Extinction Events: Stories

by Liz Breazeale

In this collection of short stories, Liz Breazeale explores the connections between humans and the natural world by examining the processes and history of our planet. A myriad of extinction events large and small have ruptured the history of the earth, and so it is with the women of this book, who struggle to define themselves amid their own personal cataclysms and those igniting the world around them. They are a mother watching the islands of the world disappear one by one, a new bride using alien abduction to get closer to her estranged parent, a daughter searching for her mother among the lost cities of the world, a sister trying and failing to protect her mythical continent–obsessed brother.

Here extinction events come in all sizes and as volcanic eruptions and devastating plagues and meteor impacts, as estrangements and betrayals and losses. Dark, angry, and apocalyptic, Extinction Events is a compendium of all the ways in which life can be annihilated.
 
 

Genres: Short Stories

138 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2019

Reviews

[thebakedbook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I'm still reading short stories, when I just never like them.

I loved the first story, but the rest of the stories I could not pay attention through.
I enjoyed the creativity. I try and I try, but I cannot get into short stories.

[Jennifer Pullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing, beautiful, heartbreaking, and finely crafted, with taut prose.

[Jen G · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s very rare to find literary fiction that blends geology and women’s lived experiences. Intriguing concepts, but the writing style was difficult for me to engage with.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the perfect book to start off this year. Weaving climate change, feminine mythology and "hysteria," generational trauma, and the emotional pain of love and heartbreak in all forms, it felt hugely topical on a societal and personal level. Every story felt more haunting than the last and I needed to pause between each to catch my breath and process. I want to read this again in six months to a year and I'm sure I'd find so many new layers again. I also want to recommend it to literally everyone I know. I definitely look forward to following this writer's future publications too!