep deprivation? my only gripe is that it's too short—i would've loved to read more about martha. melancholic and strangely uplifting, this is a great short story, one that builds up to a worthwhile, slightly ambiguous ending and leaves you wanting for more.
if you only had to watch one episode of love, death + robots this season, watch the very pulse of the machine. i promise it's irrevocably beautiful—the animation is like a moving moebius painting, the score and dialogue are evocative, the story is compelling, existential, and a little bit heart-wrenching at the end. i teared up. then watched it again and again. it even gives a new meaning to the phrase "spacing out", and i love it all the more for that. read this short story too, for a richer experience.
being able to consume this story through different forms was something i hold dear. it resonated with me—it felt special. it made me feel a lot—in the best possible way. i can't even begin to articulate it.
if it counts, both the episode and short story reminded me of the luminous dead (another piece of literature that i really loved) what with the concept of being/getting drugged to survive in an unstable and dangerous environment. such great examples of stories with man vs. nature/man vs. himself conflicts. that's what drew me in once i knew what exactly was happening in the episode.
December 28, 2022
I don’t think I fully understand this short story but it made me cry so ???¿¿¿
January 29, 2018
“You won’t find the natural state here. We’re living in the aftermath.”
A really good collection of short stories. Many good stories about beginnings and endings, especially endings which may be beginnings. Lots of cliffhangers. Some post-apocalyptic, some deeply introspective. Some funny, some tragic, most thought provoking. All well fashioned.
“Self is an illusion … a fairy tale that your assemblers, sorters and functional transients tell each other.”
Swanwick has a gift with word images. Out of a few words, he fashions a complete context.
“…as cozy and snug as the inside of a walnut.”
Skip the Introduction by Bruce Sterling. Self-serving twaddle.
“His eyes cold and unfriendly as a spear point.”
With one exception all published 1992 to 2002. That "Ice Age" was published in 1984.
“People get the kind of future they deserve.”
A really good collection of short stories. Many good stories about beginnings and endings, especially endings which may be beginnings. Lots of cliffhangers. Some post-apocalyptic, some deeply introspective. Some funny, some tragic, most thought provoking. All well fashioned.
“Self is an illusion … a fairy tale that your assemblers, sorters and functional transients tell each other.”
Swanwick has a gift with word images. Out of a few words, he fashions a complete context.
“…as cozy and snug as the inside of a walnut.”
Skip the Introduction by Bruce Sterling. Self-serving twaddle.
“His eyes cold and unfriendly as a spear point.”
With one exception all published 1992 to 2002. That "Ice Age" was published in 1984.
“People get the kind of future they deserve.”
January 20, 2023
Found this short story after watching the Love, Death, and Robots adaptation, and I'm really glad I did. Martha appears to be an unreliable narrator, but through the hours she trudges through Io alone with the body of her crewmate, we get a significant glimpse into her mind and the tragic beauty of her perceptions and worldview. It was hard to be sure whether Io was a figment of her imagination, a product of her tired and sometimes drug-amped mind, or whether the moon was truly sentient and helping her in the only way it knew how. I would like to think it was the latter, because whether we're among our own on Earth or stranded in an alien landscape, there is always some comfort in believing we're not truly alone.
Also, the concept of Io as a living machine composed of various physical and chemical processes is both slightly creepy and strangely alluring. It does hold the title of being the most volcanic object in the solar system, and produces a plasma torus surrounding Jupiter which is not fully understood (and which I think is what the title refers to). Reading about how all these things came together, and seeing the austere, wild beauty of the Io landscape through Martha's eyes, reminds me how so much of our universe, or even the backyard of our solar system, contains ongoing mysteries. Perhaps some of these are meant to be solved and others aren't, possibly beyond the scope of human understanding, but there is also beauty in mystery. And there is also a sort of beauty when considering that even in our final moments, it may not truly be the end, as we are rejoining the universe from which we were created.
