THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS

The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975) is the first collection of short stories by the great American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The short stories in this collection cover the first ten years of her writing activity and outline her development, but also foreshadow her style, her themes and her concerns.

The collection includes seventeen short stories in chronological order, each accompanied by a short introduction by the author herself.

Here the reader will learn about the origins of Earthsea, Le Guin’s beloved fantasy world, the first story of the Hainish Cycle and prequel to Rocannon’s World, as well as the first appearance of the planet Gethen or Winter, where The Left Hand of Darkness takes place.

The collection ends with two of her most famous texts, the philosophical parable “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (Hugo Award for Best Short Story, 1974) and “The Day Before the Revolution” (Nebula award for best short story, 1975), a prelude to The Dispossessed.