Empire Dreams

A collection of science fiction stories and novelettes by the Hugo and Philip K. Dick Award-winning author of Desolation Road and Luna: New Moon. Published in conjunction with his Locus Award winning debut novel, Desolation Road, Empire Dreams collects some of Ian McDonald's finest early short fiction, including a several stories that first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. In &quote;Vivaldi,&quote; an astrophysicist contemplates the death of the universe as he hurtles through space to investigate a black hole. A beach bum in Morocco encounters a woman who is curiously full of life in &quote;Radio Marrakech.&quote; An Irish scientist prepares to make contact with aliens as his daughter dreams of fairies in &quote;King of Morning, Queen of Day.&quote; And in the title novelette, a boy is given an experimental treatment that allows him to fight his cancer via virtual reality gameplaying. As Asimov'sScience Fiction declared, Ian McDonald is &quote;the Frank Herbert, William Gibson, or arguably even Thomas Pynchon of the early 21st century.&quote;