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Nowhere
“MacLeod is a brilliant writer.” —Tim Powers
“Ian MacLeod writes like an angel. He strings together ideally chosen words into sentences that are variously lush, sparse, subtle, bold, joyous, mournful, comic and tragic.” —Paul Di Filippo
Welcome to the second half of the collected worlds of one of fiction’s great myth-makers. Blending naturalistic settings with real—and unreal—histories, dark presents, strange pasts and star-flung futures, Ian R. MacLeod’s multi award-winning stories defy easy classification, but are always vividly elegant, compelling, and filled with wonder.
In The Chop Girl, a young working at a World War Two RAF bomber airbase discovers the true meaning of luck, whilst The Discovered Country projects a world in which the dead enjoy an endless afterlife whilst the merely living struggle to survive, and The Visitor from Taured twists a modern urban myth into a tale of one man’s search for a Theory Of Everything, and Snodgrass tells a very different version of the Beatles’ rise to fame.
Nothing in MacLeod’s visions is ever quite what it seems, yet they remain deeply real and involving. If you haven’t read MacLeod before, you can expect to be moved and surprised. If you have, then you need no further introduction other than to say that Nowhere—and its companion volume Everywhere, which features many of his best longer stories—represent a generous and wide-ranging summary of his work, along with many insights into the creative process which are provided by the fresh introductions and afterwords.
Praise for Ian R. MacLeod
“Ian R. MacLeod is rapidly becoming one of the contemporary stars of the genre.” —Brian Aldiss
“MacLeod is set to become a writer of the magnitude of Dickens and Tolkien.” —G. P. Taylor
“I have no idea what he looks like, but I picture an angle with polychrome wings, dirty hands and a well-chewed pencil.” —Gene Wolfe
“...in many ways the mature culmination of the New Wave’s aggressive appropriation of literary tropes and techniques and the skillful integration of them into subtle, penetrating fiction that, like all true and dangerous art, can pierce and transform the reader.” —Jack Dann
“Stands beside the achievements of China Mieville.” —Jeff VanderMeer
“There are moments when you see a life entire... in a moment. And you smile, because you recognise that smell of the world, that capsule of living.” —John Clute
“Ian R. MacLeod is one hell of a writer—literary, inventive, always surprising. Pay attention: this guy is important.” —Michael Swanwick
Contents:
Starship Day (1995)
Snodgrass (1992)
Past Magic (1990)
Nina-with-the-Sky-in-Her-Hair (1995)
Tirkiluk (1995)
Well-Loved (1990)
The Perfect Stranger (1991)
Nevermore (1997)
The Chop Girl (1999)
Isabel of the Fall (2001)
On the Sighting of Other Islands (2008)
Second Journey of the Magus (2010)
Recrossing the Styx (2010)
The Crane Method (2011)
Hector Douglas Makes a Sale (2011)
The Discovered Country (2013)
The Visitor from Taured (2016)
The Wisdom of the Group (2017)
“Ian MacLeod writes like an angel. He strings together ideally chosen words into sentences that are variously lush, sparse, subtle, bold, joyous, mournful, comic and tragic.” —Paul Di Filippo
Welcome to the second half of the collected worlds of one of fiction’s great myth-makers. Blending naturalistic settings with real—and unreal—histories, dark presents, strange pasts and star-flung futures, Ian R. MacLeod’s multi award-winning stories defy easy classification, but are always vividly elegant, compelling, and filled with wonder.
In The Chop Girl, a young working at a World War Two RAF bomber airbase discovers the true meaning of luck, whilst The Discovered Country projects a world in which the dead enjoy an endless afterlife whilst the merely living struggle to survive, and The Visitor from Taured twists a modern urban myth into a tale of one man’s search for a Theory Of Everything, and Snodgrass tells a very different version of the Beatles’ rise to fame.
Nothing in MacLeod’s visions is ever quite what it seems, yet they remain deeply real and involving. If you haven’t read MacLeod before, you can expect to be moved and surprised. If you have, then you need no further introduction other than to say that Nowhere—and its companion volume Everywhere, which features many of his best longer stories—represent a generous and wide-ranging summary of his work, along with many insights into the creative process which are provided by the fresh introductions and afterwords.
Praise for Ian R. MacLeod
“Ian R. MacLeod is rapidly becoming one of the contemporary stars of the genre.” —Brian Aldiss
“MacLeod is set to become a writer of the magnitude of Dickens and Tolkien.” —G. P. Taylor
“I have no idea what he looks like, but I picture an angle with polychrome wings, dirty hands and a well-chewed pencil.” —Gene Wolfe
“...in many ways the mature culmination of the New Wave’s aggressive appropriation of literary tropes and techniques and the skillful integration of them into subtle, penetrating fiction that, like all true and dangerous art, can pierce and transform the reader.” —Jack Dann
“Stands beside the achievements of China Mieville.” —Jeff VanderMeer
“There are moments when you see a life entire... in a moment. And you smile, because you recognise that smell of the world, that capsule of living.” —John Clute
“Ian R. MacLeod is one hell of a writer—literary, inventive, always surprising. Pay attention: this guy is important.” —Michael Swanwick
Contents:
Starship Day (1995)
Snodgrass (1992)
Past Magic (1990)
Nina-with-the-Sky-in-Her-Hair (1995)
Tirkiluk (1995)
Well-Loved (1990)
The Perfect Stranger (1991)
Nevermore (1997)
The Chop Girl (1999)
Isabel of the Fall (2001)
On the Sighting of Other Islands (2008)
Second Journey of the Magus (2010)
Recrossing the Styx (2010)
The Crane Method (2011)
Hector Douglas Makes a Sale (2011)
The Discovered Country (2013)
The Visitor from Taured (2016)
The Wisdom of the Group (2017)
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 29, 2019
5 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Ian R. MacLeod
174 books127 followersIan R. MacLeod is the acclaimed writer of challenging and innovative speculative and fantastic fiction. His most recent novel, Wake Up and Dream, won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, while his previous works have won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the World Fantasy Award, and have been translated into many languages. His short story, “Snodgrass,” was developed for television in the United Kingdom as part of the Sky Arts series Playhouse Presents. MacLeod grew up in the West Midlands region of England, studied law, and spent time working and dreaming in the civil service before moving on to teaching and house-husbandry. He lives with his wife in the riverside town of Bewdley.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 30, 2023
Three and a half stars
Over all I found these absorbing and thought-provoking, though at this point I think I've decided they're generally too dark for me. There was one story that totally didn't work for me, but otherwise fairly solid. Of course, like the companion volume the copy-editing leaves much to be desired.
Over all I found these absorbing and thought-provoking, though at this point I think I've decided they're generally too dark for me. There was one story that totally didn't work for me, but otherwise fairly solid. Of course, like the companion volume the copy-editing leaves much to be desired.
December 31, 2025
An interesting mixture of short stories, with some fine concepts and a nice air of menace.
MacLeod's writing is clear and concise, but he packs a lot of detail into a very short space.
Thought provoking.
MacLeod's writing is clear and concise, but he packs a lot of detail into a very short space.
Thought provoking.
June 24, 2023
Ova zbirka je malkice slabija od prve, ali svejedno je izvrsna.
Priče koje su me dojmile:
Isabel of the Fall
Nina with the Sky in her Hair
Second Journey of Magus
Starship Day
Recrossing the Styx
Past Magic
The Discovered Country
Priče koje su me dojmile:
Isabel of the Fall
Nina with the Sky in her Hair
Second Journey of Magus
Starship Day
Recrossing the Styx
Past Magic
The Discovered Country
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews