I bought Michael Swanwick’s Tales of Old Earth a couple of years ago so that I could read some of his Hugo Award winning short stories that weren’t available online. I didn’t realize at the time how jam-packed this book is with great stories. And you don’t have to just take my word for it, because of the 19 stories it contains 16 of them have been nominated for major awards like the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Asimov’s Readers poll. That is a pretty good ratio! In fact, the book itself won the 2001 Locus Award for Best Collection. Needless to say, if you are a fan of Michael Swanwick’s short stories then it’s a good bet that you love this amazing collection.

Here is the list of stories it contains – I’ve linked to the ones that I’ve reviewed and I’ve noted which ones were nominated for major science fiction and fantasy awards:

1. The Very Pulse of the Machine (1999 Hugo winner)
2. The Dead (1997 Hugo and Nebula nominee)
3. Scherzo with Tyrannosaur (2000 Hugo winner and Nebula nominee)
4. Ancient Engines (2000 Hugo and Nebula nominee)
5. North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy
6. The Mask (1995 Locus nominee)
7. Mother Grasshopper (1998 Locus nominee)
8. Riding the Giganotosaur (2000 Asimov’s nominee)
9. Wild Minds (1999 Hugo nominee)
10. The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O (2001 World Fantasy and Locus nominee)
11. Microcosmic Dog (1999 locus and SF Age nominee)
12. In Concert (1993 Locus nominee)
13. Radiant Doors (1999 Hugo and Nebula nominee)
14. Ice Age
15. Walking Out (1996 Hugo nominee)
16. The Changeling’s Tale (1995 Locus, Asimov’s and World Fantasy nominee)
17. Midnight Express
18. The Wisdom of Old Earth (1998 Locus nominee)
19. Radio Waves (1996 World Fantasy winner, Sturgeon and Locus nominee)

See what other people are saying about this book at Amazon.com, or search for a used copy on eBay, and be sure to check out all my other reviews of Michael Swanwick’s short stories too.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Quivera is part of the Europan delegation to Gehenna, a world occupied by large black millipede-like aliens. Unfortunately for him, however, he is in the glorious city of Babel when it is struck by meteors which kill the rest of the delegation. As a lone human he strikes a strange bargain with a high ranking Gehennan, and together the two of them are able to escape the confusion of the destroyed city and make their way through the steamy jungles of the planet. Along the way they encounter several dangerous obstacles and learn more about each others’ cultures, but will the two be able to survive in the harsh wilderness? Hmm, perhaps if they can just avoid those nasty mud geysers!

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

“Wha-?” Carlos Quivera sat up, shedding rubble. He coughed, choked, shook his head. He couldn’t seem to think clearly. An instant ago he’d been standing in the chilled and pressurized embassy suite, conferring with Arsenio. Now… “How long have I been asleep?”

“Unconscious. Ten hours,” his suit (that’s me-Rosamund!) said.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• "From Babel’s Fallen Glory We Fled" is told from the point of view of Quivera’s suit – which was interesting and worked out quite well.
• The Gehennans were very intriguing aliens. The descriptions of their economy, as well as their language, was fascinating.
• I am a big Michael Swanwick fan so I may be biased – but I enjoyed the whole story and how the author told it. Sure, some weird things happen but that is classic Swanwick. If you like his other stories you will like this one too.

• The bad:

• Not much really. Sometimes the Gehennan language was a bit too abstract – but Quivera’s suit does a nice job with succinct translations. (Lucky for us eh?)

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 15
• Word Count: 7,507
• “From Babel’s Fallen Glory We Fled” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

Where you can find “From Babel’s Fallen Glory We Fled”:

• This short story first appeared in the February 2008 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “From Babel’s Fallen Glory We Fled” is included in the amazing collection The Best of Michael Swanwick.
• You can read this excellent story online for free at Asimov’s web site.

