# Michael Swanwick

Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American fantasy and science fiction author who began publishing in the early 1980s.

## Writing career

Swanwick's fiction writing began with short stories, starting in 1980 when he published "Ginungagap" in TriQuarterly and "The Feast of St. Janis" in New Dimensions 11. Both stories were nominees for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1981. His first novel was In the Drift (an Ace Special, 1985), a look at the results of a more catastrophic Three Mile Island incident, which expands on his earlier short story "Mummer's Kiss". This was followed in 1987 by Vacuum Flowers, an adventurous tour of an inhabited Solar System, where the people of Earth have been subsumed by a cybernetic mass-mind. Some characters’ bodies contain multiple personalities, which can be recorded and edited (or damaged) as if they were wetware.
In the 1990s, Swanwick moved towards the intersection between science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism. Stations of the Tide (1991) is the story of a bureaucrat's pursuit of a magician on a world soon to be altered by its 50-year tide swell; it is set far in the future, blurring the line between magic and technology. The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993) is a fantasy set in a Fairyland based on modern America, with elves wearing Armani suits and dragons serving as jet fighters. The main character, a changeling stolen from the real world, struggles to survive a factory, a high school, and a university, all the while being manipulated by a dragon. In Jack Faust (1997), a retelling of the Faust legend, the scholar does not gain magical power but modern scientific knowledge with which he begins the Industrial Revolution centuries early.
In the 2000s, Swanwick wrote several series of flash fictions, beginning with Puck Aleshire's Abecedary, a collection of 26 stories, each titled for a different letter of the alphabet. Other series included The Periodic Table of Science Fiction, 118 stories each themed about a different chemical element. These were originally published in Sci Fiction. Later, The Infinite Matrix published The Sleep of Reason, in which each story was based on one of Goya’s caprichos. In this period, he won several awards for short fiction; between 1999 and 2003, he had nine stories shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, and won in 1999, 2000, and 2002.
He also continued to write novels. Bones of the Earth (2002) is a time travel story involving dinosaurs. The Dragons of Babel (2008) is set in the same world as The Iron Dragon's Daughter, although the setting and characters are different; The Iron Dragon's Mother (2019) was a third volume in the series. He has written two novels featuring the posthuman rogues Darger and Surplus, who had already appeared in short stories: Dancing with Bears (2011) concerns their adventures in post-Utopian Russia, and in “Chasing the Phoenix” (2015) they travel to China. After Gardner Dozois's death, Swanwick completed his unfinished novel City Under the Stars.
His many works of short fiction have been collected in Gravity's Angels (1991), Moon Dogs (2000), Tales of Old Earth (2000), and others. A novella, Griffin's Egg, was published in book form in 1991 and is also collected in Moon Dogs. He has collaborated with other authors on several short works, including Gardner Dozois ("Ancestral Voices", "City of God", "Snow Job") and William Gibson ("Dogfight").
Stations of the Tide won the Nebula for best novel in 1991, and several of his shorter works have won awards as well: the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for "The Edge of the World" in 1989, the World Fantasy Award for "Radio Waves" in 1996, and Hugos for "The Very Pulse of the Machine" in 1999, "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" in 2000, "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" in 2002, "Slow Life" in 2003, and "Legions in Time" in 2004.

### Nonfiction writing

Swanwick has written about the field as well. He published two long essays on the state of the science fiction ("The User's Guide to the Postmoderns", 1986) and fantasy ("In the Tradition...", 1994), the former of which was controversial for its categorization of new SF writers into "cyberpunk" and "literary humanist" camps. Both essays were collected together in The Postmodern Archipelago 1997. A book-length interview with Gardner Dozois, Being Gardner Dozois, was published in 2001. He is a prolific contributor to the New York Review of Science Fiction. Swanwick wrote a monograph on James Branch Cabell, What Can Be Saved From the Wreckage?, which was published in 2007 with a preface by Barry Humphries, and a short literary biography of Hope Mirrlees, Hope-in-the-Mist, which was published in 2009.

### Television and film

Swanwick's short stories "Ice Age" and "The Very Pulse of the Machine" from Tales of Old Earth were adapted for the Netflix series Love, Death + Robots (2019) for its first and third seasons respectively.

## Personal life

Swanwick thanks his wife, Marianne C. Porter, in all his books, referring to her as "the M. C. Porter Endowment for the Arts".
He was a friend of Gardner Dozois and Susan Caspar for many years. From this friendship grew Being Gardner Dozois and several collaborations, including the novel City Under the Stars.

