The Unreal and the Real by Ursula K. Le Guin | 9781481475983

Description

Five decades of stories from one of America’s literary treasures. Ursula K. Le Guin—of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness fame—wrote short stories for over fifty years. The Unreal and the Real, her selected short stories, gathers the finest of them in one landmark volume, first issued by Small Beer Press in 2012 and republished by Saga Press in 2016.

True to its title, the collection is divided in two: “Where on Earth” gathers Le Guin’s realist stories—tales of imaginary countries, small towns, and everyday magic—while “Outer Space, Inner Lands” ventures into science fiction and fantasy, including the Hugo Award-winning “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” “The Wife’s Story,” and “The Rule of Names.” Selected by Le Guin herself, it spans the invented nation of Orsinia to the farthest reaches of the Hainish universe.

A finalist for the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction, this 626-page volume is the essential single-volume introduction to one of the greatest short-story writers of the 20th century—for newcomers and lifelong readers alike.

Ursula K. Le Guin — the legendary author of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness — wrote short stories for over five decades. The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin gathers the finest of them in one landmark volume, first issued by Small Beer Press in 2012 and republished by Simon & Schuster’s Saga Press in 2016.

True to its title, the collection is divided in two: “Where on Earth” gathers Le Guin’s realist stories — tales of imaginary countries, small towns, and everyday magic — while “Outer Space, Inner Lands” ventures into science fiction and fantasy, including the Hugo Award-winning “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” “The Wife’s Story,” and “The Rule of Names.”

A finalist for the 2014 Ken Kesey Award for Fiction, this 626-page volume showcases:

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• A master’s range: from the invented nation of Orsinia to the farthest reaches of the Hainish universe.
• Iconic stories: “Omelas,” “The Matter of Seggri,” “Sur,” and other modern classics.
• Author’s curation: selected by Le Guin herself, with her own illuminating introductions.
• Literary craft: the work of a writer celebrated as a national treasure of American letters.

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For newcomers and lifelong readers alike, The Unreal and the Real is the essential single-volume introduction to one of the greatest short-story writers of the 20th century.