Some Interesting Links:

• Be sure to learn more about Michael Swanwick by reading the Wikipedia page about him.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The 43 Antarean Dynasties, about a proud tour guide showing three humans the remains of his planet’s once great culture, by Mike Resnick.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Lizzie O’Brien is part of the first team to explore Saturn’s moon Titan. After collecting samples from the surface she uses a small hot-air balloon to return to her group. Of course this wouldn’t be too exciting unless she somehow… you know… got stuck in an air current, and her controls somehow stopped working and certain death was imminent! There is one strange thing about all of this though, and that’s the weird dreams she keeps having about communicating with something in the methane-ammonia sea. Add to that the fact that all her conversations are being relayed to the VoiceWeb back on Earth, and the fact that her oxygen supply is low, and you have yourself a real thriller here!

“Guys?”

This time her tone of voice registered with Alan. “What is it, O’Brien?”

“I think my harness is jammed.”

Lizzie had never dreamed disaster could be such drudgery. First there were hours of back- and-forth with the NAFTASA engineers. What’s the status of rope 14? Try tugging on rope 8. What do the D-rings look like? It was slow work because of the lag time for messages to be relayed to Earth and back. And Alan insisted on filling the silence with posts from the VoiceWeb. Her plight had gone global in minutes, and every unemployable loser on the planet had to log in with suggestions.

“Thezgemoth337, here. It seems to me that if you had a gun and shot up through the balloon, it would maybe deflate and then you could get down.”

“I don’t have a gun, shooting a hole in the balloon would cause it not to deflate but to rupture, I’m 800 hundred meters above the surface, there’s a sea below me, and I’m in a suit that’s not equipped for swimming. Next.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The very plausible idea of putting the astronauts’ conversations on the VoiceWeb was great! All the crazy people chiming in with their useless suggestions was totally funny!
• NAFTASA – the organization responsible for sending the astronauts to Titan. That is a nice subtle joke on the possible future of space exploration!
• All the descriptions of exploring the surface of Titan were really cool. Honestly, how amazingly fun would that be!

• The bad:

• I’m not sure about the ending of “Slow Life”… I thought it was a little too much of a stretch.
• There is some strong language and adult situations – so stay away if you don’t like that kind of stuff.
• This isn’t really an action story, it is mostly conversations about – and descriptions of – “cool” scientific stuff. However, that is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 19
• Word Count: 8,105
• “Slow Life” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
• “Slow Life” placed 4th in the 2003 Locus Award for Best Novelette.
• It also placed 5th in the 2003 AnLab Award for Best Novelette.

Where you can find “Slow Life”:

• This novelette first appeared in the December 2002 issue of Analog.
• “Slow Life” is included in the collection of Michael Swanwick stories The Dog Said Bow-Wow.
• You can read a nice HTML version at Analog’s web site.

Some Interesting Links:

• Titan is a very interesting place – check out all it’s cool features at Wikipedia.
• Be sure to check out Michael Swanwick’s web site to learn more about him and read more of his short stories for free.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Very Pulse of the Machine, about an astronaut who survives a crash on Io and has to walk 45 miles back to her lander, by Michael Swanwick.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

“Radiant Doors” follows Virginia, a woman who works for the aid organization helping millions of refugees from a future Earth. They have traveled to the present through time portals called “radiant doors,” and are fleeing the horrors of the future leaders of Earth – the Owners. As the refugees arrive they are interviewed in an effort to glean as much information about the Owners as possible. It is during one such interview that a woman gives Virginia a small, humming, multi-colored device she brought with her from the future. It was supposedly used to control people’s actions, but Viginia isn’t about to turn it over to the government. She hangs on to it, and in the process becomes Golem-like obsessed with it! It turns out to be a pretty important doo-hickey, and a lot of people eventually come looking for it.

The doors began opening on a Tuesday in early March. Only a few at first – flickering and uncertain because they were operating at the extreme end of their temporal range – and those few from the earliest days of the exodus, releasing fugitives who were unstarved and healthy, the privileged scientists and technicians who had created or appropriated the devices that made their escape possible. We processed about a hundred a week, in comfortable isolation and relative secrecy. There were videocams taping everything, and our own best people madly scribbling notes and holding seminars and teleconferences where they debated the revelations.

Those were, in retrospect, the good old days.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• This is a well written story with a great surprise ending that leaves you second guessing everybody and everything!
• I enjoyed the idea of how the aid workers grew tired of the horror stories from the future. Not that I think it is a good thing, but the story seemed more realistic by including the parts about “compassion fatigue.”