Also, the concept of Io as a living machine composed of various physical and chemical processes is both slightly creepy and strangely alluring. It does hold the title of being the most volcanic object in the solar system, and produces a plasma torus surrounding Jupiter which is not fully understood (and which I think is what the title refers to). Reading about how all these things came together, and seeing the austere, wild beauty of the Io landscape through Martha's eyes, reminds me how so much of our universe, or even the backyard of our solar system, contains ongoing mysteries. Perhaps some of these are meant to be solved and others aren't, possibly beyond the scope of human understanding, but there is also beauty in mystery. And there is also a sort of beauty when considering that even in our final moments, it may not truly be the end, as we are rejoining the universe from which we were created.
January 26, 2023
An excellent early(ish) collection of short SF/F by one of the best writers in the business. First published in 2000, so stories (by memory) are from the decade prior. Cover art is for his "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" (1999). A 5-star book! Plus you can buy the ebook for all of $2. Deal. Go for it! TOC in the publisher's intro. Story info & publication details are here: https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?328395
December 26, 2022
An uneven collection that varies from mediocre to unintelligible to just plain bad.
June 10, 2022
I read this short story after watching one of the two best episodes of Love, Death, & Robots (the second is Zima Blue, which is based on Alastair Reynolds’ excellent short story). In short, the story is about Martha Kivelsen, an astronaut, whose rover crashes on Jupiter’s moon Io. Her partner, Burton, doesn’t survive the crash, and so she decides to drag her body with her, back to the lander. However, her air supply runs out, and in order to make it on time to the lander, she needs to repeatedly take a drug which gives her an energy boost and helps her to keep going. The drug, though, can cause some side effects, such as hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis, and misperceptions. And indeed, after taking the drug, Martha starts hearing a voice on her radio claiming to be Io. Io claims itself to be a machine, and it uses Burton’s body to communicate with Martha. And since Burton was a lover of classical poets and had a classical education, Io communicates by quoting lines from poems. But the big question is, does Martha really hallucinate?
Recent studies show how the brain processes reality differently while being under the influence of psychoactive substances. The psychedelic drugs disable filters in the brain, which block access to a broader, larger, consciousness. While being sober, or more correctly, “sober”, there are filters in the brain which block access to a wider pool of knowledge that is available only by experiencing a different state of consciousness that is brought about by different methods, and one of them is by consuming psychedelics. However, there is a very good reason for the existence of these filters. Not having them, means being bombarded and overwhelmed with constant information and data, which distracts us from the sensory world. Those filters exist so we can survive. Survive in the materialistic world.
So she asked, “If you’re a machine, then what is your function? Why were you made?” “To know you. To love you. And to serve you.”
“You are. Creator. Of machine.”
According to idealism, consciousness is all there is. And that consciousness is one indivisible consciousness. Also known as Source, Mind at Large, Brahman, or just plain God. And all living beings are only fragments of this one indivisible consciousness. The “Machine” in the story is that one consciousness. “Remember You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return”. We came from this one consciousness, and we shall return to it when we die. That Mind at Large which communicates with Martha tries to explain to her that she, herself, is part of the “Machine”, of this one consciousness. And this one indivisible consciousness can only know itself by dividing itself into different beings, different individual consciousnesses, different ripples in the ocean. We are the universe becoming aware of itself.
So I’m your creator, right?” “Yes.”“What do I look like when I’m at home?” “Whatever. You wish. To.” “Do I breathe oxygen? Methane? Do I have antennae? Tentacles? Wings? How many legs do I have? How many eyes? How many heads?” “If. You wish. As many as. You wish.” “How many of me are there?” “One.” A pause. “Now.”
One. One consciousness.
“You shithead!” she cried. “You idiot machine! What use are you? What goddamn use at all?” “Can give you. Eternal life. Communion of the soul. Unlimited processing power. Can give Burton. Same.” “Hah?”“After the first death. There is no other. Dylan Thomas.” “What do you mean by that?” Silence. “Damn you, you fucking machine! What are you trying to say?”
