Michael Bishop: Collections

Chronologically listed or use the list below to go to specific titles.
Same format as Novels.
Click here for a list of Michael Bishop stories that have not been
reprinted in any of his short story collections.
Clicking on the cover graphic will load a larger reproduction.

At the City Limits of Fate
Blooded on Arachne
Blue Kansas Sky
Brighten to Incandescence
The City and the Cygnets
Close Encounters With the Deity
The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy
Emphatically Not SF, Almost
A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals
One Winter in Eden
Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories
The Sacerdotal Owl and Three Other Long Tales of Calamity, Pilgrimage, and Atonement

Blooded on Arachne
	Sauk City WI: Arkham House [ISBN 0-87054-093-9] [hc] ($13.95), Jan 1982; 338 pp. [cover: Ron Walotsky; interior illustrations by Glennray Tutor] [4081 copies printed]
	Contents Preface Among the Hominids at Olduvai [poem] Blooded on Arachne Cathadonian Odyssey Effigies The House of Compassionate Sharers In Chinistrex Fortronza the People are Machines Leaps of Faith On the Street of the Serpents Piñon Fall Rogue Tomato Spacemen and Gypsies The White Otters of Childhood For the Lady of a Physicist [poem]
	New York: Timescape [Pocket] [ISBN 0-671-41319-8] [pb] ($3.50), Jan 1983; 305 pp. [cover: Ron Walotsky]
	Contents [same as the Arkham House edition]
	[Part One as Arachne] [German translation by Johannes P. Blasius] Frankfurt: Ullstein (#31054) [ISBN 3-548-31054-0] [pb] (DM 6.80), Jun 1983; 176 pp. [cover: Peter Knifton]
	Contents Vorwort [Preface] Arachne [Blooded on Arachne] Odyssee auf Cathadonia [Cathadonian Odyssey] Abbilder [Effigies ] Das Haus der Mitfühlenden Teiler [The House of Compassionate Sharers] Die bewohner von Chinistrex Fortronza sind maschinen [In Chinistrex Fortronza the People are Machines] Glaubenssprünge [Leaps of Faith] Besucher [Piñon Fall]
	[Part Two as Raumfahrer und Sternzigeuner] [German translation by Johannes P. Blasius] Frankfurt: Ullstein (#31063) [ISBN 3-548-31063-X] [pb] (DM 6.80), Nov 1983; 176 pp. [cover: Tony Roberts]
	Contents Auf der Straße der Schlangen [On the Street of the Serpents] Als Tomate im Weltraum [Rogue Tomato] Raumfahrer und Sternzigeuner [Spacemen and Gypsies] Die weißen Otter der Kindheit [The White Otters of Childhood] Among the Hominids at Olduvai [poem] For the Lady of a Physicist [poem]
	[as Arachne] [German translation by Rainer Schmidt] Munich: Apex-Verlag [ISBN 978-3-743859-05-0] [ebook] (€7,99), Mar 2018 [cover: ]
	Contents Vorwort [Preface] Arachne [Blooded on Arachne] Odyssee auf Cathadonia [Cathadonian Odyssey] Abbilder [Effigies ] Das Haus der Mitfühlenden Teiler [The House of Compassionate Sharers] Die bewohner von Chinistrex Fortronza sind maschinen [In Chinistrex Fortronza the People are Machines] Glaubenssprünge [Leaps of Faith] Besucher [Piñon Fall] Auf der Straße der Schlangen [On the Street of the Serpents] Als Tomate im Weltraum [Rogue Tomato] Raumfahrer und Sternzigeuner [Spacemen and Gypsies] Die weißen Otter der Kindheit [The White Otters of Childhood]
	[as Arachne] [German translation by Rainer Schmidt] Munich: Apex-Verlag [ISBN 978-3-7502-4388-0] [hc] (€29,99), {[SBN 978-3-7502-4383-5] [trade pb] (€16,99), Oct 2019; 481 pp. [cover: Christian Dorge]
	Contents Vorwort [Preface] Arachne [Blooded on Arachne] Odyssee auf Cathadonia [Cathadonian Odyssey] Abbilder [Effigies ] Das Haus der Mitfühlenden Teiler [The House of Compassionate Sharers] Die bewohner von Chinistrex Fortronza sind maschinen [In Chinistrex Fortronza the People are Machines] Glaubenssprünge [Leaps of Faith] Besucher [Piñon Fall] Auf der Straße der Schlangen [On the Street of the Serpents] Als Tomate im Weltraum [Rogue Tomato] Raumfahrer und Sternzigeuner [Spacemen and Gypsies] Die weißen Otter der Kindheit [The White Otters of Childhood]

