I’ve been aware for years of Michael Swanwick, as a science fiction and fantasy writer who started out in the 1980s. Somehow I’ve never gotten around to reading his novels, but I’ve encountered and admired some of his short stories in various magazines and anthologies. With the publication today (Feb. 3) of The Universe Box, I’ve finally encountered a concentrated dose of Swanwick. This took me on a wild trip of experiences, with tones ranging from surrealistic to snappy, giggly to grim, and much more, and left me with a lot to think about.
The book contains 19 stories plus an introduction by Swanwick that talks briefly about his house and his wife, which calls the stories in this collection part of the core of his career. He shares thoughts about eight of those stories in particular, and says that in general, his collection focuses on essence vs. appearance, and the space between those elements. The stories mostly were originally published between 2012 and 2023, but two of them are original to this collection. (They’re not arranged chronologically; the titular capstone story was published in 2016.)
Looking at all the stories together, I was intrigued by Swanwick’s different treatments of female characters. Among others, there are an aloof muse, a woman who inexplicably settles for a simplistic hired hand, a woman who rejects a boring man who had gotten in way over his head and tried to save her, a fiancee’s aging yet sexy aunt, and a woman who gets off on violence. There are also mere damsels and objects of affection/attraction, and stories where women are extremely minimal, but I do appreciate the distinct choices and occasional flashing depths. Even in “The White Leopard,” where a man hates his wife, he admits that she is justified in hating him, too, and there’s a moment when he remembers why he used to love her.
In “The Last Days of Old Night,” a reimagined Icelandic story told in fairy tale fashion, a mouse is turned into a servant woman, and she doesn’t have any agency for most of the story, but she’s the only major character whose feelings are described, and she does finally have a chance to take decisive action. I liked this one a lot.
“Requiem for a White Rabbit” is one of the original stories in this collection. It really hits me in the heart after going in some really unexpected directions. It starts with an animatronic character in a theme park suddenly becoming sentient, so it seems to be a story about robotic rebellion. However, when escapees pick up a human hitchhiker, the roadtrip starts veering in a completely different direction. In a way, the story strongly reminds me of a certain episode in Season 6 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but I won’t say which one, to avoid spoilers. But it’s wild and funny and creepy and sad, and not to be missed.
“Dreadnought” is another one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. It’s one where a down-and-out character becomes aware of some weird stuff, and tells someone about it, and then just kind of runs down, and things happen regardless. It’s a frustrating story, because the reader wants him to take action (or at least I did). On the other hand, it’s a really strong picture of decision points and the importance that seemingly small choices can have.
Speaking of choices, one of the stories was loosely inspired by Alice Sheldon, who wrote as James Tiptree Jr. — not so much by her writing as by how her life ended. Swanwick explains his writing choice better in his introduction than I can summarize it here, but the story itself is strong.
One of the odder stories is “Annie Without Crow,” in which a sort of Maleficent figure’s gift/curse for a baby princess is that she never marry a man who is lesser than her, but also the witch/fairy is named Anne, and she shelters a poet named Shakespeare, and things happen and everyone’s memories are altered, so maybe this story is, what if Anne Hathaway was a witch queen? Anyway, it was really fun to read and see things coming together.
So, The Universe Box contains a lot of different kinds of chocolates. Not every story will be for everyone, but if you’re new to Swanwick, it’s worth trying a few! And if you’re a longtime fan, you’ll find some favorites in here, plus a few new goodies.
Content Warnings: Murder, violence, suicide, abuse, sexual situations.
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book for review from the publisher via NetGalley.
