the wind's twelve quarters is a collection of short stories by american writer ursula k. le guin. the title is from a. e. housman's "a shropshire lad" harper &amp; row published the book in 1975. le guin called it a look back at her start as a writer. the book has 17 stories that had already been published. four of the stories were the first ideas for novels she wrote later: "the word of unbinding" and "the rule of names" was the beginning of earthsea. "semley's necklace" was first titles "dowry of the angyar" in 1964. then it was the start of the novel "rocannon's world" in 1966; "winter's king" is about people living on the planet winter, as is le guin's later novel "the left hand of darkness". most of the other stories are also connected to le guin's novels. the story "the ones who walk away from omelas" won the hugo award in 1974. "the day before the revolution" won the locus and nebula awards in 1975.