One Winter in Eden
	Sauk City WI: Arkham House [ISBN 0-87054-096-3] [hc] ($13.95), Jan 1984; 273 pp. [cover: Raymond Bayless; interior artwork by Andrew Smith] [3596 copies printed]
	Contents Introductions [Foreword by Thomas M. Disch] One Winter in Eden Seasons of Belief Cold War Orphans The Yukio Mishima Cultural Association of Kudzu Valley, Georgia Out of the Mouths of Olympus Patriots Collaborating Within the Walls of Tyre The Monkey's Bride Vernalfest Morning Saving Face The Quickening
	London: Gateway/Orion [ISBN 978-0-575-12305-2] [ebook] (£2.99), Oct 2013
	Contents [same as the Arkham House edition]

Close Encounters With the Deity
	Atlanta GA: Peachtree Publishers [ISBN 0-931948-96-7] [hc] ($15.95) [ISBN 0-934601-07-0] [trade pb] ($8.95) Aug 1986; 306 pp. [cover: Ralph P. Masiello]
	Contents Religion and Science Fiction [Foreword by Isaac Asimov] Close Encounter with the Deity Voices A Spy in the Domain of Arnheim Love's Heresy Storming the Bijou, Mon Amour Dogs' Lives A Gift from the GrayLanders A Short History of the Bicycle: 401 B.C. to 2677 A.D. Diary of a Dead Man Scrimptalon's Test The Bob Dylan Tambourine Software & Satori Support Services Consortium, Ltd. Alien Graffiti And the Marlin Spoke The Gospel According to Gamaliel Crucis
	London: Gateway/Orion [ISBN 978-0-575-12306-9] [ebook] (£2.99), Oct 2013
	Contents [same as the Peachtree Publishers edition]

Emphatically Not SF, Almost
	Eugene OR: Pulphouse Publishing [Author's Choice Monthly, Issue 15] [no ISBN] [leatherbound hardcover; limited to 50 signed and numbered copies] ($50.00) [clothbound hardcover, limited to 300 signed and numbered copies] ($25.00) [trade paperback, unlimited] ($4.95) Dec 1990; 102 pp. [cover: George Barr]
	Contents Introduction Unlikely Friends Wished-For Belongings A Pocketful of Angst: A Mini-Anthology Dear Bill A Father's Secret Give a Little Whistle The Egret Tears Patriots Taccati's Tomorrow

At the City Limits of Fate
	Cambridge MA: Edgewood Press [ISBN 0-9629066-6-2] [trade pb] ($14.00) Aug 1996; 328 pp. [cover: Rick Berry]
	Contents Beginnings 000-00-0000 Snapshots from the Butterfly Plague Among the Handlers At the City Limits of Fate Epistrophy For Thus Do I Remember Carthage Allegra's Hands God's Hour In the Memory Room Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats Reading the Silks Icicle Music The Ommatidium Miniatures I, Iscariot
	[as En los suburbios del destino] [Spanish (Castilian) translation by Maria Fernandez Gutierrez] Madrid Spain: Grupo Ajec [Albemuth Internacional] [ISBN 978-84-96013-94-0] [trade pb] (€17,95) Jun 2010; 288 pp. [cover: Duc Truong Huyen]
	Contents Principios [Beginnings] 000-00-0000 Instantáneas de la plaga de mariposas [Snapshots from the Butterfly Plague] Entre los manejadores [Among the Handlers] En los suburbios del destino [At the City Limits of Fate] Epistrophy Así recuerdo Cartago [For Thus Do I Remember Carthage] La mano de Allegra [Allegra's Hands] La hora de Dios [God's Hour] En la sala del recuerdo [In the Memory Room] La vida considerada como un puzzle de gatos muy lustrosos [Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats] Leyendo la seda [Reading the Silks] Música de carámbanos [Icicle Music] Las miniaturas del omatidio [The Ommatidium Miniatures] Yo, Iscariote [I, Iscariot] Duc Truong Huyen's original art without text
	London: Gateway/Orion [ISBN 978-0-575-12307-6] [ebook] (£2.99) Oct 2013
	Contents [same as the Edgewood Press edition]

