Synopses & Reviews
Youre about to face off with an Ashcroft van, break out from an assisted-dying facility, witness a volunteer crucifixion, endure a Neanderthal eviction, and journey to the end of time on a porch glider. Each of these ten blazingly satiric short stories will leave you exhausted, outraged, and eager for the next ride. Often compared to Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Lethem, and James Morrow, Terry Bisson spins out radically irreverent tales.
Review
In Bissons third story collection, the veteran satirists prodigious wit and inventiveness demonstrate why some of his peers regard him as a national treasure.... Bissons distinctive minimalist style leaves plenty of room for disarming social satire that keeps one amused and pleasantly provoked.”
Booklist
Bisson fans are bound to savor this strong story collection from the Hugo and Nebula Award winner, but it should be particularly revelatory to new readers in search of crisp black comedy and satire. The lighthearted I Saw the Light turns the classic alien contact story (with props from Arthur C. Clarkes 2001) upside down, while the terse Openclose offers a glimpse into one future sponsored by the Office of Homeland Security. Capital punishment and religious education feed a surreal media circus in The Old Rugged Cross. In the title story, legally ordered assisted suicide is supposed to help maintain world population, but no onefrom suicides to the accidentally maimed and the hacked-up victims of genocidecan find peace while stuck waiting at Deaths Door. The haunting Scouts Honor and the gently elegiac Almost Home balance the bleak chills. The volume closes with the striking Dear Abbey, about a desperate attempt to save the Earth from ecological disaster by traveling to the end of time.”
Publishers Weekly
One of SFs leading innovators.”
Booklist
Every word he writes is worth reading, even though a lot of them are the same ones.”
John Crowley
Review
"Bisson's prose is a wonder of seemingly effortless control and precision; he is one of science fiction's most promising short story practitioners, proving that in the genre, the short story remains a powerful, viable, and evocative form." —
Publishers WeeklyReview
"Terry Bisson is an American writer in the satirical tradition of Twain and Vonnegut and perhaps Richard Brautigan. He can make you laugh and touch your heart in the same sentence." —Amazon.com
Synopsis
Fearless, irreverent, and surprisingly optimistic short stories fill this collection from a science fiction veteran known for taking readers on a wild ride. The surreal adventures this time around include an escape from an assisted-death facility in "Greetings," a mystical journey to the end of time and back in "Dear Abbey," and "Almost Home," the story of a fantastical ride in an old-fashioned aeroplane.
Synopsis
Fearless, irreverent, and surprisingly optimistic short stories fill this collection from a science fiction veteran known for taking readers on a wild ride. The surreal adventures this time around include an escape from an assisted-death facility, a case for a supernatural sleuth, an airport run-in with Homeland Security, a volunteer crucifixion, and a Neanderthal eviction.
About the Author
Terry Bisson is the author of
Dear Abbey,
Fire on the Mountain,
The Pickup Artist,
Pirates of the Universe,
Talking Man, and
Voyage to the Red Planet, and the short story collections
Bears Discover Fire and
In the Upper Room & Other Likely Stories. He has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award, and received the Locus and Nebula Awards for his short story "Macs." His short fiction has appeared in
Asimov's,
Fantasy & Science Fiction,
Playboy, and SciFi.com. He lives in Oakland, California.