The Wind's Twelve Quarters

The Wind's Twelve Quarters is a collection of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin first published by Harper & Row; in 1975.

Contents:

• Foreward
• Semley's Necklace
• April in Paris
• The Masters
• Darkness Box
• The Word of Unbinding
• The Rule of Names
• Winter's King
• The Good Trip
• Nine Lives
• Things
• A Trip to the Head
• Vaster than Empires and More Slow
• The Stars Below
• The Field of Vision
• Direction of the Road
• The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
• The Day Before the Revolution

Le Guin describes the collection as a retrospective. It includes many stories which had been published previously or expanded into novels. Others take place on planets for which she later or previously wrote full-length novels. Semley's Necklace became the prologue to Rocannon's World. The Word of Unbinding and The Rule of Names both take place in Earthsea. Winter's King takes place on Gethen, the same planet which is the stage of The Left Hand of Darkness. The Day Before the Revolution is a companion to The Dispossessed.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas won the Hugo Award for best short story in 1973. The Day Before the Revolution won the Nebula Award in the same category in 1974