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Excerpt
Every road and open doorway is a constant danger to a man of wandering disposition. Olav had stood on the threshold of his cottage one spring morning and the road had looked so fine that he couldn’t resist setting foot on it, and the next thing he knew it had carried him to the sea. There he chanced upon a merchant ship in need of a new hand. He learned the sailoring trade, fought pirates, killed a kraken, grew a beard, pierced an ear, and one memorable night won a handful of rubies at a single turn of the cards and lost them all to a barmaid who doped his ale. Two years later, he was shipwrecked off Thule and briefly married to a witch-woman who had blackwork tattoos on her face and had filed her teeth to points.
The marriage did not last, however.
Bio
Michael Swanwick is one of the most acclaimed science fiction and fantasy writers of his generation. He has the unique distinction of having received a Hugo Award for fiction in five out of six years and has been honored with the Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards as well as receiving nominations for the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He has taught at Clarion West several times and enjoyed it immensely.
He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Marianne Porter.
Writing Description
Swanwick's writing is infinitely varied.
Goals
One thousand words per week, not counting flash fiction, which is far too easy to count. Two years ago I tricked Eileen Gunn into writing a story with me (“Shed That Guilt! Double Your Productivity Overnight!”) by the simple expedient of not telling her she was doing so. Last year, we began two collaborative stories, one of which ("The Armies of Elfland") has been published in Asimov's and other of which is nearing completion, plus a round-robin with whoever cared to play. Eileen hates finishing stories almost as much as I enjoy reading what she writes. So, as always, my goal includes goading Eileen into a completing a story.
Website
My web page is michaelswanwick.com, and I blog at floggingbabel.blogspot.com and poemdujour.blogspot.com.