There is no death. That is what the Machine is trying to say. There is only losing our current individual consciousness when we die, and then we reborn into another fragment of this one consciousness. And this process continues, until we reach our final destination. Reincarnation. It goes on until we are done.
Throw yourself in. Physical configuration will be. Destroyed. Neural configuration will be. Preserved. Maybe.”
When we die, our physical configuration is destroyed, but all the information, data, and knowledge we have accumulated throughout our lives is preserved. It’s integrated within one infinite consciousness. Jung’s collective unconscious, Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic resonance, Ervin László’s Akashic field, all describe the same mechanism. All knowledge is being preserved.
“It could be Burton was already halfway-merged into the oceanic mind of Io, and awaiting her to join in an alchemical marriage of personalities. Maybe I’m going to live forever. Who knows? Anything is possible.”
When we die, our personalities are reintegrated within one indivisible consciousness. The “Machine” absorbs us, our personalities, our knowledge. And who and what we are, are taken to the next level.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine.
And now, what is seen, with all filters gone, is reality for what is really is: an all-encompassing consciousness.
This short story is about how one can become aware of the true nature of reality. Martha, by consuming the psychoactive drugs, was given access to a deeper level of reality, one which is blocked to us while being “sober”. She was not hallucinating. On the contrary, for the first time, she has experienced reality for what it really is.
O sleep! It is a gentle thing. Beloved from pole to pole.
For the first time in her life, she was awakened.
Recent studies show how the brain processes reality differently while being under the influence of psychoactive substances. The psychedelic drugs disable filters in the brain, which block access to a broader, larger, consciousness. While being sober, or more correctly, “sober”, there are filters in the brain which block access to a wider pool of knowledge that is available only by experiencing a different state of consciousness that is brought about by different methods, and one of them is by consuming psychedelics. However, there is a very good reason for the existence of these filters. Not having them, means being bombarded and overwhelmed with constant information and data, which distracts us from the sensory world. Those filters exist so we can survive. Survive in the materialistic world.
So she asked, “If you’re a machine, then what is your function? Why were you made?” “To know you. To love you. And to serve you.”
“You are. Creator. Of machine.”
According to idealism, consciousness is all there is. And that consciousness is one indivisible consciousness. Also known as Source, Mind at Large, Brahman, or just plain God. And all living beings are only fragments of this one indivisible consciousness. The “Machine” in the story is that one consciousness. “Remember You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return”. We came from this one consciousness, and we shall return to it when we die. That Mind at Large which communicates with Martha tries to explain to her that she, herself, is part of the “Machine”, of this one consciousness. And this one indivisible consciousness can only know itself by dividing itself into different beings, different individual consciousnesses, different ripples in the ocean. We are the universe becoming aware of itself.
So I’m your creator, right?” “Yes.”“What do I look like when I’m at home?” “Whatever. You wish. To.” “Do I breathe oxygen? Methane? Do I have antennae? Tentacles? Wings? How many legs do I have? How many eyes? How many heads?” “If. You wish. As many as. You wish.” “How many of me are there?” “One.” A pause. “Now.”
One. One consciousness.
“You shithead!” she cried. “You idiot machine! What use are you? What goddamn use at all?” “Can give you. Eternal life. Communion of the soul. Unlimited processing power. Can give Burton. Same.” “Hah?”“After the first death. There is no other. Dylan Thomas.” “What do you mean by that?” Silence. “Damn you, you fucking machine! What are you trying to say?”
There is no death. That is what the Machine is trying to say. There is only losing our current individual consciousness when we die, and then we reborn into another fragment of this one consciousness. And this process continues, until we reach our final destination. Reincarnation. It goes on until we are done.
Throw yourself in. Physical configuration will be. Destroyed. Neural configuration will be. Preserved. Maybe.”
When we die, our physical configuration is destroyed, but all the information, data, and knowledge we have accumulated throughout our lives is preserved. It’s integrated within one infinite consciousness. Jung’s collective unconscious, Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic resonance, Ervin László’s Akashic field, all describe the same mechanism. All knowledge is being preserved.
