Tackling genetic engineering, "Di Filippo's effervescent prose can provoke both hilarity and haunting reflections on our species' possible fate" ( Publishers Weekly). Ribofunk contains eleven masterful and surprising works of imagination. In all of them, biology is the science that drives the engine of life and of story: the Protein Police patrol for renegade gene‐splicers; part‐human sea creatures live in the Great Lakes and clean up toxic spills; a river has become sentient; there is a bodyguard who is part wolverine and a thrill‐seeker climbs a skyscraper and gets stuck, literally.

An outrageous trio of novellas that twist the Victorian era out of shape, by a master of alternate history: “Spooky, haunting, hilarious” (William Gibson). Welcome to the world of steampunk, a nineteenth century outrageously reconfigured through weird science. With his magnificent trilogy, acclaimed author Paul Di Filippo demonstrates how this unique subgenre of science fiction is done to perfection—reinventing a mannered age of corsets and industrial revolution with odd technologies born of a truly twisted imagination. In “Victoria,” the inexplicable disappearance of the British monarch-to-be prompts a scientist to place a human-lizard hybrid clone on the throne during the search for the missing royal. But the doppelgänger queen comes with a most troubling flaw: an insatiable sexual appetite. The somewhat Lovecraftian “Hottentots” chronicles the very unusual adventure of Swiss naturalist and confirmed bigot Louis Agassiz as his determined search for a rather grisly fetish plunges him into a world of black magic and monsters. Finally, in “Walt and Emily,” the hitherto secret and quite steamy love affair between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman is revealed in all its sensuous glory—as are their subsequent interdimensional travels aboard a singular ship that transcends the boundaries of time and reality. Ingenious, hilarious, ribald, and utterly remarkable, Di Filippo’s The Steampunk Trilogy is a one-of-a-kind literary journey to destinations at once strangely familiar and profoundly strange.

A disbarred lawyer and an ex-arsonist cross paths and find themselves organizing an elaborate real estate scam to bilk a shady rich speculator out of twenty million dollars. The sting is personal for ex-arsonist Stan and for a woman named Vee, who plays an essential role in the caper. Glen, the narrator and former lawyer, finds himself at first just along for the money. Eventually, as bonds deepen among the conspirators, Glen too discovers he has a lot more at stake than simply the loot. This cast of lively eccentrics discovers along the way that getting to the big payoff might just be more scary fun than the monetary prize itself.

Glen and Stan, the Odd Couple of scamdom, are back from their Big Get-Even adventure with another get-rich-quick-or-go-down-in-flames scheme. As part of their trafficking in counterfeit merch, they are looking to turn a few pallets of Grade Z computer chips into some military hardware sure to interest dictators and despots and drug lords around the globe. Bankrolled by a greedy local crime boss, they hope to promote a half-genius, half-addlepated invention from a naive and principled inventor into a bonanza. But no one ever counts on complications arising from a wayward wife, some sexy Eurotrash go-betweens, and a lonely entrepreneurial girlfriend who finds her native tropical isle conducive to a troublesome loosening of morals. Add in a most unconventional explosives expert, and you have a caper half hilarious, half deadly, and 100 percent entertaining.

An insane, broken pulp-art painter gets chance at redemption in a phantasmagoric science fiction wonder from a true master of the weird Before his stroke and the onset of old age, Frank Lazorg was the king of the fantasy illustrators—with an ego to match. But he can paint no more. That is, until he starts taking a bizarre new drug that promises to restore his creative powers. Unfortunately, artistic reinvigoration comes with a steep price tag: addiction and madness. With his rage and jealousy unleashed and his grasp of reality severely compromised, Lazorg is led to commit an unspeakable act, and, in turn, is led . . . somewhere else. Suddenly naked and helpless, the artist finds himself in a world of abiding strangeness, filled with monstrous things that seem to mock, yet oddly mirror, Lazorg’s previous reality. And here is Crutchsump, a remarkable creature possessing great love and rare compassion, who could possibly aid in Lazorg’s ultimate salvation as he spirals downward through the Cosmocopia and ever-closer to the Conceptus. Arguably the most inventive force in science fiction since Philip K. Dick in his heyday, Paul Di Filippo outdoes even Paul Di Filippo with his remarkable Cosmocopia. Outrageous, ingenious, nightmarish, funny, provocative, and utterly unforgettable, this is a glittering testament to the towering heights science fiction can achieve.