• The bad:

• There is a lot of profanity, and a couple of “adult situations” in this story – definitely not for kids.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 17
• “Radiant Doors” garnered the following awards:

• This short story won the 1999 Asimov’s Reader Poll.
• “Radiant Doors” placed 2nd in the 1999 Locus Poll.
• It was nominated for the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, the 1999 Sturgeon award and the 2000 Nebula award.

Where you can find “Radiant Doors”:

• This short story first appeared in the September 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Radiant Doors” is included in Michael Swanwick’s award winning short story collection Tales of Old Earth.

Some Interesting Links:

• I know my reviews are totally awesome… but I must say, this one from The Specushpere is also pretty darn good!

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Clockwork Atom Bomb, about a UN Weapons Inspector who finds several powerful and illegal devices deep in the heart of Africa, by Dominic Green.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

“Wild Minds” follows Thom, a Catholic man who lives in a future Glasgow, Scotland. After meeting Hellene, an HR representative from Prague who does have an optimized brain, he brings her back to his place for a visit. She tries to convince him of the benefits of optimization, and he tries to explain the reasons he hasn’t done it. What follows is a very interesting conversation about how our society may turn out if scientists really do figure out a way to make our brains more focused. There are some thought provoking ideas, such as employment prejudice, new types of elitism, the role of conservative religions and law cases concerning mental imbalance.

My grandfather used to talk about the value of a good education. His generation was obsessed with the idea. But when the workings of the human brain were finally and completely understood – largely as a result of the NAFTA “virtual genome” project – mere learning became so easy that most corporations simply educated their workforce themselves to whatever standards were currently needed. Anybody could become a doctor, a lawyer, a physicist, provided they could spare the month it took to absorb the technical skills.

With knowledge so cheap, the only thing workers had to sell was their character: their integrity, prudence, willingness to work, and hard-headed lack of sentiment. Which is when it was discovered that a dozen spiderweb-thin wires and a neural mediator the size of a pinhead would make anybody as disciplined and thrifty as they desired. Fifty cents worth of materials and an hour on the operating table would render anybody eminently employable.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• Michael Swanwick is a great writer, so if you like his other works you will most likely enjoy this story too.
• An optimized brain is a really cool idea! It really makes you think about what would be possible with technology like that.

• The bad:

• There are some adult situations and strong language, so stay away if that’s not your cup of tea.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 10
• “Wild Minds” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
• “Wild Minds” was shortlisted for the 1999 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.
• It placed 6th in the 1999 Locus Poll for Best Short Story.

Where you can find “Wild Minds”:

• This short story first appeared in the May 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Wild Minds” is included in Michael Swanwick’s award winning short story collection Tales of Old Earth.

Some Interesting Links:

• Here is a great quote from Michael Swanwick about why he writes: “Because I’m the only one who can write certain stories which I very much want to read.” Ha! Check out the rest of this awesome interview on the website A Dribble of Ink.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Stable Strategies for Middle Management, about a woman who has undertaken a drastic form of bioengineering as a way to move up the corporate ladder, by Eileen Gunn.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

“The Dead” follows Donald, a man who is being courted by a new company with a simple premise: bring the dead back to life and they can be used as a type of cheap, non-complaining, never-get-sick-or-hurt workforce. Sounds great doesn’t it? Donald has a few reservations, however, so the company sends someone to help him see the light. As he eats out, watches a boxing match and argues with his lady he comes to see the true value of a zombie work force.

Three boy zombies in matching red jackets bused our table, bringing water, lighting candles, brushing away the crumbs between courses. Their eyes were dark, attentive, lifeless; their hands and faces so white as to be faintly luminous in the hushed light. I thought it in bad taste, but “This is Manhattan,” Courtney said. “A certain studied offensiveness is fashionable here.”

The blond brought menus and waited for our order.

We both ordered pheasant. “An excellent choice,” the boy said in a clear, emotionless voice.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• Michael Swanwick is a talented writer who knows how to write well and keep the reader engaged. This story is no exception.
• “The Dead” really does make you think about the economic ramifications of using zombies as a labor force – a very interesting idea.
• There are some scenes that are just outright funny – like the boxing match!