“It could be Burton was already halfway-merged into the oceanic mind of Io, and awaiting her to join in an alchemical marriage of personalities. Maybe I’m going to live forever. Who knows? Anything is possible.”
When we die, our personalities are reintegrated within one indivisible consciousness. The “Machine” absorbs us, our personalities, our knowledge. And who and what we are, are taken to the next level.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine.
And now, what is seen, with all filters gone, is reality for what is really is: an all-encompassing consciousness.
This short story is about how one can become aware of the true nature of reality. Martha, by consuming the psychoactive drugs, was given access to a deeper level of reality, one which is blocked to us while being “sober”. She was not hallucinating. On the contrary, for the first time, she has experienced reality for what it really is.
O sleep! It is a gentle thing. Beloved from pole to pole.
For the first time in her life, she was awakened.
May 22, 2021
Stunning collection with incredible range, representing the full of potential of short form fantastika realized...
February 10, 2023
I've read a lot of science fiction. None of the tales in this collection are like anything I've ever read before. Nothing derivative of common themes, no rehash of a common topic. I'm very impressed.
October 20, 2014
Michael Swanwick is one of the more adventurous writers in the already imaginative field of speculative fiction. He is generally an economical storyteller and on occasion I felt myself craving more flesh and a slower pace, but that is not to dismiss an excellent collection. There is not much that Swanwick shies away from, which makes the childish cover misleading, especially considering the sex scene (including vivid and creative foreplay), which takes up much of the story in 'Midnight Express'.
Swanwick meddles with time past (as the title suggests) as well as the present and future, and there are also all those alternative realities too.
Although 'Scherzo the Dinosaur' and 'The Very Pulse of a Time Machine' are much lauded Hugo Award Winners they are not the highlight stories in this eclectic collection. 'Riding the Gigantosaur', 'Microcosmic Dog', 'Mother Grasshopper', 'North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy' and 'The RaggleTaggle Gyspsy-O' are all fabulous tales.
The first of the before mentioned, 'Riding the Gigantosaur', places the reader into the Cretaceous period with a comical story that completely captures the imagination, whereby a wealthy wheeler and dealer learns some humility as a gigantosaur (do not ask but read the story). 'Mother Grasshopper' deals with the ideas of time, life and death; all set on a planet that is a massive grasshopper, which could be metaphorically perceived as the pest, that we as humans are represented as in this morose tale. 'North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy' entails a train of passengers travelling to Hell and successfully explores issues of morality and liberation with Swanwick's ever vibrant and colourful characters. It is also a tale you can sink your reading teeth into at 22 pages. 'Microcosmic Dog' cleverly examines reality when Ellen Gillespie (with a name like that I imagine that Swanwick is an avid jazz fan) has a talking dog left in her luxurious New York apartment. From then on things are not as always as they have seemed. 'The Raggle Taggle Gyspy-O' is a time travelling adventure, full of romance and heroism, in which the idea unravels that memories are required for immortality. Once again, an early felatio scene made me briefly wonder why any Swanwick anthology would be marketed in this fashion - although sales to a wider audience is the blindingly obvious answer.
'In Concert' humorously and uniquely parallels the Communist movement with the rock music movement when the aged lead rocker, Lenin, pounds out lyrics like, 'You have nothing to lose but your chains.' Other strong stories include: 'Wild Minds', 'Radiant Doors' and 'The Changeling's Tale'.
Tales of Old Earth is layered with meaning and that is the beauty of Swanwick's short fiction: he can encourage a reader to reflect but he never loses their attention. And Swanwick at his worst - in this collection I would say it is the Nebula Award winning, 'Ancient Engines' (the android tale tasted like a sedated version of PK Dick)- is still far better than many other writers in the field. Taking a leap into Michael Swanwick's bizarre world is something that will be ingrained in readers' minds long after they have finished reading.
Swanwick meddles with time past (as the title suggests) as well as the present and future, and there are also all those alternative realities too.
