The Wreck of the Godspeed: And Other Stories (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thirteen stories, all originally published between 2002 and 2007, examine the struggle for human survival and identity in strange places. In the title story, humans transmitted across space end up in a quasi-reality that may permit transcendence. The last man on earth in The Best Christmas Ever, a sorrowful abandoned house in Bernardo's House and a PI in a world without men in Men Are Trouble all plumb the depths of loneliness. In The Dark Side of Town, an estranged married couple find each other again in a drug-induced shared virtual reality, while in the Nebula-winning novella Burn, a man from an isolationist colony struggles to save it despite terrible revelations. Kelly frequently evokes a twisted, nostalgic America, and his characters seem contemporary and casual even in the prehistoric fairy tale Luck. Though this lends his stories a certain sameness, it also gives readers a way to connect with his surreal visions. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

Kelly’s stories depend on future technologies based on physics, information theory, genetics, and other au courant disciplines, but they’re about love, friendship, and loyalty. The exploratory colonizing craft Godspeed, which is an artificial and quite independent intelligence, nearly ends its thousand-plus-year career in disaster, with the loss of all crew; it’s the latter’s desperate unit cohesion that saves the day, also a burgeoning romance. A professional carrier of undeclared (hence, illegal) personality transplants decides to become gay to relieve the boredom of a long interstellar flight and winds up settling down with his previously unattainable female love interest, though he’s still gay. A hard-boiled PI in a future earth cleansed of men by alien invaders solves the murder of a newlywed (to another woman) and goes home to her own spouse. Those and most of the other 10 selections are fast paced and witty enough to offset their frequent mind-boggling nature, but exhilaration and amusement aren’t all Kelly provides. Check out “Luck,” “Bernardo’s House,” and the short novel Burn for quieter, more profound effects. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press; 1 edition (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930846517
• ISBN-13: 978-1930846517
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,040,458 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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