book details

Book: Near + Far by Cat Rambo

categories: Book, Short Story, Nebula Award, Aliens, Award Nominee, Superheroes, Collection, Slipstream, Magic Realism, Mermaids, Ace Double, Science Fiction

Cat Rambo

about this book: Stories of connection -- or lack thereof, in many cases -- set against a backdrop that is sometimes close to our own, other times far further out. Science fiction readers as well as those who appreciate literary fiction will find that Rambo combines genre conventions with a stylistic finesse that makes them evocative and gripping.

Stories include the Nebula-nominated "Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain," a retelling of "Good Country Folk" on a planet whose porcelain citizens are rigidly defined by class distinctions. When a tourism writer falls in love with an off-planet visitor, they find physical love more than they'd reckoned for. In "Ms. Liberty Gets a Haircut" a troupe of female superheroes struggle to form a group identity despite personal drama and hostile outside forces. "The Mermaids Singing Each to Each" explores power dynamics, forgiveness, carnivorous mermaids, and a self-aware boat, while "Long Enough and Just So Long" holds a disabled pilot, a sex-bot, a heavily commercial Mars existence, and mysterious space debris. Some stories spin into the fantastic, like "Bus Ride to Mars" or "Peaches of Immortality," while others like "Therapy Buddha" and "Seeking Nothing" seem all too possible.