Although 'Scherzo the Dinosaur' and 'The Very Pulse of a Time Machine' are much lauded Hugo Award Winners they are not the highlight stories in this eclectic collection. 'Riding the Gigantosaur', 'Microcosmic Dog', 'Mother Grasshopper', 'North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy' and 'The RaggleTaggle Gyspsy-O' are all fabulous tales.
The first of the before mentioned, 'Riding the Gigantosaur', places the reader into the Cretaceous period with a comical story that completely captures the imagination, whereby a wealthy wheeler and dealer learns some humility as a gigantosaur (do not ask but read the story). 'Mother Grasshopper' deals with the ideas of time, life and death; all set on a planet that is a massive grasshopper, which could be metaphorically perceived as the pest, that we as humans are represented as in this morose tale. 'North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy' entails a train of passengers travelling to Hell and successfully explores issues of morality and liberation with Swanwick's ever vibrant and colourful characters. It is also a tale you can sink your reading teeth into at 22 pages. 'Microcosmic Dog' cleverly examines reality when Ellen Gillespie (with a name like that I imagine that Swanwick is an avid jazz fan) has a talking dog left in her luxurious New York apartment. From then on things are not as always as they have seemed. 'The Raggle Taggle Gyspy-O' is a time travelling adventure, full of romance and heroism, in which the idea unravels that memories are required for immortality. Once again, an early felatio scene made me briefly wonder why any Swanwick anthology would be marketed in this fashion - although sales to a wider audience is the blindingly obvious answer.
'In Concert' humorously and uniquely parallels the Communist movement with the rock music movement when the aged lead rocker, Lenin, pounds out lyrics like, 'You have nothing to lose but your chains.' Other strong stories include: 'Wild Minds', 'Radiant Doors' and 'The Changeling's Tale'.
Tales of Old Earth is layered with meaning and that is the beauty of Swanwick's short fiction: he can encourage a reader to reflect but he never loses their attention. And Swanwick at his worst - in this collection I would say it is the Nebula Award winning, 'Ancient Engines' (the android tale tasted like a sedated version of PK Dick)- is still far better than many other writers in the field. Taking a leap into Michael Swanwick's bizarre world is something that will be ingrained in readers' minds long after they have finished reading.
Want to read
February 2, 2023 I watched the adaptation of this story in Love, Death, & Robots over the weekend and I just got done reading it, I think both works were phenomenal.
This story has a compelling conflict for our protagonist, Martha, but the things that made me refuse to stop reading were Swanwick's voice, diction, and character building for Martha (and the allusions to poetry were definitely a treat for a dork like me).
I'm keeping this review spoiler-free for those who haven't read it yet. I'll just plagiarize the gist of the plot from Netflix's description of its adaptation: when an exploratory expedition on the surface of the moon Io ends in disaster, an astronaut must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with the pain of her own injuries in this acid trip of prose.
I'm woefully lacking in my knowledge of the natural sciences, yet I still found myself fascinated with Swanwick's description of Io and the different phenomena occurring on it and around it. It gave me an appreciation for astronomy that I'd lost since I barely passed my intro-level lecture on the subject.
I understand that this story may not resonate well with everyone, I can see how the technical jargon could turn people off, but I think it does an outstanding job of exploring themes of existentialism by incorporating so many magical phenomena actually occurring within our universe. This story made reality feel all the more surreal to me.
Really glad this show introduced me to Michael Swanwick and I can’t wait to read more of his work. This kind of art inspires me as a writer in a way I can't quite put into words, ironically enough. Wish I could give it more than five stars.
This story has a compelling conflict for our protagonist, Martha, but the things that made me refuse to stop reading were Swanwick's voice, diction, and character building for Martha (and the allusions to poetry were definitely a treat for a dork like me).
I'm keeping this review spoiler-free for those who haven't read it yet. I'll just plagiarize the gist of the plot from Netflix's description of its adaptation: when an exploratory expedition on the surface of the moon Io ends in disaster, an astronaut must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with the pain of her own injuries in this acid trip of prose.
