Gene Wolfe, of whom The Washington Post said, 'Of all science fiction writers currently active none is held in higher esteem', has collected the short fiction he considers his best for one volume. There are many award nominees and winners among the thirty-one stories here, and many that have been selected for various Year's Best anthologies over the last forty years, including Petting Zoo, The Tree Is My Hat, The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories, The Hero as Werewolf, Seven American Nights, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Detective of Dreams, and A Cabin on the Coast. Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last forty years, and is certainly among the great living writers to emerge from the genres. This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career. It is for the ages.