## Awards

Michael Swanwick's Literary Awards :
| Work | Awards |
| The Feast of Saint Janis | 1981 Nebula Award (Novelette): Nominated 1981 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Ginungagap | 1981 Nebula Award (Novelette): Nominated 1981 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Mummer Kiss | 1982 SF Chronicle Award (Novelette): Won 1982 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated 1982 Nebula Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Walden Three | 1982 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| The Man Who Met Picasso | 1983 World Fantasy Award (Short Fiction): Nominated 1983 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Marrow Death | 1985 Nebula Award (Novella): Nominated 1985 Locus Award (Novella): Nominated |
| Trojan Horse | 1985 Nebula Award (Novelette): Nominated 1985 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| When the Music's Over... | 1985 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Dogfight | 1986 SF Chronicle Award (Novelette): Nominated 1986 Hugo Award (Novelette): Nominated 1986 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated 1986 Nebula Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| In The Drift | 1986 Locus Award (First Novel): Nominated |
| The Blind Minotaur | 1986 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Gods of Mars | 1986 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated 1986 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Transmigration of Philip K. | 1986 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| A Midwinter's Tale | 1988 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): Won 1989 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Vacuum Flowers | 1988 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated |
| The Dragon Line | 1989 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated 1989 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 7th Place |
| The Edge of the World | 1990 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 1990 World Fantasy Award (Short Fiction): Nominated 1990 Theodore Sturgeon Award: Won 1990 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Snow Angels | 1990 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| UFO | 1991 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Stations of the Tide | 1992 SF Chronicle Award (Novel): Won 1992 Nebula Award (Novel): Won 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award: Nominated 1992 Hugo Award (Novel): Nominated 1992 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award (Science Fiction Novel): Finalist 1999 Kurd Laßwitz Award (Foreign Work): Nominated |
| Griffin's Egg | 1992 SF Chronicle Award (Novella): Nominated 1992 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 5th Place 1992 Hugo Award (Novella): Nominated 1992 Locus Award (Novella): Nominated 1993 Nebula Award (Novella): Nominated |
| Gravity's Angels | 1992 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated 1999 Kurd Laßwitz Award (Foreign Work): Nominated |
| In Concert | 1993 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated> |
| Cold Iron | 1993 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 2nd Place 1995 Nebula Award (Novella): Nominated |
| The Changeling's Tale | 1994 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 8th Place 1995 World Fantasy Award (Short Fiction): Nominated 1995 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Iron Dragon's Daughter | 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award: Finalist 1994 World Fantasy Award (Novel): Nominated 1994 Locus Award (Fantasy Novel): Nominated |
| The Mask | 1995 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Walking Out | 1995 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 6th Place 1996 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 1996 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The City of God (With Gardner Dozois) | 1996 Locus Award (Novella): Nominated 1996: Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 6th Place |
| Radio Waves | 1996 World Fantasy Award (Novella): Won 1996 HOMer Award (Novelette): Nominated 1997 Theodore Sturgeon Award: Finalist 1997 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| The Dead | 1997 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 1997 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 1998 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Jack Faust | 1997 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (Long Form): Nominated 1997 BSFA Award (Novel): Nominated 1998 Locus Award (Fantasy Novel): Nominated 1998 Hugo Award (Novel): Nominated |
| A Geography of Unknown Lands | 1998 World Fantasy Award (Collection): Nominated 1998 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
| Ancestral Voices (with Gardner Dozois) | 1998 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 4th Place 1999 Locus Award (Novella): Nominated |
| Radiant Doors | 1998 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): Won 1999 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 1999 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 2000 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Very Pulse of the Machine | 1998 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 3rd Place 1999 Hugo Award (Short Story): Won 1999 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Mother Grasshopper | 1998 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| The Wisdom of Old Earth | 1998 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Wild Minds | 1999 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 1999 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Microcosmic Dog | 1999 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Ancient Engines | 1999 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): Won 2000 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 2000 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 2000 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Archaic Planets: Nine Excerpts from the Encyclopedia Galactica | 1999 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 3rd Place |
| Scherzo with Tyrannosaur | 1999: Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 4th Place 2000 Hugo Award (Short Story): Won 2000 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 2001 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Riding the Giganotosaur | 1999 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 7th Place |
