Verging on the Pertinent

by Carol Emshwiller

Stories ranging from surreal adventure to hilarious satire. "A bitter, funny reply to that national magazine that declares that feminism itself is 'dated.'"--Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times

Genres: Speculative Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Carol Emshwiller is an American writer of avant garde short stories and science fiction who has won prizes including the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. Ursula K. Le Guin has called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of the strongest, most complex, most consistently feminist voices in fiction." In 2005, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Her most recent novel, The Secret City, was published in April 2007.

She is the widow of the artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller . Their son is the actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist Peter Emshwiller .

Reviews

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unpredictable dispatches from the borderlands of sci-fi, surrealism, fictional confessional, and experimental essay. Toxic relationships fled, desires unbound, strange but familiar situations turned inside out for significant social-critical purpose. Emshwiller has an extremely unique voice here, dissecting diverse topics (art, linguistics, myth, aging, identity) beneath a searching sardonic gaze. I don't have any idea what I expected, but she's a surprise and a pleasure to encounter.