Book picks similar to
The Mongolian Wizard by Michael Swanwick


fantasy
short-stories
short-story
alternate-history

Wakulla Springs


Andy Duncan - 2013
    In its unfathomable depths, a variety of curious creatures have left a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end. And that's just the local human beings over the last seventy-five years. Then there are the prehistoric creatures...and, just maybe, something else.Ranging from the late 1930s to the present day, "Wakulla Springs" is a tour de force of the human, the strange, and the miraculous.

Six Months, Three Days


Charlie Jane Anders - 2011
    Judy can see every possible future, branching out from each moment like infinite trees. Doug can also see the future, but for him, it's a single, locked-in, inexorable sequence of foreordained events. They can't both be right, but over and over again, they are. Obviously these are the last two people in the world who should date. So, naturally, they doSix Months, Three Days is the winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Fireside Magazine Issue 52, February 2018


Julia Rios - 2018
    In this issue: — "Dust to Dust," by Mary Robinette Kowal— "How I Got Published (12 Tips from a Bestselling Author)," by Dominica Phetteplace— "knick knack, knick, knack," by Holly Lyn Walrath— "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington", by Phenderson Djéli Clark, illustrated by Odera Igbokwe

Elephants and Corpses


Kameron Hurley - 2015
    When his assistant Tera recognizes the most recent waterlogged cadaver they bought off the street, though, he finds that his new body is carrying more trouble than he bargained for.

Brimstone and Marmalade


Aaron Corwin - 2013
    Instead, she got a demon. Sometimes growing up means learning that what you think you want is not always what you need.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Steampunk (Steampunk, #1)


Jeff VanderMeerJoseph E. Lake - 2008
    Blaylock"The Giving Mouth" by Ian R. MacLeod "A Sun in the Attic" by Mary Gentle "The God-Clown is Near" by Jay Lake"The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel" by Joe R. Lansdale"The Selene Gardening Society" by Molly Brown"Seventy-Two Letters" by Ted Chiang"The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance" by Michael Chabon"Victoria" by Paul Di Filippo"Reflected Light" by Rachel E. Pollock"Minutes of the Last Meeting" by Stepan Chapman"Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of Tribes of the Pacific Coast" by Neal Stephenson"The Steam-Driven Time Machine: A Pop Culture Survey" by Rick Klaw"The Essential Sequential Steampunk: A Modest Survey of the Genre within the Comic Book Medium" by Bill Baker

A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers


Alyssa Wong - 2016
    Weather workers. Time benders. When two people so determined have opposing desires, it's hard to say who will win - or even what victory might look like. This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories


Susanna Clarke - 2004
    With Clarke's characteristic historical detail and diction, these dark, enchanting tales unfold in a slightly distorted version of our own world, where people are bedeviled by mischievous interventions from the fairies. With appearances from beloved characters from her novel, including Jonathan Strange and Childermass, and an entirely new spin on certain historical figures, including Mary, Queen of Scots, this is a must-have for fans of Susanna Clarke's and an enticing introduction to her work for new readers. Some of these stories have never before been published; others have appeared in the "New York Times" or in highly regarded anthologies."" In this collection, they come together to expand the reach of Clarke's land of enchantment--and anticipate her next novel (Fall 2008).

The Martian in the Wood


Stephen Baxter - 2017
    Although people hoped and prayed peace had come, they were wrong. Across the gulf of space, plans were being drawn for a return, but before they could bear fruit a terrible discovery was made deep in Holmburgh Wood, one that would tear a family apart and shock the world.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack


Mark Hodder - 2010
    The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!

Territory


Emma Bull - 2007
    Doc Holliday. Ike Clanton. You think you know the story. You don't. Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 is the site of one of the richest mineral strikes in American history, where veins of silver run like ley lines under the earth, a network of power that belongs to anyone who knows how to claim and defend it.Above the ground, power is also about allegiances. A magician can drain his friends' strength to strengthen himself, and can place them between him and danger. The one with the most friends stands to win the territory.Jesse Fox left his Eastern college education to travel West, where he's made some decidedly odd friends, like the physician Chow Lung, who insists that Jesse has a talent for magic. In Tombstone, Jesse meets the tubercular Doc Holliday, whose inner magic is as suppressed as his own, but whose power is enough to attract the sorcerous attention of Wyatt Earp. Mildred Benjamin is a young widow making her living as a newspaper typesetter, and--unbeknownst to the other ladies of Tombstone--selling tales of Western derring-do to the magazines back East. Like Jesse, Mildred has episodes of seeing things that can't possibly be there. When a failed stage holdup results in two dead, Tombstone explodes with speculation about who attempted the robbery. The truth could destroy Earp's plans for wealth and glory, and he'll do anything to bury it. Meanwhile, outlaw leader John Ringo wants the same turf as Earp. Each courts Jesse as an ally, and tries to isolate him by endangering his friends, as they struggle for magical dominance of the territory.Events are building toward the shootout of which you may have heard. But you haven't heard the whole, secret story until you've read Emma Bull's unique take on an American legend, in which absolutely nothing is as it seems...

The Dark Discovery of Jack Dandy


Kady Cross - 2013
    Learn how his actions set the plot in motion in The Dark Discovery of Jack Dandy, a short teaser story from author Kady Cross’s Steampunk Chronicles. Jack Dandy didn’t become prince of the London underworld at barely twenty-one by being softhearted, even if a certain girl in a steel corset has wormed her way into his affections of late. He knows how to manipulate, charm and rob people blind.And if his criminal activities embarrass his aristocratic father, so much the better. So when a friend of Jack’s father hires him for an underhanded job, Jack is happy to oblige—for an outrageous fee, of course. Delivering a mysterious crate seems like aneasy task—until Jack realizes just what is inside...

Hard Magic


Larry Correia - 2011
    He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who's been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree. Problems arise when Jake discovers the bad girl behind the robberies is an old friend, and he happens to know her magic is just as powerful as his, and the Feds have plunged Jake into a secret battle between powerful cartels of magic-users--a cartel whose ruthless leaders have decided that Jake is far too dangerous to live. . . .

Fireworks in the Rain


Steven Brust - 2013
    The Incrementalists are an ancient conspiracy to make the world better -- just a little bit at a time. "Fireworks in the Rain" tells a story not found in the novel, and serves as an equally beguiling introduction to the Incrementalists and how they work...At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Bridge of Birds


Barry Hughart - 1984
    He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together, they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure.The quest led them to a host of truly memorable characters, multiple wonders, incredible adventures—and strange coincidences, which were really not coincidences at all. And it involved them in an ancient crime that still perturbed the serenity of Heaven. Simply and charmingly told, this is a wry tale, a sly tale, and a story of wisdom delightfully askew. Once read, its marvels and beauty will not easily fade from the mind.The author claims that this is a novel of an ancient China that never was. But, oh…it should have been!