by Gene Wolfe
Revere my bones. This hand clasped the hand of Hercules. These bony lips kissed the daughter of a god. Do not pity me.
The bronze blade is still sharp. Still keen, after four thousand years. If I act quickly I can cut both my right wrist and my left. (Pukz 129 and 130, infrared)
Copyright Acknowledgments
“The Tree Is My Hat,” copyright © 1999 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in 999.
“The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin Is the Sun,” copyright @ 1991 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared as a Winter Solstice chapbook from Cheap Street.
“The Friendship Light,” copyright @ 1989 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 40th Anniversary Issue, October 1989.
“Slow Children at Play,” copyright @ 1989 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared as a Winter Solstice chapbook from Cheap Street.
“Under Hill,” copyright © 2002 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Infinite Matrix.
“The Monday Man,” copyright @ 1990 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Readercon 3 Anthology.
“The Waif,” copyright © 2001 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 2002.
“The Legend of Xi Cygnus,” copyright © 1992 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 43rd Anniversary Issue, October/November 1992.
“The Sailor Who Sailed After the Sun,” copyright © 1992 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Grails, Quests, Visitations, and Other Occurences.
“How the Bishop Sailed to Inniskeen,” copyright © 1989 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Spirits of Christmas.
“Houston, 1943,” copyright © 1988 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Tropical Chills.
“A Fish Story,” copyright © 1999 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 50th Anniversary Issue, October/ November 1999.
“Wolfer,” copyright © 1997 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Wild Women.
“The Eleventh City,” copyright © 2000 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Grotesques: A Bestiary.
“The Night Chough,” copyright © 1998 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams.
“The Wrapper,” copyright © 1998 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Lamps on the Brow.
“A Traveler in Desert Lands,” copyright © 1999 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in New Tales of Zothique.
“The Walking Sticks,” copyright © 1999 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Taps and Sighs.
“Queen,” copyright © 2001 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Realms of Fantasy.
“Pocketsful of Diamonds,” copyright © 2000 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Strange Attraction.
“Copperhead,” copyright © 2001 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared on scifi.com.
“The Lost Pilgrim,” copyright © 2003 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in First Heroes.
BY GENE WOLFE FROM TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES
THE WIZARD KNIGHT
The Knight
The Wizard
THE BOOK OF THE SHORT SUN
On Blue’s Waters
In Green’s Jungles
Return to the Whorl
THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN
Shadow and Claw
(comprising The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator)
Sword and Citadel
(comprising The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch)
THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN
Litany of the Long Sun
(comprising Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun)
Epiphany of the Long Sun
(comprising Caldé of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun)
NOVELS
The Fifth Head of Cerberus
The Devil in a Forest
Peace
Free Live Free
The Urth of the New Sun
Latro in the Mist
(comprising Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete)
There Are Doors
Castleview
Pandora by Holly Hollander
NOVELLAS
The Death of Doctor Island
Seven American Nights
COLLECTIONS
Endangered Species
Storeys from the Old Hotel
Castle of Days
The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories
Strange Travelers
Innocents Aboard
PRAISE FOR INNOCENTS ABOARD
“Gene Wolfe is as good a writer as there is today … . I feel a little bit like a musical contemporary attempting to tell people what’s good about Mozart.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Gene Wolfe is the finest and most subtle short story writer active in the field today.”
—David Drake
STRANGE TRAVELERS
“Wolfe can write about ghosts and demons in a style entirely free of whimsy or conventional horror, and he can make straightforward science fiction sound like folk legends and wisdom tales.”
—The New York Times
“If all you care about in speculative fiction is delightfully inventive ideas, then Gene Wolfe should be one of your favorite writers. If all you care about is deft, witty, dead-on writing, then you must already be reading Gene Wolfe.”
—Orson Scott Card
ENDANGERED SPECIES
“Gene Wolfe … has entered the ranks of those rare imaginative talents whose work will justly be regarded as ‘classic’ for generations to come.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“One of the most important collections of the decade.”
—Fantasy & Science Fiction
Gene Wolfe has spent a long career collecting admiring reviews from readers and fellow writers across the spectrum of tastes, and he continues to produce top-notch work at all lengths. Perhaps best known for his extended science fiction/science fantasy opus encompassing The Book of the Nezu Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun, he nonetheless demonstrates unsurpassed skill in writing all across the genres of the fantastic, from hard science to high fantasy, with stops along the way in contemporary fantasy, magic realism, horror, ghost stories, and everything in between.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this collection are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
INNOCENTS ABOARD: NEW FANTASY STORIES
Copyright © 2004 by Gene Wolfe
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Edited by David G. Hartwell
An Orb Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Book design by Kathryn Parise
eISBN 9781429915502
First eBook Edition : March 2011
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Wolfe, Gene.
Innocents aboard: new fantasy stories / Gene Wolfe.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 0-765-30791-X
EAN 978-0765-30791-0
1. Fantasy Fiction, American. I. Title.
PS3573.O52I56 2004
813'.54—dc22
2003071143
First Hardcover Edition: June 2004
First Trade Paperback Edition: March 2005