Points of Departure by Pat Murphy is in The Philip K Dick Award Storybundle!
Points of
Departure by Pat Murphy
is in The
Philip K Dick Award Storybundle!
Winner
of the Philip K. Dick Award: Nineteen stories of power and humanity from a
science fiction master with otherworldly talent
For Pat Murphy, the process of writing is a
journey to somewhere very different. Her stories are the messages she sends
back.
Points of Departure collects the most memorable of Murphy’s tales. These stories explore the
shifting boundaries between the real and the imaginary, blending visionary
storytelling with uncompromising realism. A chimpanzee with the memories of a
teenage girl must find her way in a hostile world. An alien visitor seeks
refuge among the Mayan people of the Yucatan peninsula. A woman comes to terms
with a spirit that invades her apartment. A young man, following in his dead
father’s footsteps by venturing alone into the Himalayan wilderness, makes an
unexpected discovery. In Murphy’s worlds, the supernatural is just a few steps
away—in the static of an old movie on TV, on an abandoned subway platform, in a
cluttered room where an alien spaceship is under construction.
As children we all knew that there were monsters
under the bed, fairies in the garden, and fantastic creatures everywhere, just
out of sight. With these stories, Murphy opens the secret doorway,
letting strange beings enter our world and allowing us to visit theirs.
Points of Departure is a collection of short stories tinged with barbed
humor that won the 1991 Philip K. Dick Award.
Alternating between hope and despair, Pat
Murphy's stories range from "Rachel in Love," which portrays a
chimpanzee whose brain is implanted with the personality of a young girl who
has died to "His Vegetable Wife," the story of a farmer who grows a
spouse from a packet of seed only to find that she is more quiet than docile.
All but one of the 19 stories in this collection have been published previously
in magazines and anthologies.
From
Publishers Weekly
Although infused with a gentle sort of magic, the stories in Murphy's (The City, Not Long After) enjoyable collection are also tinged with barbed humor, alternating between hope and despair. Nebula Award-winner "Rachel in Love" portrays a chimpanzee whose brain is implanted with the personality of a young girl who has died. When the researcher who cared for the chimp dies, the hybrid draws on her mingled primate and human knowledge to make her way in a world that can be at once hostile and kind. In "Prescience," a fortune-teller learns that there's a difference between seeing the future and changing it. Conversely, in "Orange Blossom Time," a woman who travels through time cannot change the past or the present as she watches the city and the man she loves suffer painful deaths from rampant disease and the exhaustion of resources. Unappreciated wives get the last word in two stories: a wife's spirit escapes her abusive husband to join the "Women in the Trees," and a farmer who grows a spouse from a packet of seeds finds that "His Vegetable Wife" is more quiet than docile. All but one of these 19 stories have been published previously in SF magazines and book anthologies.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Pat Murphy’s novels and short
stories include Rachel in Love, The Falling Woman, The City Not Long After, Nadya, Wild Angel, Adventures
in Time and Space with Max Merriwell, and The Wild Girls. Her fiction has won two Nebulas, the Philip K. Dick Award, the World Fantasy Award, the
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Seiun Award. In 1991, Pat
co-founded the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, an annual literary prize for science
fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender roles.
This award harnesses the power of chocolate chip cookies in an on-going effort
to change the world.
For
Pat’s insightful blog about reading as a child, writing, and inspiration, you
must check out http://www.brazenhussies.net/murphy/index.php/Why-I-Write/
So there you have it, my friends. The Philip K Dick Award Storybundle
includes Aestival
Tide by Elizabeth Hand (PKD Finalist), Life by Gwyneth Jones (PKD Winner), The Cipher by Kathe Koja (PKD Finalist), Points of Departure by Pat Murphy (PKD Winner), Dark Seeker by K. W. Jeter (PKD Finalist), Summer of Love
by Lisa Mason (PKD Finalist), Frontera by Lewis Shiner (PKD Finalist), Acts of Conscience by William Barton (PKD Special Citation),
Maximum Ice by Kay Kenyon (PKD
Finalist), Knight Moves by Walter
Jon Williams (PKD Finalist), and Reclamation
by Sarah Zettel (PKD Finalist).
The
Philip K Dick Award Storybundle runs only until October 15. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Download yours today at http://storybundle.com/pkdaward
and enjoy world-class, award-winning
reading right now and into the holidays.
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