ANTHEMS OUTSIDE TIME AND OTHER STRANGE VOICES
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- KEN SCHNEYER
- July 2020 978-1-933846-92-7
- Cover art by Grandfailure
- Also available as an ebook from these dealers.
Curator's notes from an art exhibition. Exam questions. A children's social-studies textbook. An end-user license agreement from God. From Nebula-nominated author Kenneth Schneyer comes this collection spanning the range from fantasy to science fiction to horror to political speculative fiction. Representing more than a decade of work, these 26 weird, disorienting stories will accost your expectations while relocating your heart. This volume includes such celebrated works as "Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer," as well as two stories never before published.
“Schneyer dazzles with this striking collection of 27 wide-ranging speculative stories . . . Each world is distinct and fully realized, and the astonishing variety of genre and tone on offer showcases Schneyer’s versatility. Inventive and resonant, this collection is sure to impress.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[This collection] features the author’s somewhat sideways view of the world, as exemplified in his Nebula–nominated Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer. Most of the stories here are sf, but the kind that dives deeply into the human side of the equation. It’s not about the technology but how people react to the technology, and the human costs to applying that technology. The fantasies, even when they feature a monster or a dragon, depict the humans affected by those fantasy creatures. All are from the darker corners of the imagination, whether pain or grief or just plain evil, all are compellingly readable. This is a strong collection, with fascinating viewpoints on the ways humans exhibit both humanity and inhumanity no matter the circumstances or the century. VERDICT: By turns prescient, heartbreaking, and provocative. Highly recommended for readers who want their speculative fiction to make them think—and think hard.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“This fine collection of 26 stories, one for each letter of the alphabet, displays Schneyer’s characteristic combination of wit and deep feeling. The games he plays with the many forms that stories can take are as delightful as ever, and they never get in the way of him going right to the heart of things—in fact they are his way of seeing the world, and his gift to us. Enjoy!”
— Kim Stanley Robinson
“Curl up with a collection you won’t want to put down! By turns whimsical, moving and disturbing—always thought-provoking—Schneyer’s unique visions reveal myriad glimpses into the human heart.”
— E. C. Ambrose, author of The King of Next Week
“Ken Schneyer is a fearless explorer of the genres and his discoveries are treasures, one and all. He offers something for every fan of the fantastic in Anthems Outside Time. Equally adept at creating dragons and aliens, mages and movie stars, Ken brings them all to life with a sturdy intelligence and a heart as big as the sky. I’m a lifelong student of the short form and I’m here to report the arrival of another master.”
— James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula & Locus Awards
“Ken Schneyer’s collection is full of many gorgeous little stories (including one of my all time favorites, ‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer’). Each story is a carefully crafted puzzle box to be cracked open, revealing new insights into the world in all its complexity.”
— Tina Connolly, author of On the Eyeball Floor and Other Stories
“Kenneth Schneyer’s new collection, Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices, is our latest evidence of a powerful, flexible, and relentlessly curious intellect at play in our genre. No story is like the next; each one shines with its own indomitable haecceity. Awkward sex, unreliable narrators, recorded memory as witness, contracts as characters, strange storms, grim revolutions, and—oh!—the awful melancholy of a weaponized toddler descending on her red balloon: Anthems is yet warm, human, and unafraid to despair. In the end, it is that very fearlessness, no matter how bleak or brutal, that brings the reader back to hope.”
— C. S. E. Cooney, winner of the World Fantasy Award
“I am in despairing awe of about a dozen stories from this book, including ‘Some Pebbles in the Palm,’ ‘The Mannequin’s Itch,’ ‘Life of the Author Plus Seventy,’ ‘Keeping Tabs,’ and an astonishingly dark fantasy that left my jaw agape, ‘The Last Bombardment.’ This is astonishing, brilliant stuff. Get your hands on this book.”
— Adam-Troy Castro, author of Gustav Gloom
“The short story is one of the few places where artistic experimentation is alive and well—at least in the hands of a master such a Kenneth Schneyer. Schneyer has the George Saunders-like gift of making new structures look easy and feel human. All too human, alas: Anthems removes our calluses and allow us to feel afresh the pain of injustice, the ache of love, the horror of what we’ve become. To call these stories science fiction or fantasy might leave some readers unprepared for the shock of the real Schneyer delivers: and through that shock, catharsis.”
— Carlos Hernandez, author of the Sal and Gabi Series.
