Birthright

When I moved to Tor Books, I found that Beth Meacham, my editor there, also liked the Birthright

Universe, and so I setSantiago andIvory and most of my other novels there. And, in the process, a funny thing happened: I got to where Iliked placing my books in the Birthright Universe, where indeed I felt uncomfortable on those increasingly rare occasions when Ididn't use it. When I sold theOracle Trilogy to Ace and theWidowmaker Trilogy to Bantam, it was a given that they'd be set in the Birthright Universe too. Until 1994, I had placed a ton of novels in the Birthright Universe, but had kept my short fiction out of it. That came to an end when I wrote a novella entitled “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"; it immediately went out and won a Hugo, a Nebula, and a number of lesser awards, and I think I'll probably set some more short fiction there in the future.

A local fan did yeoman work by creating a chronology of the Birthright Universe, which I reproduce here; it includes all work contracted through the end of 1995. (I hired another fan to keep an up-to-date concordance of the Birthright Universe, so I can keep the worlds, races, and eras consistent; it currently runs to well over 100 single-spaced pages, which I find both fascinating and just a little bit terrifying.) Chronology of the universe created in BIRTHRIGHT: THE BOOK OF MAN Year Era Story or Novel

1885 A.D. “The Hunter” (IVORY)

1898 A.D. “Himself” (IVORY)

1982 A.D. SIDESHOW

1983 A.D. THE THREE-LEGGED HOOTCH DANCER 1985 A.D. THE WILD ALIEN TAMER

1987 A.D. THE BEST ROOTIN’ TOOTIN’ SHOOTIN’ GUNSLINGER IN THE WHOLE DAMNED GALAXY

2057 A.D. “The Politician” (IVORY)

2908 A.D. 1 G.E.

16 G.E. Republic “The Curator” (IVORY)

264 G.E. Republic “The Pioneers” (BIRTHRIGHT) 332 G.E. Republic “The Cartographers” (BIRTHRIGHT) 346 G.E. Republic WALPURGIS III

367 G.E. Republic EROS ASCENDING