Michael Swanwick is a charming writer and a creator of inspired Fantasy.
In 1994 he published The Iron Dragon's Daughter, an amazing work of fiction. Equal parts dystopian fantasy and nihilistic fairy tale, The Dragon's Daughter slaughters genre tropes and rebuilds a stark world from the ground up. Leather-clad werewolves, mechanics, juvenile delinquent fairies, and a war dragon bent on armageddon populate the tale and imbue it with a hyper-kinetic energy. I read it in one sitting.
Since then he's published innumerable short works and a series of award-winning novels including: Bones of the Earth, Jack Faust, and Stations of the Tide.
On January 8, 2008, he revisits the world of The Iron Dragon's Daughter in a new novel, The Dragons of Babel. Readers of 2004's collection The Dragon Quintet (Tor) will find the story very familiar.
"If you've already visited the amazing Michael Swanwick's machine-age fantasy universe, you'll be eager to return. If you haven't, this book will make your jaw drop. There's nobody remotely like Swanwick; he is a joyous, jolly, ingenious genre all to himself."--Gene Wolfe
“In The Iron Dragon's Daughter Michael Swanwick created what was virtually a new genre of imaginative fiction. Dragons of Babel is a brilliant sequel to that book. Well-written, beautifully conceived, it is one of the very few fantasy novels I can unreservedly recommend. I love everything about the book.” --Michael Moorcock
"Huck Finn, the Lost Dauphin, and all the host of Faerie pursuing Destiny through Gormenghast with neon! this is original fantasy with genuine old roots, based on honest mythology instead of genre tropes. Swanwick keeps fulfilling his promises to the reader, and the upping the ante. Fascinating, lucid, logical and enchanting" --Kage Baker
I nearly danced in my office when a friend dropped off an advance reading copy today. I've got lots of great reads in the stack, but today everything else gets shoved aside.
UPDATED: I worked myself up into a state of agitation writing this post. I hit "publish" and went right away to Alibris.com where I ordered myself a signed first edition of The Iron Dragon's Daughter.