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CHASING THE PHOENIX

Michael Swanwick

Chasing the Phoenix: a science fiction masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick!

In the distant future, Surplus arrives in China dressed as a Mongolian shaman, leading a yak which carries the corpse of his friend, Darger. The old high-tech world has long since collapsed, and the artificial intelligences that ran it are outlawed and destroyed. Or so it seems.

Darger and Surplus, a human and a genetically engineered dog with human intelligence who walks upright, are a pair of con men and the heroes of a series of prior Swanwick stories. They travel to what was once China and invent a scam to become rich and powerful. Pretending to have limited super-powers, they aid an ambitious local warlord who dreams of conquest and once again reuniting China under one ruler. And, against all odds, it begins to work, but it seems as if there are other forces at work behind the scenes. Chasing the Phoenix is a sharp, slick, witty science fiction adventure that is hugely entertaining from Michael Swanwick, one of the best SF writers alive.

Michael Swanwick has won five Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award in his long career of science fiction. He is the author of Dancing with Bears and the short story collection The Dog Said Bow-Wow. He has also made contributions science fiction field with critical essays as well as a biography of Hope Mirrlees.
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Published 2015-08-01 by Tor Books

Comments

Hugo-winner Swanwick takes his longtime rogue heroes, Surplus and Darger, to postapocalyptic China in this intriguing chronicle of adventures. . . as Darger's schemes become more intricate, the intellectual puzzles keep interest right to the end.

A standout piece of storytelling. (on The Iron Draon's Daughter)

Michael Swanwick is one of the most intellectually astute SF writers of his generation.

Named a “Best Fiction Book of 2015” by Kirkus Reviews

A new entry in Swanwick's picaresque post-apocalyptic series, following Dancing with Bears and various short stories. Technological civilization collapsed long ago, the reasons for which only gradually emerge, yet Swanwick's seductive future swarms with gene-modified creatures, ancient weapons, vengeful artificial intelligences, and other contrivances that would not seem out of place in a steampunk yarn. . . [a] witty, supple, artfully humorous, and vastly engaging yarn. . . Swanwick offers a pair of delightful rogues whose chief flaw (like Jack Vance's celebrated Cugel the Clever, a likely inspiration) is that they're a little too crafty for their own good. Swanwick's approaching top form, and this one's just too good to miss. (starred review)