Gravity's Angels

An abiding glory of the fantasy genre lies in its willingness to provide a haven for the lonely dreamer, the maverick iconoclast, the man or woman with a vision for whom the doors of the conventional literary establishment would otherwise remain forever closed. And one of the great concomitant joys of this genre is the emergence of such a bold new voice: the appearance of a fledgling fantasist who, with novalike effulgence, embarks upon a scintillant ascent across the science-fictional firmament.

Michael Swanwick's first published story was such an event. "The Feast of Saint Janis" appeared in the anthology series New Dimensions, promptly became a finalist for the Nebula Award, and inaugurated the Great Swanwick Story Search of the 1980s: where would this splendid new writer turn up next, and how would he endeavor to delight us? For all those readers who have spent the previous decade tracking down Swanwick stories in obscure academic quarterlies, mainstream periodicals, one-shot anthologies, SF magazines both prominent and not-so-prominent, the search is over.

Synopsis from Open Library.