The Carpet Makers

"Enthusiastically introduced by no less than Orson Scott Card, this far-future novel does credit to everyone concerned, starting with its German author." —Booklist

Since the time of pre-history, carpetmakers tie intricate knots to form carpets for the court of the Emperor. These carpets are made from the hairs of wives and daughters; they are so detailed and fragile that each carpetmaker finishes only one single carpet in his entire lifetime.


This art descends from father to son, since the beginning of time itself.


But one day the empire of the God Emperor vanishes, and strangers begin to arrive from the stars to follow the trace of the hair carpets. What these strangers discover is beyond all belief, more than anything they could have ever imagined . . .


Brought to the attention of Tor Books by Orson Scott Card, this edition of The Carpet Makers contains his special introduction.

"Eschbach's first novel will blow you away. Yes, it's that good." —Analog
"A considerable achievement, and one that suggests the presence of a world-class SF voice that we ought to know about." —Locus
"Andreas Eschbach is incontestably the shooting star of the German SF scene." —Heyne Science Fiction Yearbook
"That such a magnum opus has been allowed to languish in the shadows for ten years is damning evidence of how parochial SF publishing can be. Even more astounding, it was Eschbach's debut." —Kirkus Reviews