• The bad:

• There are some revolting ideas in this story – like some of the more “exotic” uses of re-animated corpses. Be careful of that.
• Also watch out for strong language and adult situations.
• While it is a great story, I came away a little bit disgusted and scared at the same time. If you’re looking for a happy ending then “The Dead” is not for you.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 8

• “The Dead” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
• “The Dead” placed fourth in the short story category of the 1997 Locus Poll.
• It was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.

Where you can find “The Dead”:

• This short story first appeared in the 1996 anthology Starlight 1.
• “The Dead” is included in Gardner Dozois’s amazing collection The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction. (Read my review of this book.)
• It is also included in Michael Swanwick’s award winning short story collection Tales of Old Earth.

Some Interesting Links:

• Blue Tyson over at Not Free SF Reader has a very short summary of this story – and he gives it his highest rating!
• Infinity Plus has a nice interview with Michael Swanwick and it mentions a little bit about his “dead” characters.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Mortimer Gray’s History of Death, about a man’s fascination with death’s role in human history, by Brian Stableford.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:
George is a wealthy retired businessman who blows his retirement account on the lifestyle he really wants – having his brain surgically implanted in a dinosaur! The story begins as George is recovering from the surgery and undergoing therapy as he learns how to move about in the Giganotosaur’s body. This all takes place at Old Patagonia Station – a research facility in the Cretaceous period. Once George is ready he is “released” into the wild where he is thoroughly enthralled with the freedom from humanity and the ability to act out his most base desires while hunting smaller animals. Sure, he has a few snags as he first tries to take on prey that is too big, but he quickly learns the ropes and comes to enjoy his new life. All is not supposed to be fun and games, however, and when the scientists remind him of his contract to help them with their research he suddenly changes his mind – something he will come to regret later on.

“I’m eager to begin therapy, Dr. Alvarez.”

“Good. Then let’s try standing up.”

This, however, was nowhere near so satisfactory. George lurched eagerly to his knees and promptly overbalanced. He leaned against the side of the barn, making the wood creak, to ease his descent to the straw-covered ground. “Damn!”

“Careful – you weigh over eight tons now. And your leg bones are hollow – like a bird’s. You could easily break one doing that.”

“I’ll remember.”

“Good. Now your problem is that you’re pushing it. It’s only your forebrain we’ve grafted atop the existing brain, remember, and it isn’t familiar with the body. However, the hindbrain knows what to do. All the motor skills are already fully functional. Don’t intellectualize. Just picture what you want. The original brain has no defenses against you; it accepts your thoughts as its own. What you have to do is learn to ride it.”

“I’ll try,” he said humbly.

My Two Cents:
Being a male, and a science fiction fan, how could I not love a story which involves time travel, brain surgery, blood lust and dino sex? My opinion may be a little bit colored here, since I am a huge Michael Swanwick fan, but still – this is a mind stretching read that is filled with lots of action and fun ideas!

• The good:

• Kudos for a unique idea that I had never heard of before: human – dinosaur brain grafting. How fun would that be!
• Another cool idea is explained when George tells the scientists how he got rich: lawsuit futures. (Shhh! Don’t tell any lawyers about this story!)

• The bad:

• For all its cool ideas it still has a somewhat predictable plot: mean guy, something bad happens, he becomes a nice guy.
• This is not a story for children – there is some strong language and detailed descriptions of tail-curling dinosaur sex!

Fact Sheet:
• Length: 20 pages

• “Riding the Giganotosaur” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 7th on the 2000 Asimov’s Reader Poll

Where you can find “Riding the Giganotosaur”:

• This story first appeared in the October / November 1999 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Riding the Giganotosaur” is included in Michael Swanwick’s award winning short story collection Tales of Old Earth.
• You can find an archived copy of this story at the Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine.

Related Yet Still Interesting Links:

• For an interesting interview, in which he discusses why he likes dinosaurs so much, check out SF Site’s Conversations with a Dark God: An Interview With Michael Swanwick.
• To see an awesome picture of George the Giganotosaur while he is undergoing physical therapy check out artist Michael Dashow’s web site – be sure to scroll down to the very bottom. (This image is the one used as cover art for Tales of Old Earth.)

