''The Birthday of the World and Other Stories'' is a collection of

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

by American writer

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

, first published in March, 2002, by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. All of the stories, except "

Paradises Lost ''Paradises Lost'' is a science fiction novella by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. It was first published in 2002 as a part of the collection ''The Birthday of the World''. It is set during a multigenerational voyage from Earth to a potent ...

", were previously published individually elsewhere. The story which lends its name to the title of the collection was the most recent publication, in 2000. Only these two stories are not set on planets of the

Ekumen The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including wikt:Terra, Terra ( ...

. The collection was also published in London by Gollancz, an imprint of the Orion Group, in 2003. A softcover edition was published by

Perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

that year.

Foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...

Coming of Age in Karhide "Coming of Age in Karhide" is a science fiction short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1995. The story is set on the fictional planet of Gethen, the same as Le Guin's 1969 novel ''The Left Hand of Darkness'', and is a part of Le Gu ...

" – 1995 in ''New Legends'' ed. G. Bear. Takes place on Gethen the planet of ''

The Left Hand of Darkness ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' is a science fiction novel by U.S. writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Published in 1969, it became immensely popular, and established Le Guin's status as a major author of science fiction. The novel is set in the fictiona ...

'' which is part of the

. In the society of Karhide, where people are naturally

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separ ...

and only become male or female during a heat-like period called "kemmer," an adolescent matures and loses their virginity. *"

The Matter of Seggri "The Matter of Seggri" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. It was first published in 1994 in the third issue of ''Crank!'', a science fiction – fantasy anthology, and has since been printed in number of other pu ...

" – Spring 1994 in ''Crank!''. Takes place on Seggri of the

. The discovery, exploration, and ultimate alteration of a planet characterised by extreme gender imbalance and segregation. *"Unchosen Love" – Fall 1994 in ''Amazing Stories''. Takes place on O of the

which is the same planet as the title story of ''

A Fisherman of the Inland Sea ''A Fisherman of the Inland Sea'' is a 1994 collection of short stories and novellas by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin. The collection was second in the 1995 Locus Award poll in the collection category.Asimov's ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

Science Fiction''. Also set on O, it deals with two women who are in love, but who cannot find suitable partners to establish a sedoretu, decide to deceive the other parties to a marriage by disguising one of the women as a man. The story is part of her

Hainish Cycle The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including Terra ("Earth"), a ...

books. *"Solitude" – December 1994 in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

''. Takes place on Eleven-Soro on the fringes of the Ekumen. Society has fragmented – men and women live apart, and adult women do not even enter each other's houses. The story is told by the daughter of a mobile of the Ekumen who grows up in this society. *" Old Music and the Slave Women" – 1999 in ''Far Horizons'' ed. R. Silverberg. Another story in the same dual-planet system of Werel and Yeowe as ''

Four Ways to Forgiveness ''Four Ways to Forgiveness'' is a collection of four short stories and novellas by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. All four stories are set in the future and deal with the planets Yeowe and Werel, both members of the Ekumen, a collective of pla ...

'' of the Ekumen. Set later in time than the stories in that volume, when the "assets" of Voe Deo on Werel are fighting a war to gain freedom from the "owners". *"The Birthday of the World" – June 2000 in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. The story depicts a society where the hereditary rulers are "God", and how the society is disrupted from inside and outside. The situation has parallels to that of

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

n civilization and the coming of the Europeans. *"

" – First publication. Not part of the Ekumen series, it is a story of a group of humans undertaking a journey to a distant planet to discover the possibilities of habitability. The journey takes several generations, and is told from the perspective of people that have grown up aboard the ship and its unique society, having known only the ship.

References

External links

Ways"
full story at clarkesworld {{DEFAULTSORT:Birthday Of The World, The Short story collections by Ursula K. Le Guin 2002 short story collections Hainish Cycle HarperCollins books

Contents

References

External links