Earthen: Stories

by Katherine Koller

The characters in the short stories of Earthen are all in need of mothers, widows and wives, grandmas and grandpas, teachers, lovers, and the young. They find messages in the earth and rock beneath their feet, the mountains and atmosphere above, or the creatures surrounding birds and animals, plants and trees. The natural world insists on a relationship with both characters and readers of Earthen, in stories ranging from realism to fable to speculative fiction.

180 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2026

About the author

Katherine Koller writes drama, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Her collection of plays is Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays. Art Lessons, her first novel, was a finalist for both the Edmonton Book Prize and the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. Her first book of short stories is Winning Chance, about taking the second and third chances life provides, which won a High Plains Book Award and the Exporting Alberta Award. Her new book of short stories, Earthen (May 2026) shows how the natural world insists on a relationship with humans.

Reviews

[Mitchell Schmidt]

I believe this was the first collection of short stories that I had read, and I'm grateful for the new experience I had reading them; however, it may also be the reason for which I had a bone to pick with many of them. At times I just felt like they didn't feel fully developed - as though they were "missing something", especially a moral, meaning, or point to be found at the end. With only a couple pages to some stories it could feel like I finally realised who all the characters were after a few paragraphs, and then a few paragraphs later I lose them. Perhaps this is all very typical for short-story-collection readers and it can be ignored. There were many stories that kept me on my toes and/or warmed my heart though.

It is lovely to hear such detail given from the perspective of a happy, loving, loved and cared for apple tree in Apple Bread. The Plug was a unique dystopian journey that felt surprisingly easy to connect the present day to. You Have Enough Time whisks you into an alternate reality where you cling to two mightily endearing women, all while one washes her dishes. The Falling Down Fence places you as a fly on the wall watching a new friendship bud - between women who have been closed-off neighbours for decades. Let Go of Luck leaves you rooting for a spunky, stressed-out mom before a potential gas station meet-cute. I'd like to try Katherine's other short story collection now.

[Alberta Views Magazine]

Katherine Koller is a screenwriter, playwright, university lecturer, novelist and short-story writer in Edmonton. Earthen is her second short-fiction collection. Per the title, these pieces all connect to the natural world. The characters may be living in an ancient culture, a dystopian future or the present—they may not be human—but they all exist, commune and often suffer in connection with the earth.

The first story, “You Can Have More,” finds elderly Mavis catching a teenaged potato thief in her garden one night. The boy is as feral and hungry as a coyote, and over just a few pages, his need and Mavis’s will to meet it with her own loneliness and abundant offerings feels so primordial in its humanity that I was ambushed by tears.

There is enormous loss in these stories: bereft mothers recall lost children; a girl loses a favourite tree to a chainsaw; another is drugged at a party and nearly loses her life; a man loses his wife in a car accident; a young woman loses her hands and mothers her baby with stumps. The tone of the collection often feels elegiac, as if in sympathy with the besieged natural world. And yet there is hope, escape and renewal in these stories too.

Review by Jane Kubke
Full review at https://albertaviews.ca/earthen/

[Marjorie]

These stories are imaginative. There are many lines that I underlined. I like the way Nature is incorporated and in some of the stories becomes the main character. An enjoyable read with familiar themes told in a new way.

[Calvin Daniels]

Several stories are individually a 4+

Some of the later stories; 'The Pyramidion' and 'You Have Enough Time' sadly didn't fit for me in the collection and dropped the overall impression.

[Natasha Byrne]

A wonderful collection of the visceral interconnections of humankind with nature set in Canada.

[Jenna]

I was really looking forward to this book. Everything I had heard and read about it made me think it would really speak to my soul. However, it turned out to not be a book for me. None of the stories touched me very deeply and overall, I found the book forgettable.