“Every one of the 17 idiosyncratic short fantasies in this superior collection from Nebula and Philip K. Dick finalist Di Filippo is immaculately told” (Publishers Weekly). “Di Filippo is like gourmet potato chips to me. I can never eat just one of his stories.” —Harlan Ellison You can try to escape from the mundane, or with the help of Paul Di Filippo, you can take a short, meaningful break from it. In the vein of George Saunders or Michael Chabon, Di Filippo uses the tools of science fiction and the surreal to take a deep, richly felt look at humanity. His brand of funny, quirky, thoughtful, fast-moving, heart-warming, brain-bending stories exist across the entire spectrum of the fantastic from hard science fiction to satire to fantasy and on to horror, delivering a riotously entertaining string of modern fables and stories from tomorrow, now and anytime. After you read Paul Di Filippo, you’ll no longer see everyday life quite the same. The 17 stories in this collection allow us to encounter Salvador Dali stumbling through his own personalized afterlife; experience the hilariously odd life of Hiram P. Dottle from birth through death and on into several reincarnations; gaze in wonder as a boy is born without a brain and his skull is invaded by wild animals; and, in the title story, a professor of children’s literature discovers a bizarre set of similarities between a lost text and his illicit relationship with one of his students. Originally published: 2002

"Full of storytelling that is untamed, writing that is superb, and tales that are expansive and suggestive . . . a wry romp worthy of your attention" (Strange Horizons). In these eleven stories, including Nebula Award finalist "Kid Charlemagne," Paul Di Filippo applies his armamentarium of vastly varied literary skills to an examination and definition of the outer limits of an almost unbearably mundane-sounding subject: daily toil or, in a word, jobs. In "Spondulix," Rory Honeyman, desperate to preserve the meager cash flow in his sandwich shop, starts offering store coupons that somehow take on a life of their own. "The Mill" is the only place in the universe where Luxcloth, treasured and worn by many, can be manufactured and only at the direction of one man. "The Boredom Factory" gives meaning to the phrase "living to work." Keep reading—it will be the easiest job you've ever had. You can try to escape from the mundane, or with the help of Paul Di Filippo, you can take a brief, meaningful break from it. In the vein of George Saunders or Michael Chabon, Di Filippo uses the tools of science fiction and the surreal to take a deep, richly felt look at humanity. His brand of funny, quirky, thoughtful, fast‐moving, heart‐warming, brain‐bending stories exist across the entire spectrum of the fantastic from hard science fiction to satire to fantasy and on to horror, delivering a riotously entertaining string of modern fables and stories from tomorrow, now, and anytime. After you read Paul Di Filippo, you will no longer see everyday life quite the same. Strange Trades includes an introduction by Bruce Sterling.

22 Tales of of the fantastic -- science fiction, fantasy, fantastika, slipstream -- by one of the most acclaimed modern masters of the genre! Includes a bonus interview with the author. Included are: LIFE IN THE CARBYNE AGE GALAXY OF MIRRORS SPECTER-BOMBING THE BEER GOGGLES LIFE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE LITTLE WORKER FRACTAL PAISLEYS THE MILL THE GRANGE PHYLOGENESIS GRAVITONS REDSKINS OF THE BADLANDS FarmEarth ANGELMAKERS THE JONES CONTINUUM ADVENTURES IN COGNITIVE HOMOGAMY: A LOVE STORY KAREN COXSWAIN A NIGHT IN THE THIRTEENTH AVENUE MISSION I KANT CUZ I’M TOO JUNG THE NEW CYBERIAD YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS FEMAVILLE 29 SHUTEYE FOR THE TIMEBROKER If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 160+ entries in the MEGAPACKTM series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more!

In this collection of short, sharp, satirical gems, Paul Di Filippo-noted for his own fiction and criticism, which gives him an insider's perspective-turns a keen eye on the foibles, fallacies, fads and failures of science fiction the industry, mining comedic gold from the gaffes, pomposities and pretensions of authors, publicists, reviewers, publishers, editors, fans, librarians and bookstore owners.

“Di Filippo is a joyful writer…insightful…skillful.” —Washington Post This collection presents PAUL DI FILIPPO at his best and most creative—an astonishing, multiverse-spanning selection of 19 of his very best tales, from humorous to serious, from otherworldly to in-your-backyard (and in-your-face)! Here are: Providence Argus Blinked Life in the Anthropocene Bombs Away! Cockroach Love Waves and Smart Magma To See Infinity Bare The End of the Great Continuity Fjaerland The HPL Commonplace Book Professor Fluvius’s Palace of Many Waters Yes We Have No Bananas A Partial and Conjectural History of Dr. Mueller’s Panoptical Cartoon Engine The New Cyberiad iCity Return to the 20th Century Murder in Geektopia The Omniplus Ultra! Wikiworld Introduction by Rudy Rucker