"Tonight you and I, with billions of others, are sitting around the fire we call 'the sun', telling stories; and from time to time it has been my turn to entertain." - Gene Wolfe.

In these stories, Gene Wolfe more than fulfils his wish to entertain. He will make you think, laugh and feel sad; but above all, he will give you enjoyment, the most important task for a writer to perform. The stories range widely, through Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror - two are set in the universe of Wolfe's bestselling Book of the New Sun novels. Once again, Gene Wolfe proves himself a master of fiction.

Contents:

• A Cabin on the Coast
• The Map
• Kevin Malone
• The Dark of the June
• The Death of Hyle
• From the Notebook of Dr. Stein
• Thag
• The Nebraskan and the Nereid
• In the House of Gingerbread
• The Headless Man
• The Last Thrilling Wonder Story
• House of Ancestors
• Our Neighbour by David Copperfield
• When I Was Ming the Merciless
• The God and His Man
• The Cat
• War Beneath the Tree
• Eyebem
• The HORARS of War
• The Detective of Dreams
• Peritonitis
• The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus
• The Woman the Unicorn Loved
• The Peace Spy
• All the Hues of Hell
• Procreation: Creation, The Sister’s Account, Lukora
• Suzanne Delage
• Sweet Forest Maid
• My Book
• The Other Dead Man
• The Most Beautiful Woman on the World
• The Tale of the Rose and the Nightingale (And What Came of It)
• Silhouette