About the book: year / About the story “The Griffin's Egg” the author himself says the following: “I remember a picture that my engineer father once brought home. It depicted a lunar crater, the walls of which were shaped like terraces. A quarter of a century later, this image became the seed from which the story of a lunar colony hatched. This crater always seemed like something very real to me - as if I was promised as a child that I would see it in reality.” After completing the story, Swanwick planned to begin writing the novel The Daughter of the Iron Dragon and knew that he would not soon turn to science fiction again, so he put enormous effort into The Gryphon's Egg and, according to him, collected a colossal amount of scientific material that only partially used. The writer even drew maps and diagrams. To create something convincing and dimensional, Swanwick says, you need to study it in detail and convince yourself that it is real..