Annihilation for Beginners

by Charlie J. Stephens

The debut story collection from Oregon Book Award finalist Charlie J. Stephens, Annihilation for Beginners, generously explicates Jean-Paul Sartre’s missive that “life begins on the other side of despair.” In 28 short stories, including a supernatural small-town mystery, a multigenerational family drama, and a maternal love story, the book considers what secular hope in the Anthropocene might look like. A child finds affinity with mollusks, a couple takes experimental drugs at the cemetery, a reptile-averse mother lets her son adopt a snake, and aging queer activists seek divinity. These are stories that ask: how strong is the tether keeping us here? How does the certainty of death animate our lives? Throughout the many microclimates of Oregon, the collection navigates themes of belonging, connection, the constructs of gender, and how adults and children understand one another. These stories are full of families trying to be families, and people in all phases of life reckoning with their reasons for living. With scenery and interiority that echo each other, and characters that read Camus, Fanon, and De Beauvoir, Annihilation for Beginners is slyly philosophical and darkly funny at every turn.

Genres: Short Stories

196 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[Dolores J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think of this book. Many of the stories didn't seem to have any point. Dark, sad, disturbing but in the end, well written

[Maggie Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome peeks into the nature of being human.

[Abby]

thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy!

what a fascinating collection of musings that pushes past the traditionally wrought boundaries of life/death, human/nature, and more