The Best of Gene Wolfe

he salt ocean was in his mouth and his eyes. His lungs burst for breath. He revolved in the blue chasm of water, tried to swim, at last exploded gasping into the air.

The king had said he would remember, but the years were fading already. Drudging, dancing, buying, spying, prying, waylaying, and betraying when he walked in the world of men. Serving something that he had never wholly understood. Sailing foggy seas that were sometimes of this earth. Floating among the constellations. The years and the slaps and the kicks were all fading, and with them (and he rejoiced in it) the days when he had begged.

He lifted an arm, trying to regain his old stroke, and found that he was very tired. Perhaps he had never really rested in all those years. Certainly, he could not recall resting. Where was he? He paddled listlessly, not knowing if he was swimming away from land, if he was in the center of an ocean. A wave elevated him, a long, slow swell of blue under the gray sky. A glory—the rising or perhaps the setting sun—shone to his right. He swam toward it, caught sight of a low coast.

 H

e crawled onto the sand and lay there for a time, his back struck by drops of spray like rain. Near his eyes, the beach seemed nearly black. There were bits of charcoal, fragments of half-burned wood. He raised his head, pushing away the earth, and saw an empty bottle of greenish glass nearly buried in the wet sand.

When he was able at last to rise, his limbs were stiff and cold. The dawnlight had become daylight, but there was no warmth in it. The beach cottage stood only about a hundred yards away, one window golden with sunshine that had entered from the other side, the walls in shadow. The red Triumph gleamed beside the road.

At the top of a small dune he turned and looked back out to sea. A black freighter with a red and white stack was visible a mile or two out, but it was only a freighter. For a moment he felt a kind of regret, a longing for a part of his life that he had hated but that was now gone forever. I will never be able to tell her what happened, he thought. And then, Yes I will, if only I let her think I’m just making it up. And then, No wonder so many people tell so many stories. Good-bye to all that.

The steps creaked under his weight, and he wiped the sand from his feet on the coco mat. Lissy was in bed. When she heard the door open she sat up, then drew up the sheet to cover her breasts.

“Big Tim,” she said. “You did come. Tim and I were hoping you would.”

When he did not answer, she added, “He’s out having a swim, I think. He should be around in a minute.”

And when he still said nothing. “We’re—Tim and I—we’re going to be married.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I had intended to end this collection with “Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?” Vaughne Hansen and Chris Cohen, who market my work from the Virginia Kidd Agency, insisted on my including this.

Which gives me a fine opportunity to explain. You may wonder who selected these stories. Except for this one, I did, choosing my best work to the best of my poor ability. You have every right to disagree, but don’t tell me if you do; it won’t accomplish a thing. Tell Tor Books instead. Name your favorite, and demand that it be included in a second volume.

If enough of you do that, there will be one—chosen by you.

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories,” copyright © 1970 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit 7.

“The Toy Theater,” copyright © 1971 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit 9.

“The Fifth Head of Cerberus” copyright © 1972 by Damon Knight; first appeared in Orbit.

“Beech Hill,” copyright © 1972 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Infinity Three, edited by Robert Hoskins.

“The Recording,” copyright © 1972 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

“Hour of Trust,” copyright © 1973 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Bad Moon Rising.

“The Death of Dr. Island,” copyright © 1973 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Universe 3.

“La Befana,” copyright © 1973 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Galaxy.

“Forlesen,” copyright © 1974 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit 14.

“Westwind,” copyright © 1973 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Worlds of IF.

“The Hero as Werwolf,” copyright © 1975 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The New Improved Sun.

“The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton,” copyright © 1977 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Universe 7, edited by Terry Carr.

“Straw,” copyright © 1974 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Galaxy.

“The Eyeflash Miracles,” copyright © 1976 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Future Power.

“Seven American Nights,” copyright © 1978 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit 20.

“The Detective of Dreams,” copyright © 1980 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley.

“Kevin Malone,” copyright © 1980 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in New Terrors, edited by Ramsey Campbell.

“The God and His Man,” copyright © 1980 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction.

“On the Train,” copyright © 1983 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in The New Yorker.