From Publishers Weekly
How far would a person go to protect a loved one? That question is at the heart of many of the 17 stories in McAllister's career-spanning collection. The Vietnam-era novelette Dream Baby (later expanded into a novel) is a powerful story of a combat nurse suffering from prophetic dreams. In The Faces Outside and the title story, young women offer their bodies to save endangered species. The Ark and Kin find people desperate to save their family members, while Assassin and Moving On explore the limits of family ties, and Angels portrays an elderly woman's effort to create a perfect son, no matter the cost. The Boy in Zaquitos pits a near-future Typhoid Mary analogue against his creators. Twilight Zone-style twists drive Southpaw, an alternate history story about star baseball player Fidel Castro; World of the Wars, the story of a Mars colony gone wrong; and Benji's Pencil, about a man awakened from cryosleep who finds the future isn't what he expected. McAllister's haunting work will enthrall any reader who appreciates thoughtful, evocative science fiction. (Oct.)
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"In stories spanning his career, McAllister creates characters and places with haunting presence . . . distinguished by a stunning array of ideas and a depth of characterization that is impressive. " —Booklist
"Bruce McAllister is that rarity, a writer who can do anything. His stories range from the sweet to the terrifying, idea-dense to atmospheric, character-rich to event-packed. And sometimes all of this in the same story. Writers read other writers to learn tricks, but I often cannot see how he does it. He's a magician." —Gregory Benford, author, Timescape, Nebula Award winner, 1980
"Bruce McAllister was widely regarded as one of the best science fiction writers of the '80s (although he really started all the way back in 1963), and the recent work in this collection shows that he's lost none of his skills here in the Oughts. The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories, which spans five decades of his brilliant career, shows McAllister at his best: complex, compassionate, angry, thoughtful, subtle, and always concerned with exploring the hidden places of the human heart." —Gardner Dozois, editor, Year's Best Science Fiction anthology series
"Among top short story talents in the field, McAllister is a leader. Polished, moving, thought-provoking—this collection is without parallel." —Harry Harrison, author, The Stainless Steel Rat
Book Description
From his first professional story written when he was 16, “The Faces Outside,” to his most critically acclaimed work, the novelette Dream Baby—a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards—these 17 stories showcase the author’s five decades of science fiction writing. Whether it be an elderly woman who uses her vast wealth to create a genetically perfect son (“Angels”) or a young boy who learns the rituals of an alien culture in order to obtain an assassin’s help for his unborn sister (“Kin”), the stories resonate with a child’s sense of wonder coming face-to-face with the realities of the human condition in a science-fictional world. The book also features story notes that reveal each story’s origin as well as the influences—both literary and human—on the author’s life and writing career. An introduction by science fiction great Harry Harrison, an afterword by the John W. Campbell Memorial Award-winner Barry N. Malzberg, and cover art by 2005 Chesley Award–winner John Picacio, make this a keepsake collection.
About the Author
Bruce McAllister has been a writer of science fiction stories and novels for five decades. He is a former teacher at the University of Redlands and, in addition to being a writer, is currently a freelance writing coach and book and screenplay consultant. He lives in Redlands, California.
