In the Drift

The “shocking [and] powerful” classic of postapocalyptic terror by the Nebula Award–winning author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter (New York Daily News).   It’s been one hundred years since Three Mile Island went into full meltdown, filling the atmosphere with a radioactive poison that would contaminate the skies for hundreds of generations. Since then, the area around the island—now known as the Drift—has been a wasteland of disease and deformity, madness and monsters. It’s been one hundred years since humanity knew what order and hope were.   The Drift has a law unto itself—one of vampires and mutants and outcasts left to struggle for daily survival. Within its bounds, the simplest act—even asking the wrong questions—can mean death. Or worse.   Praised by George R. R. Martin as “a potent new myth from the reality of radioactive waste,” In the Drift is an inventive and unsettling look at the lives of those who are left to deal with the fallout of a nuclear disaster—a towering work of postapocalyptic fiction that provokes conversation and consideration even as it produces nightmares.

Daily News (New York)

“Shocking . . . Powerful.”

The Evening Sun (Baltimore)

“A powerful and affecting novel . . . Chilling, believable and uncomfortably close to home.”

Roger Zelazny

“A tough, keen-edged blade of a story . . . Powerful and moving!”

Analog Science Fiction and Fact

“Swanwick paints a persuasive portrait of a people adapting to disaster. . . . A very readable book . . . Worth your attention.”

From the Inside Flap

A tough, keen-edged blade of a story ... powerful and moving!―Roger ZelaznyThis episodic tale of life, war, and survival in post-meltdown Pennsylvania builds a potent new myth from the grim reality of radioactive waste. Swanwick's clean, strong prose makes the story compulsively readable.―George R. R. Martin A vivid, fast-paced and evocative story by one of science fiction's best new writers. A generation-spanning saga of the fight for power and survival in a chillingly possible alternate future America ... one which could still yet come to pass, tomorrow or today.―Gardner DozoisIn this dystopic world, radiation from the 1979 Three Mile Island accident has contaminated all of central Pennsylvania. A century after the disaster, the fallout zone―known as the Drift―harbors two-headed monsters, mutated vampires, and other outcasts. In the Drift chronicles the struggles of those on both sides of the divide as they fight to survive and transcend their shattered world. www.doverpublications.com

From the Back Cover

"A tough, keen-edged blade of a story … powerful and moving!"―Roger Zelazny"This episodic tale of life, war, and survival in post-meltdown Pennsylvania builds a potent new myth from the grim reality of radioactive waste. Swanwick's clean, strong prose makes the story compulsively readable."―George R. R. Martin "A vivid, fast-paced and evocative story by one of science fiction's best new writers. A generation-spanning saga of the fight for power and survival in a chillingly possible alternate future America … one which could still yet come to pass, tomorrow or today."―Gardner DozoisIn this dystopic world, radiation from the 1979 Three Mile Island accident has contaminated all of central Pennsylvania. A century after the disaster, the fallout zone―known as the Drift―harbors two-headed monsters, mutated vampires, and other outcasts. In the Drift chronicles the struggles of those on both sides of the divide as they fight to survive and transcend their shattered world. www.doverpublications.com

About the Author

Michael Swanwick has received the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon awards for his work. His short fiction has appeared in Omni, Penthouse, Asimov’s, High Times, and numerous other publications, and many pieces have been reprinted in best-of-the-year anthologies. He has written nine novels, among them In the Drift, Stations of the Tide, the New York Times Notable Book The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, Jack Faust, and, most recently, Chasing the Phoenix. Swanwick lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Marianne Porter, and their son, Sean.

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