EBOOK
About
[STARRED REVIEW] "Brilliant."
-Publishers Weekly
A subversive debut short-fiction collection from one of the hottest talents in speculative fiction: 2025 Compton Crook Award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee Samantha Mills (The Wings Upon Her Back). These riveting stories range effortlessly from fantasy and science fiction to literary fiction, from the here and now all the way into the farthest reaches of space. The central tale of the collection is Mills' pivotal Nebula, Locus, and Sturgeon Award-winning story "Rabbit Test," which interrogates the past, present, and future of abortion rights.
A time-traveling fisherwoman keeps landing on the right shore, but at the wrong time. A pair of witches fight over the gate between life and death. A new consciousness, intent upon seeing all the wonders of the universe, visits a floating library. A rock-and-roll legend squares off against a town full of devils. Humanity makes first contact, but falters when put in charge of selecting the world's representatives.
In her strange and emotional worlds, with stakes ranging from the epic to the personal, Mills creates ample room for humor and hope amidst tragedy and struggle.
Introduction by Meg Elison (Find Layla) Samantha Mills's critically acclaimed first novel, The Wings Upon Her Back, won the Compton Crook Award for the year's best debut and is a nominee for the World Fantasy Award. In 2023, she received the Nebula, Locus, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards for her short story, "Rabbit Test." Her short fiction has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, and others, and was included in The New Voices of Science Fiction from Tachyon Publications and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023. In the other half of her life, she is a librarian and trained archivist specializing in primary documents. Mills grew up in Southern California, where she still lives with her family and cats. When she isn't working, writing, or taking care of children, she's watching B movies, binding books, and crocheting stuffed animals.
• This strikingly subversive debut short story collection shows why Samantha Mills is one of science fiction's most acclaimed recent authors
• Mills's first novel, The Wings Upon Her Back, also published by Tachyon, won the Compton Crook Award and is a nominee for the World Fantasy Award.
• National marketing plan to include endorsements, reviews, and interviews; print and digital ARC distribution; author launch event and tour with California and EU appearances; co-op advertising available "The Death of the God-King"
"Strange Waters"
"Adrianna in Pomegranate"
"Rabbit Test"
"A Shadow Is a Memory of a Ghost"
"The Limits of Magic"
"10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days"
"One Part Per Billion"
"Spindles"
"Four of Seven"
"Laugh Lines"
"Kiki Hernández Beats the Devil"
"Anchorage Book Riot Five Exciting Upcoming SFF Story Anthologies
[STARRED REVIEW] "Some of the most powerful stories in the brilliant, genre-spanning debut collection from Nebula Award winner Mills (The Wings upon Her Back) focus on the contentious relationships between generations. The stunning title entry, for instance, toggles between the past and the future to track the progress and deterioration of abortion access in the United States. Then there's the brief but impactful 'Laugh Lines,' presented in the form of a eulogy for the narrator's mother that doubles as a paean to disability rights. These speculative pieces resonate deeply with the current moment, teasing out the many possible ways climate disasters and fascistic politics may shape humanity's future, all while keeping an eye to the communities that support each other behind the scenes. Elsewhere, Mills delves into fantasy, in stories that are no less pleasurable and heart-rending. In the haunting 'Adrianna in Pomeg
-Publishers Weekly
A subversive debut short-fiction collection from one of the hottest talents in speculative fiction: 2025 Compton Crook Award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee Samantha Mills (The Wings Upon Her Back). These riveting stories range effortlessly from fantasy and science fiction to literary fiction, from the here and now all the way into the farthest reaches of space. The central tale of the collection is Mills' pivotal Nebula, Locus, and Sturgeon Award-winning story "Rabbit Test," which interrogates the past, present, and future of abortion rights.
A time-traveling fisherwoman keeps landing on the right shore, but at the wrong time. A pair of witches fight over the gate between life and death. A new consciousness, intent upon seeing all the wonders of the universe, visits a floating library. A rock-and-roll legend squares off against a town full of devils. Humanity makes first contact, but falters when put in charge of selecting the world's representatives.
In her strange and emotional worlds, with stakes ranging from the epic to the personal, Mills creates ample room for humor and hope amidst tragedy and struggle.
Introduction by Meg Elison (Find Layla) Samantha Mills's critically acclaimed first novel, The Wings Upon Her Back, won the Compton Crook Award for the year's best debut and is a nominee for the World Fantasy Award. In 2023, she received the Nebula, Locus, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards for her short story, "Rabbit Test." Her short fiction has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, and others, and was included in The New Voices of Science Fiction from Tachyon Publications and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023. In the other half of her life, she is a librarian and trained archivist specializing in primary documents. Mills grew up in Southern California, where she still lives with her family and cats. When she isn't working, writing, or taking care of children, she's watching B movies, binding books, and crocheting stuffed animals.
• This strikingly subversive debut short story collection shows why Samantha Mills is one of science fiction's most acclaimed recent authors
• Mills's first novel, The Wings Upon Her Back, also published by Tachyon, won the Compton Crook Award and is a nominee for the World Fantasy Award.
• National marketing plan to include endorsements, reviews, and interviews; print and digital ARC distribution; author launch event and tour with California and EU appearances; co-op advertising available "The Death of the God-King"
"Strange Waters"
"Adrianna in Pomegranate"
"Rabbit Test"
"A Shadow Is a Memory of a Ghost"
"The Limits of Magic"
"10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days"
"One Part Per Billion"
"Spindles"
"Four of Seven"
"Laugh Lines"
"Kiki Hernández Beats the Devil"
"Anchorage Book Riot Five Exciting Upcoming SFF Story Anthologies
[STARRED REVIEW] "Some of the most powerful stories in the brilliant, genre-spanning debut collection from Nebula Award winner Mills (The Wings upon Her Back) focus on the contentious relationships between generations. The stunning title entry, for instance, toggles between the past and the future to track the progress and deterioration of abortion access in the United States. Then there's the brief but impactful 'Laugh Lines,' presented in the form of a eulogy for the narrator's mother that doubles as a paean to disability rights. These speculative pieces resonate deeply with the current moment, teasing out the many possible ways climate disasters and fascistic politics may shape humanity's future, all while keeping an eye to the communities that support each other behind the scenes. Elsewhere, Mills delves into fantasy, in stories that are no less pleasurable and heart-rending. In the haunting 'Adrianna in Pomeg