“Pelland handles difficult topics with assured storytelling chops, bringing us to the brink of tears, fear, desire, and beyond. Worth your time AND money AND sincere attention.” —Steven Gould, author of JumperUNWELCOME BODIESSeven short stories, three novelettes, and one novella of dark science fiction from multiple Nebula Award nominee Jennifer Pelland. Author commentary is provided at the conclusion of each tale.Pain. Pleasure. The sensation of touch.we feel everything through our skin, that delicate membrane separating "I" from "other," protecting the very essence of self. Until it breaks. Or changes. Or burns. What would you do if you were the one called on to save humanity, and the price you had to pay was becoming something other than human? Or if healing your body meant losing the only person you've ever loved? Wander through worlds where a woman craves even a poisonous touch, a man's deformities become a society's fashion, genetic regeneration keeps the fires of Hell away, and painted lovers risk everything to break the boundaries of their caste system down. Separate your mind from your flesh and come in. Welcome. -------------------------------------------------Jennifer Pelland is a short fiction writer whose work has earned multiple Nebula Award nominations ("Captive Girl" and "Ghosts of New York"). "Captive Girl" was also shortlisted for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award. Jennifer lives outside Boston with an Andy, three cats, an impractical amount of books, and an ever-growing collection of belly dance gear and radio theater scripts. Apex Publications will be releasing her first novel (MACHINE) in December, 2011.“Her already-glowing reputation may still be just a hint of promising light on the horizon of those who like their fantastic fiction smart, imaginative, and driven by the mysteries of the human spirit, but each new story as brilliant as ‘Brushstrokes’ and ‘The Last Stand of the Elephant Man’ brings her inevitable future even closer. Trust me on this: Jennifer Pelland’s star has only just begun to rise.” —Adam-Troy Castro, author of Emissaries From the Dead “Jennifer Pelland is addicted to writing short stories. She’s written an essay about this addiction but you don’t need to read the essay to know it’s true. Each of the tales in this collection is a testament to her love of story-telling, and her imagination. She has a keen sense of irony, and a gift for juxtaposing images and events in a way which enables her to extract emotion at crucial moments from her characters and from the reader.” --theshortreview.com “Jennifer Pelland is a very good writer. She can evoke a setting, an environment, a mood in just a few sentences. And she does it so intensely that the reader really feels the fear of touching any potentially diseased subway riders; feels the thirst of a world without water; feels the aloneness that comes behind the metal mask.” --SFScope.com
Solve a murder, save her mother, and stop the apocalypse? No problem. She has a foul-mouthed troll on her side. For Austin homicide detective Leira Berens, happy is running down bad guys and solving crimes. And she’s damn good at it. Which is why when the Light Elf prince is murdered, the king breaks a centuries old treaty and crosses between worlds to seek her help. Wait a min...
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