Somehow Michael Swanwick managed to publish a book without me hearing anything about it. I am slightly disturbed by the lapse, but whatever. Now, I've always been somewhat reserved towards Swanwick's novels, whereas his short stories are nothing short of brilliant. Dancing With Bears however deals with Darger and Surplus - the two conmen from The Dog Said Bow-Wow, The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport and Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play - and those three stories are among the best I've ever read. Not to mention the amazing steampunk/biopunk postapocalyptic world their adventures are set in. So I have high hopes fir this one.
Here's the blurb:
Dancing With Bears follows the adventures of notorious con-men Darger and Surplus: They've lied and cheated their way onto the caravan that is delivering a priceless gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to the Duke of Muscovy. The only thing harder than the journey to Muscovy is their arrival in Muscovy. An audience with the Duke seems impossible to obtain, and Darger and Surplus quickly become entangled in a morass of deceit and revolution. The only thing more dangerous than the convoluted political web surrounding Darger and Surplus is the gift itself, the Pearls of Byzantium, and Zoesophia, the governess sworn to protect their virtue.
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