Calvaria Fell
Stories
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
Calvaria Fell is a stunning collaborative collection of weird tales from two acclaimed authors, Kaaron Warren and Cat Sparks. It features previously published stories from both authors, along with a new novella by Kaaron Warren and four new stories by Cat Sparks. The collection offers a glimpse into a chilling future world that is similar to our own. Readers will be drawn into experiences at once familiar and bizarre, where our choices have far-reaching consequences and the environment is a force to be reckoned with. The title of the collection tethers these stories to a shared space. The calvaria is the top part of the skull, comprising five plates that fuse together in the first few years of life. Story collections work like this; disparate parts melding together to make a robust and sturdy whole. The calvaria tree, also known as the dodo tree, adapted to being eaten by the now-extinct dodo bird; its seeds need to pass through the bird' s digestive tract in order to germinate. In a similar way, the stories in Calvaria Fell reflect the idea of adaptation and the consequences of our actions in a changing world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This joint collection from Australian writers Sparks (Lotus Blue) and Warren (Into Bones Like Oil), including both new and reprinted stories, showcases the authors' thoughtful takes on futures wracked with environmental challenges. Warren, a Shirley Jackson Award winner, impresses with "68 Days." The ex-con narrator, still haunted by her mother's death by suicide, is diagnosed with a terminal illness and applies to join a special Mars mission heading to a colony entirely made up of others like her with limited time to live; the final reveal about why such a group was put together is both horrifyingly logical and disturbingly plausible. Sparks equally wows with "Some Kind of Indescribable," set in a "Post-Net" future. Against this apocalyptic background, heroine Mila desperately searches for hope for her daughter, Lily, who is afflicted with the newfound "plastic cancer." The plotting is consistently original, and the stories evoke recognizably human responses to adverse conditions. Even with the duo of authors, this collection achieves remarkable coherence.
