"Pride and Prometheus," a story in The Baum Plan for Financial Independence involving characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is winner of the 2008 Nebula award for Best Novelette.

"These stories offer a sustained exploration of the ways gender dynamics can both empower and enslave us. Kessel's wit sparkles throughout, peaking with the most uproariously weird phone-sex conversation you'll ever read ('The Red Phone')." Grade: A- --Entertainment Weekly

"One of the best collections of the year."--Locus

"These well-crafted stories, full of elegantly drawn characters, deliver a powerful emotional punch."--Publishers Weekly

A long-awaited collection that intersects imaginatively with Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, The Wizard of Oz, and Flannery O'Connor. Includes John Kessel's modern classic sequence about life on the moon.

Winner of the Nebula, Sturgeon, Locus, and Tiptree awards, John Kessel is the author of The New York Times Notable Book Meeting in Infinity. He co-edited the anthologies Feeling Very Strange and Rewired. Kessel and his family live in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he co-directs the creative writing program at North Carolina State University.

This book is on these lists:

• September 2009 Indie Next List
• August 2009 Indie Next List
• July 2009 Indie Next List