Release date: 2 May 2022
“If we value the freedom of mind and soul, … then it’s our plain duty to escape” – Ursula K. Le Guin
Nine short stories: nine teeny-tiny escape hatches from reality. A chance to run away from worries, to explore the distant stars, to conquer death and save the world.
Take a chance, make a choice: a better future is out there. Let Escape be yours.
Foreword
Short stories are strange and wily beasts. At least for me. Perfect short stories distill the essence of the universe into a few perfect lines of prose and leave you thinking of them long after The End. I don’t think I’ve ever achieved a perfect short story. What I hope I have managed to do in this collection is viciously contain the idea of escape in under 100,000 words.
Ursula K. LeGuin paraphrased J.R.R. Tolkien saying, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? … If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
Each of these science fiction stories is a teeny-tiny escape hatch from a reality. A chance to run away from all your worries, if only for a moment. A chance to explore somewhere else, even if the time spent is fleeting. The stories come from all over. From idle thoughts as I hung up laundry on a hot summer day and from the depths of postpartum depression as I sat in a lovely house, in a lovely town, in a lovely life and felt trapped by despair. Some of these short stories were originally mean to be part of a larger novel. Others were quick explorations of emotions. They are all a momentary escape from the ordinary and I hope they are the exit you’re looking for.