Although acclaimed for such epics as the Book of the New Sun series, Gene Wolfe was also a versatile writer of short-form science fiction throughout his 40-year career. Selected by the author, the highlights include the Nebula Award-winning novella The Death of Dr. Island and The Fifth Head of Cerberus, later incorporated into the classic novel by the same name. Other standouts among the 31 tales here include "The Toy Theater," "The Eyeflash Miracles," "The Tree Is My Hat," and "Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?"

"Wolfe mixes pulp adventure, ghost stories, and noir with self-reference, meta-fiction, unreliable narrators, and puns…. A highly flattering career retrospective of a postmodern fabulist disguised as a mild-mannered SF writer."—Publishers Weekly