Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"El Huge" reveals how small-town, small-time teens can accomplish Big Ugly Things on their own. "Big Girl" chronicles the media's fascination with the towering anxieties of a sixty-foot tall teen. "The Pill," the collection's previously unpublished centerpiece, celebrates a "miracle cure" for obesity that sends society to a grimly delightful new utopia. "With Such People in It," also new to readers, welcomes us to a brave new world where cowardice is a virtue. "Gone with Gone with the Wind" is a nonfiction analysis of privilege, denial, literary classics, and personal honesty. "Afterimage" is a one-way trip into a VR world that's more "real" than our own. Also included is "Guts," which is about just what its title suggests, as well this volume's characteristically frank and thought-provoking Outspoken Interview.
Synopsis
"Elison offers a troubling yet hopeful vision of the future."
--Los Angeles Review of Books
"A strikingly powerful story of one woman's physical and emotional resourcefulness under the most dire of circumstances. An apocalyptic page-turner that picks up where Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale left off."
--Jackie Hatton, Tor.com
"I could talk about female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility. But those terms are wholly inadequate for Meg Elison's clear-eyed satire in the guise of fantasy and science fiction. Powered by rage, incandescent with a deep understanding of injustice, angry for all the right reasons, yet still essentially optimistic, these are the stories I need to keep me warm through the long dark night. Compelling and fierce and unstoppable."
--Pat Murphy, World Fantasy Award winner
"Meg Elison's stories will raise blisters on your conscience. Her politics are smart, her prose is like a razor, and her characters will break your heart. Read at your own risk."
--Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous
"Meg Elison's work is visceral and compelling. A voice that doesn't so much demand attention as it 100 percent deserves every ounce of it."
--Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Hugo-winning writer and editor