Blue Kansas Sky
	Urbana IL: Golden Gryphon Press [ISBN 0-9655901-0-0] [hc] ($24.95) Oct 2000; 263 pp. [cover: Ron Walotsky] [4000 copies printed]
	Contents "Such Guileless Beauty in Debris": The Moral Universe of Michael Bishop [Introduction by James Morrow] Blue Kansas Sky Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana Cri de Coeur Death and Designation Among the Asadi Ron Walotky's sketch for the original cover art
	London: Gateway/Orion [ISBN 978-0-575-12308-3] [ebook] (£2.99) Aug 2013
	Contents [same as the Golden Gryphon edition]

Brighten to Incandescence: 17 Stories
	Urbana IL: Golden Gryphon Press [ISBN 1-930846-16-9] [hc] ($24.95) Jun 2003; 295 pp. [cover: Jamie Bishop]
	Contents Introduction [by Lucius Shepard] Thirteen Lies About Hummingbirds The Unexpected Visit of a Reanimated Englishwoman Chihuahua Flats With a Little Help from Her Friends "We're All in This Alone" [with Paul Di Filippo] Sequel on Skorpiós Murder on Lupozny Station [with Gerald W. Page] A Tapestry of Little Murders O Happy Day Herding With the Hadrosaurs The Tigers of Hysteria Feed Only On Themselves Tithes of Mint and Rue Of Crystalline Labyrinths and the New Creation Simply Indispensable Last Night Out The Procedure Help Me, Rondo A Lingering Incandescence: Notes About the Stories
	London: Gateway/Orion [ISBN 978-0-575-12309-0] [ebook] (£2.99) Oct 2013
	Contents [same as the Golden Gryphon edition]

The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy: A Michael Bishop Retrospective
	Edited by Michael H. Hutchins Burton MI: Subterranean Press [ISBN 978-1-596069-374-7] [deluxe hardcover edition limited to 250 signed copies, and 500 unsigned copies] ($45.00) Feb 2012 [stated "2011"]; 528 pp. [cover: Lee Moyer]
	Contents Preface [by Michael H. Hutchins] Introduction [by Jack McDevitt] Piñon Fall Cathadonian Odyssey Blooded on Arachne The Samurai and the Willows The House of Compassionate Sharers Within the Walls of Tyre Storming the Bijou, Mon Amour The Yukio Mishima Cultural Association of Kudzu Valley, Georgia The Quickening Dogs' Lives A Gift from the GrayLanders Taccati's Tomorrow Alien Graffiti Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats Tithes of Mint and Rue Help Me, Rondo The Door Gunner The Road Leads Back The Angst, I Kid You Not, of God Bears Discover Smut Miriam The Pile Vinegar Peace; or, The Wrong-Way, Used-Adult Orphanage The City Quiet as Death [with Steven Utley] Story Notes

Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories
	Bonney Lake WA: Kudzu Planet Productions / Fairwood Press [ISBN 978-1-933846-65-1] [trade paperback] ($17.99); [ebook] ($5.99) Jun 2017; 233 pp. [cover: Patrick Swenson]
	Contents Author's Note Introduction: Beyond Regionalism [by Hugh Ruppersburg] The Road Leads Back Unfit for Eden Andalusian Triptych, 1962 Unlikely Friends Crazy About Each Other Her Smoke Rose Up Forever Other Arms Reach Out to Me How Beautiful With Banners The Russian Agent Doggedly Wooing Madonna Baby Love Change of Life No Picnic Free Rattlesnakes and Men