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you’ll probably like Scherzo with Tyrannosaur by Michael Swanwick – the Hugo award winning short story about the director of a dinosaur research center who holds a time-line-polluting fund raiser.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

The story begins as a drunken human insults a mech (robot) in a bar, and nearly dies because of it. As the triumphant mech makes to leave, he is invited to chat with an old man and his granddaughter – who question the mech’s ability to live forever. They embark on a discussion of what it would take to create a robot that could live not just for a long time, but until the very end of the universe – several billion years from now.

“What is it you want to talk about, Mr. Brandt?” His voice was audibly less hostile now, as synthetic counterhormones damped down his emotions.

“Immortality. I found your ambition most intriguing.”

“What’s to say? I take care of myself, I invest carefully, I buy all the ugrades. I see no reason why I shouldn’t live forever.” Defiantly. “I hope that doesn’t offend you.”

“No, no, of course not. Why should it? Some men hope to achieve immortality through their works and others through their children. What could give me more joy than to do both? But tell me – do you really expect to live forever?”

My Two Cents:
The old man makes a good point in part of the discussion, asking if there are any machines in current use that are older than humans? This made me think – do I use any machines that are older than I am? Sure, the ideas of TV and the automobile have been around longer than me, but my actual television and car aren’t that old. How good would a machine have to be before that happened? Interesting to think about.

The good:

• The discussion of what it would really take to create a machine that could last forever is the highlight of this story. Some very interesting ideas, including how it would get energy once the sun burns out.
• Quite a short little story – and the last paragraph has the biggest thought provoking line of the entire story!

The bad:

• The first part of the story (where the mech fights the drunk) seems a little off topic. I know it sets the stage for the discussion later on – but it still seems kind of odd.
• This is a thinking story – not a lot of action and space faring here. (Except for the bar fight at the beginning)

Fact Sheet:
• Length: 8 pages

• “Ancient Engines” garnered the following awards:

• Winner of the 2000 Asimov’s Reader Poll
• Placed second in the 2000 Locus Poll
• Nominated for the 2000 Hugo award for best short story
• Nominated for the 2000 Nebula award for best short story

Where you can find “Ancient Engines”:

• This story first appeared in the February 1999 edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Ancient Engines” is included in Michael Swanwicks award winning collection Tales of Old Earth.
• You can purchase an electronic version of this story at Fictionwise.

Related Yet Still Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Michael Swanwick had not one but two short stories nominated for the Hugo award in 1999? Yep – this one and “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur“. You can learn more about this excellent science fiction author at Wikipedia.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might like Heaven, As Built By Tackleby Ames, a humorous piece of flash fiction about an old man trying to live forever, by Bart Meehan

by Michael Swanwick

• Page count: 13

“Scherzo with Tyrannosaur” is an award winning 1999 science fiction short story by Michael Swanwick.
It is about the director of a dinosaur research center who holds a time-line-polluting fund raiser.

The story follows the director of Hilltop Station, a dinosaur research center temporally located in the late Cretaceous period. By using time funnels, a technology granted to humans by the enigmatic Unchanging, scientists are able to go back in time to do research. When Hilltop Station throws a $100,000 per plate fund raising ball, the director is kept busy trying to keep the patrons happy (including their inquisitive sons and mischievous daughters), deal with temporal get-rich-quick schemes and, most importantly, cover his own self-serving tracks.

I have liked all of the short stories I have read from Michael Swanwick, but this is one of my favorites. A deliciously twisted tale of time jumping, corrupt politics and meat eating dinosaurs – what’s not to love? This is one of those rare short stories that is fun to read and has the right blend of action, humor (albeit dark) and thought provoking science fiction ideas. A true gem this one – well deserving of all its rewards.

“Scherzo with Tyrannosaur” is reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite science fiction short stories: Ray Bradbury’s “The Sound of Thunder”. If you enjoyed that story, then you will probably like the more cynical tone and convoluted time twists in this one. This story, which takes its title from the scene where the orchestra is playing a scherzo while a tyrannosaurus desperately tries to break the window, does have some strong language and adult situations – so steer clear if you are offended by those things.