I'm woefully lacking in my knowledge of the natural sciences, yet I still found myself fascinated with Swanwick's description of Io and the different phenomena occurring on it and around it. It gave me an appreciation for astronomy that I'd lost since I barely passed my intro-level lecture on the subject.
I understand that this story may not resonate well with everyone, I can see how the technical jargon could turn people off, but I think it does an outstanding job of exploring themes of existentialism by incorporating so many magical phenomena actually occurring within our universe. This story made reality feel all the more surreal to me.
Really glad this show introduced me to Michael Swanwick and I can’t wait to read more of his work. This kind of art inspires me as a writer in a way I can't quite put into words, ironically enough. Wish I could give it more than five stars.
May 24, 2011
Michael Swanwich seems to have a fixation with dinosaurs. But that's not why I only gave this collection of short stories three stars. There are some very interesting and well written stories in here, but there are also several that seem almost complete wastes of paper. When he's good, he's good. "The Very Pulse of the Machine" and "Radio Waves" (perhaps not coincidentally the opening and closing ones) were my favorites, but I also liked "The Changeling's Tale" and several more. The stories cover a wide range of subject matter, from cautionary tales of the future to travels back in time to tales of the afterlife. It's a mix of science fiction and horror and overall it works well. If it weren't for the 4 or 5 clunkers in the middle this could have been a standout collection of shorts. I'll give him another chance.
July 31, 2010
Call it 3.5 stars. This book is a collection of short stories from Swanwick. I came in with mixed expectations, having liked Bones of the Earth but not having been wowed by The Iron Dragon's Daughter. On the whole I enjoyed most of the stories, though I found I enjoyed the ones with a science fiction bent over those with more fantasy elements, but the sheer range of topic covered by Swanwick means that there is something for everyone who enjoys fantasy or science fiction.
September 17, 2007
Swanwick is a terrific,fully realized short story writer. This collection is cornucopia of beautiful and terrifying ideas. Almost all the stories deal with the idea of death and dying but don't expect simple morbidity, but surreality and black humor. Highlights include The very pulse of the machine, Radiant doors,the wisdom of old earth Radio Waves, Microcosmic Dog, Walking out, The Dead, and Mother Grasshopper. Fans of Borges, PKD, Kelly Link need to check out this collection.
June 28, 2010
This is a gorgeous collection of short stories. Every one takes place in an interesting, skillfully evoked world and presents interesting twists that pose existential questions for the reader to ponder. These aren't light tales--they are twisted and kinked and dark. I happened to watch some Lady Gaga videos in the middle of my reading and they provided excellent imagery for some of the stories. I'm relatively new to Swanwick, but very much looking forward to catching up.
April 24, 2017
On a whim I picked this book up yesterday afternoon, and ended up reading it straight through past midnight. I often avoid short stories, they usually feel unfulfilling to me. This collection does not. Each story is short but intensely satisfying. Some are better than others, some are more disturbing than others, but they are all complete and *interesting*.
July 30, 2007
A collection of nineteen excellent short stories. Nick Gevers said it all better than I could, so read his review instead. The stories are haunting and fantastically well written, and if they are not exactly uplifting then neither are they overly pessimistic.
July 2, 2015
More masterful stories by Swanwick, some horrifying, some funny, all brilliantly realised and at least a little bit disturbing and mindblowing. Highlights are the utterly terrifying Radiant Doors and the Tolkeinish Changeling's Tale, but they're all damn good.
April 11, 2017
While many of these were reprinted in the Swanwick anthology I read previously, there are some other ones that are also quite good. Viewed separately, it's a strong collection, but if you already have Best of Swanwick, I don't recommend it unless you're a completionist
July 1, 2008
Dinosaur-themed SF short stories, if I remember correctly. Worthwhile, but not Swanwick's best work.
January 17, 2009
Michael Swanwick is one of the best short story writers around. He will entertain you, surprise you and leave you with plenty to think about.
