Caitlin Horrocks

From the rising star and author of the "marvelous" (Wall Street Journal), "enthralling" (New York Times Book Review), and "beautiful" (Washington Post) debut novel The Vexations comes an exciting new story collection for fans of George Saunders and Karen Russell that moves boldly between the real and the surreal. Following her "lyrical and captivating" (Los Angeles Review of Books) first novel, Caitlin Horrocks returns with a much-anticipated second collection of short stories. In her signature, genre-defying style, she explodes our notions of what a story can do and where it can take us. Life Among the Terranauts demonstrates all the energy and inventiveness that won admirers for Horrocks's first collection. In "The Sleep," chosen by Geraldine Brooks for Best American Short Stories, residents of a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula decide to hibernate through the bitter winters. In the Saunders-esque title story, half a dozen people move into an experimental biodome known as NovaTerra, only to discover, in terrifying fashion, that a new environment doesn't necessarily mean a fresh start or a better life. And in "Sun City," published in The New Yorker, a young woman meets her grandmother's roommate in the wake of her death and attempts to solve the mystery of whether the two women were lovers. With a startling range of storytelling, Horrocks once again dazzles readers in these absorbing depictions of the real and surreal landscapes of contemporary life. Life Among the Terranauts cements her reputation as one of the premier young writers of our time.

Life Among the Terranauts

Presents a collection of darkly comic stories about women who are isolated by various circumstances.

Stories

This is Not Your City

A kaleidoscopic debut novel about love, family, genius, and the madness of art, circling the life of eccentric composer Erik Satie and La Belle Époque Paris, from a writer who is "wildly entertaining" (San Francisco Chronicle), "startlingly ingenious" (Boston Globe), and "impressively sharp" (New York Times Book Review). Erik Satie begins life with every possible advantage. But after the dual blows of his mother's early death and his father's breakdown upend his childhood, Erik and his younger siblings -- Louise and Conrad -- are scattered. Later, as an ambitious young composer, Erik flings himself into the Parisian art scene, aiming for greatness but achieving only notoriety. As the years, then decades, pass, he alienates those in his circle as often as he inspires them, lashing out at friends and lovers like Claude Debussy and Suzanne Valadon. Only Louise and Conrad are steadfast allies. Together they strive to maintain their faith in their brother's talent and hold fast the badly frayed threads of family. But in a journey that will take her from Normandy to Paris to Argentina, Louise is rocked by a severe loss that ultimately forces her into a reckoning with how Erik -- obsessed with his art and hungry for fame -- will never be the brother she's wished for. With her buoyant, vivid reimagination of an iconic artist's eventful life, Caitlin Horrocks has written a captivating and ceaselessly entertaining novel about the tenacious bonds of family and the costs of greatness, both to ourselves and to those we love.

The Vexations

This "enthralling" debut novel and Wall Street Journal Top Ten Book of the Year circles the life of eccentric composer Erik Satie in La Belle Époque Paris and examines love, family, genius, and the madness of art (New York Times Book Review). Erik Satie begins life with every possible advantage. But after the dual blows of his mother's early death and his father's breakdown upend his childhood, Erik and his younger siblings -- Louise and Conrad -- are scattered. Later, as an ambitious young composer, Erik flings himself into the Parisian art scene, aiming for greatness but achieving only notoriety. As the years, then decades, pass, he alienates those in his circle as often as he inspires them, lashing out at friends and lovers like Claude Debussy and Suzanne Valadon. Only Louise and Conrad are steadfast allies. Together they strive to maintain their faith in their brother's talent and hold fast the badly frayed threads of family. But in a journey that will take her from Normandy to Paris to Argentina, Louise is rocked by a severe loss that ultimately forces her into a reckoning with how Erik -- obsessed with his art and hungry for fame -- will never be the brother she's wished for. With her buoyant, vivid reimagination of an iconic artist's eventful life, Caitlin Horrocks has written a captivating and ceaselessly entertaining novel about the tenacious bonds of family and the costs of greatness, both to ourselves and to those we love.

Jonathan Lethem

Steve Almond

Mary Ruefle

Edward Carey

Daniel Wallace

Matthew Zapruder

Dean Young

Paul Lisicky

Rikki Ducornet

V. V. Ganeshananthan

Donald Revell

Tomaz Salamun

John Hilgart

Literary fiction with elements of the fantastic, the futuristic, the surreal, and the strange.

Caitlin Horrocks

Books

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