From the Nebula-nominated author of Ironskin comes Tina Connolly's first full-length collection, with two dozen stories spanning a decade of writing. These inventive and compelling stories contain tales of transcending cyborgs, shapeshifting bears, sentient hands, rogue GPSs, superhero moms groups, zombie chipmunks, and a story told from the point of view of a paddle in Pong. Her stories have been described as original, charming, delightful, unexpected, poignant, mystifying, beautiful, horrific, intricate, darkly funny, imaginative, fascinating, and just plain weird. The 25 stories and 3 poems include her prequel story to her YA Seriously Wicked series from Tor Teen, as well as one new story exclusive to the collection
Tina Connolly's books include the Ironskin trilogy (Tor), the Seriously Wicked series (Tor Teen), the collection On the Eyeball Floor (Fairwood Press), and the Choose Your Own Adventure Glitterpony Farm. She has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Norton, and World Fantasy awards. She co-hosts the science fiction podcast Escape Pod, runs the intermittent flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake, and is at tinaconnolly.com.
"They say, out there in the factory, that every time someone blinks, they lose a little bit of themselves and a cyborg gains it."
-On the Eyeball Floor- The opening story about workers in a shady factory, each playing a part in cyborg transcendence. Had some nice creepy undertones to it.
-Left Hand- A battle between a left hand and the right hand (The Hated One) and it's human was well done flash fiction.
-Standard Comfort Measures in Earthling Pregnancies- A quirky, very different, field guide of steps to a baby's birth. Except it involves a race of Xorlyns. This short story was humorous.
This is the second book I have read from Fairwood Press. And it was good. May check out more of the authors.
A collection of twenty-eight pieces— few poetry among mostly prose, few gems among other readable, exotic stuff which may be counted as stories, may be not. Overall, a 'different' type of read it was.
First of all, I love short stories. They are easier to organize in my weird little brain. Second of all, I love Tina's writing. Put together you have wonderful tales from all over the galaxy, fantasy, future, and past. I warned you I am no good at reviews, but trust me when I say you will find at least a few little stories in this collection that you will be thinking about long after you've read them.
This book is put together like a masterful movie soundtrack - We have funny, we have dark, we have deep, we have all of the things in between. There is no boring/sluggy parts or any parts you feel you've already seen - Each short story is a wonderful new surprise.
A collection of extremely creative, mostly pretty short, stories. Albeit, not all of them to my taste. Recommended to you if you like some diversity in your speculative fiction.
There are some lovely stories in here. What a fascinating read. "One Ear Back" was probably my favorite of the bunch, but there's a lot of gems in this collection.
This was a lot of fun, good to talk to friends about. My favorite story was the instructions on what to do if you're pregnant with the babies of alien overlords. Very funny.
An inspiring and rambunctious collection of short stories. Some funny, some spooky, some oddly creepy, set in all manner of different worlds, places and situations. Tina Connolly is definitely an author to find more of.