Short Stories/Novellas

"STRANGE TRADES is a splendid collection...witty, thoughtful, accessible...the book's finest story...has a humanity worthy of Dickens or Hardy." -Publishers Weekly You can try to escape from the mundane, or with the help of Paul Di Filippo, you can take a brief, meaningful break from it. In the vein of George Saunders or Michael Chabon, Di Filippo uses the tools of science fiction and the surreal to take a deep, richly felt look at humanity. His brand of funny, quirky, thoughtful, fast-moving, heart-warming, brain-bending stories exist across the entire spectrum of the fantastic from hard science fiction to satire to fantasy and on to horror, delivering a riotously entertaining string of modern fables and stories from tomorrow, now and anytime. After you read Paul Di Filippo, you'll no longer see everyday life quite the same. In these 11 stories, Paul Di Filippo applies his armamentarium of vastly varied literary skills to an examination and definition of the outer limits of an almost unbearably mundane-sounding subject: daily toil or, in a word, jobs. In "Spondulix" Rory Honeyman, in desperation to preserve the meager cash flow in his sandwich shop, starts offering store coupons which somehow take on a life of their own. "The Mill" is the only place in the universe where Luxcloth, treasured and worn by many, can be manufactured and only at the direction of one man. "The Boredom Factory" gives meaning to the phrase "living to work." Keep reading, it will be the easiest job you've ever had. With an Introduction by Bruce Sterling.

WikiWorld contains a choice assortment of Di Filippo's best and most recent work. The title story, a radical envisioning of near-future sociopolitical modes, received accolades from both Cory Doctorow and Warren Ellis. In addition, there are alternate history adventures such as "Yes We Have No Bananas" (which critic Gary Wolfe called "a new kind of science fiction"); homages to icons such as Stanislaw Lem ("The New Cyberiad"); collaborations with Rudy Rucker and Damien Broderick; and a posthuman odyssey ("Waves and Smart Magma"). WikiWorld is the best of the best from this British Science Fiction Association Award-winning and Nebula, Hugo, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Award-nominated author.

ABOUT THE BOOK Return to the Twentieth Century is a novelette published by 40kBooks. 40kBooks publishes a select number of titles by award-winning authors from across the globe. Why novelettes? Novels can have pauses, faults: a long story wins by points. A novelette, as Julio Cortazar wrote, needs to win by knock-out. REVIEW "The war between the sexes, long thought to be extinguished, is heating up! It has been obvious to anyone who has bothered to look during the past year. But the cause has been more obscure. It is not a natural affair! The animosity is being stoked by agents provocateurs – fifth columnists from beyond our planet! This is the nature of the assault on our world. And if we do not stop it, our civilization will go down in a cataclysm of gender warfare." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954 in Providence, Rhode Island) is a science fiction novelist and short story writer of wide genrebending influence, as well as a journalist, a sometimes comics writer, a mail art fiend, and a bunch of other things that are probably very hard to describe. Also, the first person to use the word “Steampunk” in a book title." [Warren Ellis] ABOUT THE PUBLISHER 40kBooks is the first Italian digital publisher. Its eBooks are divided into two categories: Essays and Stories. Essays comprise a selection dealing with digital culture. Stories are novelettes by award-winning authors from different countries and cultures. All of the 40kBook titles are published in multiple languages including Italian, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French and are available all over the world.

ABOUT THE BOOK Waves and Smart Magma is a novelette published by 40kBooks. 40kBooks publishes a select number of titles by award-winning authors from across the globe. Why novelettes? Novels can have pauses, faults: a long story wins by points. A novelette, as Julio Cortazar wrote, needs to win by knock-out. REVIEW Smart magma, new furry species, artificial intelligence, sorcerors... Paul Di Filippo rules, again! Storm, the protagonist of the last Paul Di Filippo's story, is not human, as you can realize thanks to his furry appearance, but he has been created by humans. When the same species that bring him to life destroyed his family during a bloody battle, he felt not only astonished and angry, but also confused about his identity and his origin. In search of himself, Storm begins a long trip that leads him to explore the bioregion around a volcano - full of strange and smart creatures - and to deal with the globally distributed artificial intelligence, who appears like “a kindly sorceror from some old human epic”. This weird figure asks him to join a mission with other ten guardians that helps Storm to understand that it doesn't matter where you are from, the most important thing is where you are going. ABOUT THE AUTHOR "Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954 in Providence, Rhode Island) Paul Di Filippo is a science fiction novelist and short story writer of wide genrebending influence, as well as a journalist, a sometimes comics writer, a mail art fiend, and a bunch of other things that are probably very hard to describe. Also, the first person to use the word “Steampunk” in a book title..." [Warren Ellis] ABOUT THE PUBLISHER 40kBooks is the first Italian digital publisher. Its eBooks are divided into two categories: Essays and Stories. Essays comprise a selection dealing with digital culture. Stories are novelettes by award-winning authors from different countries and cultures. All of the 40kBook titles are published in multiple languages including Italian, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French and are available all over the world.

Despite her father being a prominent captain of industry in her hometown of Providence, Sophronia Tempest struggles to be taken seriously in her chosen career as a journalist. It is when she and her boyfriend, the eminently suitable Arthur Botwink, attend a meeting of a supposed sect, the Starry Sodality, and hear an address by Isadora Blank, self-declared 'Hierophant and Opener of the Way', that things start to spiral out of control. Before she knows it, Sophronia, Arthur, and the irascible Reuben Standeven - a fellow journalist, who keeps getting the assignments she deserves - are caught up in far-reaching events beyond their imagining. Following their instincts, they find themselves in another world and are party to a fiendish scheme that seems set to come to a head on the day of the big parade to celebrate 250 years since the founding of Providence. Unless, that is, they can stop it. But how is Sophronia's mentor, the celebrated academic Professor Aurion Charnley, involved? And where do all the cats keep disappearing to?