''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' is a collection of short stories by American writer
Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from
A. E. Housman's ''
A Shropshire Lad''
and first published by
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
in 1975.
Described by Le Guin as a retrospective,
it collects 17 previously published stories, four of which were the germ of novels she was to write later: "
The Word of Unbinding" and "
The Rule of Names" gave Le Guin the place that was to become
Earthsea
''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' ...
;
"Semley's Necklace" was first published as "Dowry of the Angyar" in 1964 and then as the Prologue of the novel ''
Rocannon's World
''Rocannon's World'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, her literary debut. It was published in 1966 as an Ace Double, along with Avram Davidson's ''The Kar-Chee Reign'', following the tête-bêche format. Though i ...
'' in 1966;
"
Winter's King" is about the inhabitants of the planet Winter, as is Le Guin's later novel ''
The Left Hand of Darkness''.
Most of the other stories are also connected to Le Guin's novels.
The story "
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is a 1973 work of short philosophical fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, ...
" won the
Hugo Award in 1974,
while "
The Day Before the Revolution" won the
Locus
Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to:
Entertainment
* Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front
* ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine
** ''Locus Award' ...
and
Nebula Awards in 1975.
Contents
*Foreword
*"
Semley's Necklace"
*"April in Paris"
*"The Masters"
*"Darkness Box"
*"
The Word of Unbinding"
*"
The Rule of Names"
*"
Winter's King"
*"The Good Trip"
*"
Nine Lives"
*"Things"
*"A Trip to the Head"
*"
Vaster than Empires and More Slow"
*"The Stars Below"
*"The Field of Vision"
*"Direction of the Road"
*"
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is a 1973 work of short philosophical fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, ...
"
*"
The Day Before the Revolution"
See also
Classical compass winds
In the ancient Mediterranean world, the classical compass winds were names for the points of geographic direction and orientation, in association with the winds as conceived of by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Ancient wind roses typically had tw ...
- the phrase refers to the
Classical 12-point wind rose, not the later mariners' rose of 8, 16, or 32
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wind's Twelve Quarters, The
1975 short story collections
Fantasy short story collections
Short story collections by Ursula K. Le Guin
Earthsea short stories
Hainish Cycle
Harper & Row books