“From ‘Some Pebbles in the Pond,’ the meta-meditation on stories and lives that opens Anthems Outside Time, to ‘Dispersion,’ the heartbreaking, all-too-real fantasy that closes it, the stories in Kenneth Schneyer’s new collection show a profound understanding of the craft of short stories, and an equal understanding of the people (and occasional dragon) who inhabit them. As at home in an art gallery as he is in a spaceship, Schneyer cares deeply about the world and seeks to understand it as best he can. Through these marvelous tales, he helps us do the same.
— F. Brett Cox, author of The End of All Our Exploring: Stories
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[This collection] features the author’s somewhat sideways view of the world, as exemplified in his Nebula–nominated Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer. Most of the stories here are sf, but the kind that dives deeply into the human side of the equation. It’s not about the technology but how people react to the technology, and the human costs to applying that technology. The fantasies, even when they feature a monster or a dragon, depict the humans affected by those fantasy creatures. All are from the darker corners of the imagination, whether pain or grief or just plain evil, all are compellingly readable. This is a strong collection, with fascinating viewpoints on the ways humans exhibit both humanity and inhumanity no matter the circumstances or the century. VERDICT: By turns prescient, heartbreaking, and provocative. Highly recommended for readers who want their speculative fiction to make them think—and think hard.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“This fine collection of 26 stories, one for each letter of the alphabet, displays Schneyer’s characteristic combination of wit and deep feeling. The games he plays with the many forms that stories can take are as delightful as ever, and they never get in the way of him going right to the heart of things—in fact they are his way of seeing the world, and his gift to us. Enjoy!”
— Kim Stanley Robinson
“Curl up with a collection you won’t want to put down! By turns whimsical, moving and disturbing—always thought-provoking—Schneyer’s unique visions reveal myriad glimpses into the human heart.”
— E. C. Ambrose, author of The King of Next Week
“Ken Schneyer is a fearless explorer of the genres and his discoveries are treasures, one and all. He offers something for every fan of the fantastic in Anthems Outside Time. Equally adept at creating dragons and aliens, mages and movie stars, Ken brings them all to life with a sturdy intelligence and a heart as big as the sky. I’m a lifelong student of the short form and I’m here to report the arrival of another master.”
— James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula & Locus Awards
“Ken Schneyer’s collection is full of many gorgeous little stories (including one of my all time favorites, ‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer’). Each story is a carefully crafted puzzle box to be cracked open, revealing new insights into the world in all its complexity.”
— Tina Connolly, author of On the Eyeball Floor and Other Stories
“Kenneth Schneyer’s new collection, Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices, is our latest evidence of a powerful, flexible, and relentlessly curious intellect at play in our genre. No story is like the next; each one shines with its own indomitable haecceity. Awkward sex, unreliable narrators, recorded memory as witness, contracts as characters, strange storms, grim revolutions, and—oh!—the awful melancholy of a weaponized toddler descending on her red balloon: Anthems is yet warm, human, and unafraid to despair. In the end, it is that very fearlessness, no matter how bleak or brutal, that brings the reader back to hope.”
— C. S. E. Cooney, winner of the World Fantasy Award
“I am in despairing awe of about a dozen stories from this book, including ‘Some Pebbles in the Palm,’ ‘The Mannequin’s Itch,’ ‘Life of the Author Plus Seventy,’ ‘Keeping Tabs,’ and an astonishingly dark fantasy that left my jaw agape, ‘The Last Bombardment.’ This is astonishing, brilliant stuff. Get your hands on this book.”
— Adam-Troy Castro, author of Gustav Gloom
“The short story is one of the few places where artistic experimentation is alive and well—at least in the hands of a master such a Kenneth Schneyer. Schneyer has the George Saunders-like gift of making new structures look easy and feel human. All too human, alas: Anthems removes our calluses and allow us to feel afresh the pain of injustice, the ache of love, the horror of what we’ve become. To call these stories science fiction or fantasy might leave some readers unprepared for the shock of the real Schneyer delivers: and through that shock, catharsis.”
— Carlos Hernandez, author of the Sal and Gabi Series.
“From ‘Some Pebbles in the Pond,’ the meta-meditation on stories and lives that opens Anthems Outside Time, to ‘Dispersion,’ the heartbreaking, all-too-real fantasy that closes it, the stories in Kenneth Schneyer’s new collection show a profound understanding of the craft of short stories, and an equal understanding of the people (and occasional dragon) who inhabit them. As at home in an art gallery as he is in a spaceship, Schneyer cares deeply about the world and seeks to understand it as best he can. Through these marvelous tales, he helps us do the same.
— F. Brett Cox, author of The End of All Our Exploring: Stories
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR