Yurek Rutz, Yurek Rutz, Yurek Rutz

This short story first appeared in the January, 1999 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. 


The author says, “In 1997, I attended LoneStarCon 2 in San Antonio, and happened to see a panel presentation called “Should I Sleep with the Editor?” The panelists were leading SF editors, including Gardner Dozois of Asimov’s Science Fiction. To the amusement of the audience, they read actual cover letters they had received from unpublished authors who were desperate to break into print. These aspiring authors wheedled, cajoled, and argued in an attempt to reach through the page and twist the editor’s arm. See me, read me, buy me. And then I saw it, how to finish my own story. When I returned home I rewrote ‘Yurek Rutz,’ casting it as a cover letter to Gardner Dozois. I learned later that he detests epistolary stories, but he bought it anyway, and in doing so helped insure that I’ll never want for anything again.”


David Marusek spins quirky tales of science fiction in a little cabin outside Fairbanks, Alaska. He is the winner of the Sturgeon and Endeavour Awards for science fiction, and his work has been translated into ten foreign languages.


“Marusek's writing is ferociously smart, simultaneously horrific and funny, as he forces readers to stretch their imaginations and sympathies.”    —Publisher's Weekly


“Marusek, who hitchhiked his way to Alaska from Santa Barbara in the 1970's and now lives on the outskirts of Fairbanks, may have a relatively modest body of work (just 10 short stories in print over the span of 13 years), but each of these pieces has so far proven to be as concentrated and potent as a dwarf star.”    —Dave Itzkoff, New York Times Book Review


“Marusek has almost no equal in his ability to create a huge cast of prickly, sticky human characters who interact with utterly casual reality.”    —Rick Kleffel