The Birthday Of The World and Other Stories (GOLLANCZ S.F.) - Softcover

LeGuin, Ursula K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0575075392 ISBN 13: 9780575075399

Publisher: Gollancz, 2004

Synopsis

'Her most important book since ALWAYS COMING HOME and her most satisfactory collection since her first, the brilliant THE WIND'S TWELVE QUARTERS. A formidable and rewarding work, a prime candidate for best SF collection of the year. An essential book.' LOCUS
Six of the eight piece are set in Le Guin's classic Hainish cycle. The title story, 'The Birthday of the World', stands alone and the final piece, 'Paradises Lost', is a new short novel original to the collection, a major addition to the generation starship subgenre of science fiction.

About this title

Review:

Ursula Le Guin's latest title, The Birthday of the World, is her first short story collection since The Wind's Twelve Quarters (available in the Gollancz yellow jacket edition) and one of the most essential SF short story volumes published in many a while. Long-time fans of Le Guin will be delighted that several of the pieces are set in the already superbly realised worlds of her Hainish cycle, and there is a brand new novella called Paradises Lost.

This is the SF of ideas, a lyrical, organic collection that explores visions of worlds where women outnumber men, where there exist societies without order and lands where sex is not determined at birth, but people slip between genders at a whim and are neither male nor female in between. While the word controversial doesn't really do it justice, the stories and the ideas Le Guin presents are certainly challenging to say the least, and she has some interesting ideas on the evolution of society and our own place in it. All in all a daring and bold collection, breathtaking and beautiful, that confirms why Le Guin is one of the genre's most celebrated writers. --Jon Snow

Review:

"Strong work from a master storyteller; highly recommended."--Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0575075392
• ISBN 13: 9780575075399
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384