November 15, 2014
Some good stories, some odd stories, and a few really out-there ones. All in all, not bad.
February 28, 2022
This is an excellent, award winning collection of short stories. Don't go into this expecting simple story resolutions as many of the tales have ambiguous endings or finish with a "leap of faith". For all this, the simplest, most accessible tales are perhaps the least satisfying.
For those not familiar with the author Michael Swanwick is towards the Literary (with a capital L) end of the spectrum. His stories span a wide range of genres and these stories are at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Many are darkly surreal and there is often a bit of transgressive sex on the side but there is occasionally a bit of wry humour as well.
It's hard to pick the standouts in this collection but Ice Age - adapted as an episode of Love, Death and Robots - is obviously most widely known. It is also one of the simpler and cuter stories. The Very Pulse Of The Machine is a twist on the old brain at absolute zero becomes superconducting theme; The Dead explores using obedient zombies as a labour force - is the average worker now worth more dead than alive?; In North of Diddy-Was-Diddy and Mother Grasshopper, Death stalks the land (and takes the train, and drives a pickup); three stories deal with time travel in highly divergent ways; and that's only half of it.
Overall an excellent collection and an excellent introduction to Michael Swanwick's work.
For those not familiar with the author Michael Swanwick is towards the Literary (with a capital L) end of the spectrum. His stories span a wide range of genres and these stories are at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Many are darkly surreal and there is often a bit of transgressive sex on the side but there is occasionally a bit of wry humour as well.
It's hard to pick the standouts in this collection but Ice Age - adapted as an episode of Love, Death and Robots - is obviously most widely known. It is also one of the simpler and cuter stories. The Very Pulse Of The Machine is a twist on the old brain at absolute zero becomes superconducting theme; The Dead explores using obedient zombies as a labour force - is the average worker now worth more dead than alive?; In North of Diddy-Was-Diddy and Mother Grasshopper, Death stalks the land (and takes the train, and drives a pickup); three stories deal with time travel in highly divergent ways; and that's only half of it.
Overall an excellent collection and an excellent introduction to Michael Swanwick's work.
November 19, 2024
I read the first few stories in this science-fiction/fantasy anthology and really thought I had lucked out. Five stars across the board. Hallucinations (or not) in space, dinosaur time travel, zombie workers – all interesting, well-written, and with depth.
Then I hit story 4, which I rated 2 stars. A few more and I was into the 1-star stories, where my notes consisted of “WTF?” A race that exists on the giant body of a grasshopper (they live on the “eye-lands” *groan*) where one traveler spreads life and death while traveling with a woman who ages a lifetime in a week?
Though there were a couple more basic and interesting stories, most of this felt like it was punching above its weight, trying to be intellectual when many of the ideas were either just too far “out there” or not as original as the author believed. Or maybe I just don’t “get” it.*shrugs*
I assigned every story a rating and the average is the overall rating for the book.
Then I hit story 4, which I rated 2 stars. A few more and I was into the 1-star stories, where my notes consisted of “WTF?” A race that exists on the giant body of a grasshopper (they live on the “eye-lands” *groan*) where one traveler spreads life and death while traveling with a woman who ages a lifetime in a week?
Though there were a couple more basic and interesting stories, most of this felt like it was punching above its weight, trying to be intellectual when many of the ideas were either just too far “out there” or not as original as the author believed. Or maybe I just don’t “get” it.*shrugs*
I assigned every story a rating and the average is the overall rating for the book.
April 30, 2018
I initially wanted to rate this book lower but I realized the only reason why was because the stories in this collection evoked such and gamut of emotions. After rewriting this review a couple times i understood that Michael Swanwick had succeeded in creating a great book. I hated some of The stories and a few of the characters. . . and that's what the author wanted. He shines a light on the darkest depths of humanity and it's not pretty. It hurts, it made me angry. Because I saw it was true. There is good and there is evil and there's sex, raw unfiltered in your face writing that has more Michael Swanwick topping my list of things to read. He's an author everyone should experience at least once. Wear a seatbelt!
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