The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. First issued by Small Beer Press in 2012 as a two-volume set, it was republished as a single volume by Saga Press in 2016. It was included in the boxed set with The Found and the Lost in the boxed set The Selected Short Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award.

The collection was a finalist for the 2014 Ken Kesey Award for Fiction.

The first volume is titled Where on Earth, and the introduction is titled "Choosing and Dividing. The second volume is titled Outer Space, Inner Lands with the introduction "The Obligatory Bit about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Genre."

List of stories

Volume One

Title Time of first publication First edition publisher/publication Summary Citations The Little Magazine, vol. 10 A short story in Orsinia. The Little Magazine, vol. 9 A short story in Orsinia. 1990 Playboy The Harvard Advocate A short story in Orsinia. Future Power, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann. New York City, Random House. Orbit 12, edited by Damon Knight This story is a fantasy written from the perspective of a conscious tree as it stands beside a road. Le Guin acknowledged that it was inspired by a tree in the real world. TriQuarterly No. 49 Redbook The Little Magazine, vol. 14, The New Yorker Thirteenth Moon, edited by Jacob Weisman. Tachyon Corporation, place of publication unknown. Portland, Pendragon Press American Short Fiction, as part of the PEN Syndication Fiction Project. Previously collected in Searoad (1991). Klatsand. Mississippi Mud. Previously collected in Searoad (1991). Klatsand. The Southwest Review Autumn 1989. Previously collected in Searoad (1991). Klatsand. Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1995 issue. Also stylized as Ether, Or. Reprinted in Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996). The New Yorker

Volume Two

Title Time of first publication First edition publisher/publication Summary Citations New Dimensions III, edited by Robert Silverberg This piece describes a town whose citizens are universally happy, but whose happiness depends on a single child being in perpetual torment. Le Guin wrote that the story was inspired by a passage from the philosopher William James. Amazing Stories The first piece of Hainish Cycle fiction written by Le Guin. Previously published as "The Dowry of Angyar", and used as the prologue of Rocannon's World. The story, inspired by the Norse legend of the Brísingamen, tells of an impoverished bride that journeys off-world to retrieve a precious necklace that once belonged to her family. Playboy, vol. 16 Collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Epoch, edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg. New York City, Berkley Publishing Corporation. Collected in The Compass Rose. Omni, vol. 14. Previously collected in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea. Universe 1, edited by Terry Carr. New York City, Ace Books. Previously collected in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994). The Blue Motel Previously collected in Four Ways to Forgiveness and Five Ways to Forgiveness. Crank! magazine Previously collected in The Birthday of the World (2002) and The Found and the Lost (2016). The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol. 87 Previously collected in The Birthday of the World (2002). Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2002 issue. "Nine Lives" is a science fiction story, in which a group of human clones join a two-person exploratory party on a remote planet. Published online on Sci Fi Printed for the first time in Changing Planes (2002), where it was titled "The Fliers of Gy". Orion, under the title The Wisdom of the Asonu, Isaac Asimov's Space of Her Own, edited by Shawna McCarthy. New York City, Davis Publications. Previously collected in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994). Fellowship of the Stars, edited by Terry Carr. New York City, Simon & Schuster. Collected in The Compass Rose (1982), Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences (1987). The Compass Rose, Pendragon Press. Fantastic magazine, vol. 13 Reprinted in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) and The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition (2018). Tor zu den Sternen, edited by Peter Wilfert. Munich, Goldmann Verlag. Previously collected in The Compass Rose (1982). Xanadu, edited by Jane Yolen. New York City, Tor Books. Previously collected in Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996). The New Yorker Previously collected in The Compass Rose (1982). The New Yorker Previously collected in Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences (1987).

References

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