The Sacerdotal Owl and Three Other Long Tales of Calamity, Pilgrimage, and Atonement
	Bonney Lake WA: Kudzu Planet Productions / Fairwood Press [ISBN 978-1-933846-75-0] [signed limited hardcover] ($35.00) [ISBN 978-1-933846-72-9] [trade paperback] ($17.99); [ebook] ($5.99) Aug 2018; 278 pp. [cover: Patrick Swenson]
	Contents One-Rhyme Sonnet on the Mutability of Human Faith [as by Muni Ben-Ami] The Sacerdotal Owl And Strange At Ecbatan the Trees To the Land of Snow The Gospel According to Gamaliel Crucis Author's Afterword: A Long Tale Cut Short?

The City and the Cygnets An Alternate History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century
	Bonney Lake WA: Kudzu Planet Productions / Fairwood Press [ISBN 978-1-933846-78-1] [trade paperback] ($19.99); [ebook] ($5.99) Aug 2019; 463 pp. [cover: Amit Dutta]
	Contents Introduction: The Quality of Yearning by Kelly Robson Prelude: The Domes One: If a Flower Could Eclipse Interlude: The Testimony of Leland Tanner Two: Old Folks at Home Interlude: The City Takes Care of Its Own Three: The Windows in Dante's Hell Interlude: Volplaning Heroes Four: The Samurai and the Willows Interlude: First Councilor Jarboe Five: Allegiances Interlude: The Cradle Begins to Rock Six: At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid Interlude: The Introduction to Out and Back Again Seven: A Little Knowledge Interlude: After Jalyrica's Fall Eight: Death Rehearsals Chronology Author's Afterword: With a Little Help from My Friends...and My Betters

A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals: 50 Short Stories & Poems
	Edited by Michael H. Hutchins Bonney Lake WA: Kudzu Planet Productions / Fairwood Press [ISBN 978-1-933846-12-5] [trade paperback] ($17.99); [ebook] ($5.99) Nov 2021; 248 pp. [cover: Josef Barton]
	Contents Acts of Chutzpah: An Introduction by Sarah Pinsker Astyages' Dream Which He Relates to the Magi [poem] Love's Heresy HoneyMoonWalk [poem] Darktree, Darktide I, Cartographer [prose poem] Tears The Contributors to Plenum Four To a Chimp Held Captive for Purposes of Research [poem] A Father's Secret Wished-for Belongings Vernalfest Morning The Egret In Rubble, Pleading Give a Little Whistle For the Lady of a Physicist [poem] Dear Bill Independence Day Forever [poem] A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals In the Memory Room Extinct [poem] Three Dreams in the Wake of a Death The Balloon Secrets of the Alien Reliquary [poem] Annalise, Annalise Epistrophy Dead Poet Parable [poem] Midwifing the World Menard's Disease The Alzheimer Laureate Her Chimpanion [prose poem] Tired An Owl at the Crucifixion [poem] Sequel on Skorpiós Outside the Circle Last Night Out The Mockingmouse [poem] Purr Miriam No Appetite for Communion The Library of Babble Philip K. Dick is dead, a lass [poem] Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes The Making of Kid Dibauda Dr. Prida's Dream-Plagued Patient Did You Want to Talk? Seevy The Grape Jelly and Mustard Method [play] One-Rhyme Sonnet on the Mutability of Human Faith [poem] Yahweh's Hour A Scaffold [poem] Story Notes

Note: Collections are numbered as follows to facilitate the search for contents on the Short Fiction Chronological Listing.

[1] Blooded On Arachne
[2] One Winter in Eden
[3] Close Encounters with the Deity
[4] Emphatically Not SF, Almost
[5] At the City Limits of Fate
[6] Blue Kansas Sky
[7] Brighten to Incandescence
[8] The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy
[9] Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories
[10] The Sacerdotal Owl and Three Other Long Tales
[11] The City and the Cygnets
[12] A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals

Click here for a list of Michael Bishop stories that have not been reprinted in any of his short story collections.

Compiled by Michael H. Hutchins

Back to Collection Listing