These thirteen stories established Michael Swanwick as one of the brightest stars in the science-fiction firmament. Alongside its companion volume, Tales of Old Earth, Gravity's Angels showcases the very best of Swanwick's considerable talent, including the Sturgeon Award--winner "The Edge of the World." Each story is a unique and engrossing exploration of character, conflict, and conscience.

The study analyzes Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow it in terms of Rilke's Duino Elegies, a text which was a major influence on Pynchon's novel.

The time was the great rift between fallen angels, as humans; it was the supposed time of the great freedom when there were no rules on earth. And, that time was when earth wasnt even called earth. It was nothing to them and something in the same moment. The fallen angels almost had the same kind of planet, as Aubrahteery, which they gave up. It was warm and lit all the time. There was no darkness, no coldness, and no desolation. Until, their dark hearts took over and began to change their surroundings. What the fallen angels also didnt realize was that their new home verged changing with the reality of the darkness lying in the root of their hearts. The fallen angels didnt realize that darkness and negativity carried a lot more dead weight with it, which is ultimately what forged the slowing planet with all the fallen angels, as humans upon her surface.