Description

The Universe Box by Michael Swanwick

Paperback – Tachyon – February 2026 – 294 pages

Discover the vast worlds and pocket universes of Michael Swanwick, the only author to win the prestigious Hugo Award five times in six years. In his dazzling new collection, the master of speculative short stories returns with tales in which magic and science improbably coexist with myth and legend.

In these evocative tales, Mischling the thief races through time to defeat three trolls before the sun rises for the first time and turns the inhabitants of her city into stone. A scientist is on the run from assassins because her research in merging human intelligence with sentient AI is too dangerous. In the biggest heist in the history of the universe, a loser Trickster (and the girlfriend who is better than he deserves), sets out to violate every trope and expectation of fiction possible.

With two stories original to this collection, Swanwick once again demonstrates why he is widely respected as a master of storytelling.