A Paucity of Cat Whiskers

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I have never in my life thanked a reviewer for a positive review. That would be insulting. All he or she has to offer is their honest opinion. Injecting the reviewee's reaction would cheapen that and make it out to be less than it was.

Nevertheless, I was greatly pleased by Gary Wolfe's review of The Universe Box. By my reading (and of course yours may differ), he understood what I was getting at in every story of the collection. And if my publisher is looking for a blurb-quote, why, here it is: "for all his narrative adventurousness and sly wit, Swanwick can also be a master of evocative, graceful prose."

That's all very gratifying.

But I am not grateful for it. Because my desire from long before my first published story was to deserve such praise. If I have done so, good. If not, my bad. And if you wonder whether I deserve such a positive review, well... you can always read the book.

Those with money are encouraged to support their local indie bookstore. Those without have a friend in interlibrary loan.

And f you are curious, you can read Wolfe's entire review here.

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