“Scherzo with Tyrannosaur” won the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It also placed 3rd on the 2000 Locus Poll, 4th on the 2000 Asimov’s Reader Poll and was nominated for the 2001 Nebula Award.

The Cretaceous Ball was our big fund-raiser, a hundred thousand dollars a seat, and in addition to the silent auction before the meal and the dancing afterwards, everybody who bought an entire table for six was entitled to their very own paleontologist as a kind of party favor.

I used to be a paleontologist myself, before I was promoted. Now I patrolled the room in tux and cummerbund, making sure everything was running smoothly.

Waiters slipped in and out of existence. You’d see them hurry behind the screen hiding the entrance to the time funnel and then pop out immediately on the other side, carrying heavily-laden trays. Styracosaurus medallions in mastodon mozzarella for those who liked red eat. Archaeopteryx almondine for those who preferred white. Radicchio and fennel for the vegetarians.

All to the accompaniment of music, pleasant chitchat, and the best view in the universe.

Where you can find “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur”:
• This short story originally appeared in the July 1999 edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur” is included in Michael Swanwick’s collection of short stories Tales of Old Earth.
• You can buy an electronic version of the short story at fictionwise.com.

Michael Swanwick is a prolific writer of science fiction short stories. You can read a short biography, as well as interview excerpts, on Locus Magazine’s web site.

If you liked “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur” you may enjoy The Dog Said Bow-Wow, another award winning short story from Michael Swanwick.

by Michael Swanwick

• Page count: 21

“The Very Pulse of the Machine” is a 1998 science fiction short story by Michael Swanwick. It is about an astronaut who survives a crash on Io and has to walk 45 miles back to her lander.

This award winning short story follows Martha Kivelsen, an astronaut who is in a moon rover crash while exploring the surface of Jupiter’s moon, Io. With the rover ruined beyond repair, Kivelsen decides to create a makeshift sledge and drag her partner’s body back to the lander before her air supply runs out. Having no time to sleep, and taking hits of methamphetamine, Kivelsen begins to hallucinate. Not only does she see a horse galloping across Io’s surface, but even worse is the pesky voice that keeps trying to communicate with her through the radio – claiming to be the consciousness of Io.

“The Very Pulse of the Machine” was an interesting read. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Io’s surface, and all the strange formations that Kivelsen encounters on her long walk. I also liked the conversations she holds with “Io” – they were intriguing, funny and kept me wondering how the story would turn out. If you like hard science fiction and descriptions of other worlds, as well as exploring the mind of someone who is going a little bit crazy, then this story is for you. Be forewarned though, there is some strong language and grisly images in this story – so if you’re the queasy type then be careful. But it is classic Swanwick – so if you are of fan of his other works then you’ll most likely enjoy this one as well.

If you enjoy reading this be sure to check out William Wordsworth’s poem, “She Was a Phantom of Delight“, from which this story takes it’s title.

“The Very Pulse of the Machine” won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It was also nominated for the 1999 Locus Award and Asimov’s Reader Poll.

Ahead of her stretched the hard, cold sulfur plain. Smooth as glass. Brittle as frozen toffee. Cold as hell. She called up a visor-map and checked her progress. Only forty-five mile of mixed terrain to cross and she’d reach the lander. Then she’d be home free. No sweat, she thought. Io was in tidal lock with Jupiter. So the Father of Planets would stay glued to one fixed spot in the sky. That was as good as a navigation beacon. Just keep Jupiter to your right shoulder, and Daedalus to your left. You’ll come out fine.

“Sulfur is. Triboelectric.”

“Don’t hold it in. What are you really trying to say?”

“And now I see. With eye serene. The very. Pulse. Of the machine.” A pause. “Wordsworth.”

Where you can find “The Very Pulse of the Machine”:
• This story first appeared in the February 1998 edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• You can read “The Very Pulse of the Machine” in Michael Swanwick’s Locus Award winning book of collected short stories Tales of Old Earth.

Michael Swanwick has won several Hugo Awards for his short stories. You can learn more about this amazing science fiction author on Wikipedia.

If you liked this story you may enjoy A Walk In The Sun, the Hugo award winning short story by Geoffrey A. Landis.