| Moon Dogs | 2000: HOMer Award (Short Story): Nominated 2000 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 6th Place 2001 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 2001 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Moon Dogs (Collection) | 2001 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
| Green Fire | 2000 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 8th Place |
| The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O | 2001 World Fantasy Award (Short Fiction): Nominated 2001 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Tales of Old Earth | 2001 Locus Award (Collection): Won |
| The Dog Said Bow-Wow | 2001 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 4th Place 2002 Hugo Award (Short Story): Won 2002 Theodore Sturgeon Award (Short Science Fiction): Finalist 2002 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated 2003 Nebula Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Dog Said Bow-Wow (Collection) | 2008 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
| The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport | 2002 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 3rd Place 2003 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 2003: Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Slow Life | 2002 Analog Award (Novelette): 5th Place 2003 Hugo Award (Novelette): Won 2003 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Being Gardner Dozois | 2002 Hugo Award (Related Work): Nominated 2002 Locus Award (Non-Fiction): Won |
| Five British Dinosaurs | 2002 BSFA Award (Short Fiction): Nominated |
| Hello, Said the Stick | 2003 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 2003 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Bones of the Earth | 2003 Hugo Award (Novel): Nominated 2003 Nebula Award (Novel): Nominated 2003 John W. Campbell Memorial Award: Finalist 2003 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated |
| Dirty Little War | 2003 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Legions in Time | 2003 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novelette): 6th Place 2004 Hugo Award (Novelette): Won 2004 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Coyote at the End of History | 2003 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): Won |
| Deep in the Woods of Grammarie | 2004 Locus Award] (Short Story): Nominated |
| King Dragon | 2004 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Smoke and Mirrors: Four Scenes from the Post-utopian Future | 2004 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Last Geek | 2005 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Word that Sings the Scythe | 2005 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play | 2006 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Triceratops Summer | 2006 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Lord Weary's Empire | 2006 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novella): 3rd Place 2007 Theodore Sturgeon Award: 3rd Place 2007 Hugo Award (Novella): Nominated 2007 Locus Award (Novella): Nominated |
| Tin Marsh | 2007: Locus Award (Short Story) - Tin Marsh - Nominated |
| A Small Room in Koboldtown | 2008 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 2008 Locus Award (Short Story): Won |
| The Skysailor's Tale | 2008 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Urdumheim | 2008 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled | 2008 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): 2nd Place 2009 Hugo Award (Short Story): Nominated 2009 Theodore Sturgeon Award (Short Science Fiction): Finalist 2009 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Dragons of Babel | 2009 Locus Award (Fantasy Novel): Nominated 2009 Alex Awards: Won 2011 FantLab's Book of the Year Award (Translated Novel/Collection): Nominated |
| The Best of Michael Swanwick | 2009 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated 2015 FantLab's Book of the Year Award (Translated Novel/Collection by Foreign Writer): Nominated |
| The Scarecrow's Boy | 2009 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Libertarian Russia | 2010 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Short Story): Won 2011 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Hope-in-the-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees | 2010 Hugo Award (Best Related Work): Nominated 2010 Locus Award (Non-Fiction/Art Book): Nominated |
| Zeppelin City (with Eileen Gunn) | 2010 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Dancing With Bears | 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award: Finalist 2012 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated |
| For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again | 2012 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Dala Horse | 2012 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| The She-Wolf's Hidden Grin | 2014 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown | 2015 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Passage of Earth | 2015 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Tawny Petticoats | 2015 Locus Award (Novelette): Nominated |
| Lock Up Your Chickens and Daughters -- H'ard and Andy Are Come to Town | 2015 Asimov's Readers' Poll (Novelette): Won |
| The Pyramid of Krakow | 2016 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| Chasing the Phoenix | 2016 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated |
| Not So Much, Said the Cat | 2017 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
| Starlight Express | 2018 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Iron Dragon's Mother | 2020 Locus Award (Fantasy Novel): Nominated |
| City Under the Stars (with Gardner Dozois) | 2021 Locus Award (SF Novel): Nominated |
| The Postutopian Adventures of Darger and Surplus | 2021 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
| Huginn and Muninn -- and What Came After | 2022 Locus Award (Short Story): Nominated |
| The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two | 2024 Locus Award (Collection): Nominated |
Swanwick is also the winner of the 1991 Inkpot Award, the 2010 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association's "Toastmaster Award" & the 2020 Aelita Prize