{"product_id":"there-is-only-us-volume-21-9781574418804","title":"There Is Only Us: Volume 21","description":"\u003cp\u003e The eight stories of speculative fiction in \u003ci\u003eThere Is Only Us\u003c\/i\u003e explore themes of loneliness, connectedness, and selfhood. Each one is an act of intimacy--an altered world shown through the lens of a close relationship. Brothers, sisters, lovers, mothers, and daughters come together in myriad constellations, often so that one character can make a body-altering choice of extreme proportions. In a variety of forms--from a satirical retelling of Noah's Ark to a sister drama revolving around naked mole rats--\u003ci\u003eThere Is Only Us\u003c\/i\u003e presents a series of escalating scenarios, intimate and yet absurd, that ask, how much can you change and still be you? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Ballering's stories bring to speculative fiction a new lightness and absurdity and a commitment to contemporary experiences of loneliness, especially among Millennials: loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological loneliness (the sense that, by the end of our lives, the earth will be barren), and the unsolvable loneliness that so many experience despite carrying around a tiny device that claims it can connect them to any human anywhere on earth. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e ZOE BALLERING's short fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eCraft\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eElectric Lit\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHobart\u003c\/i\u003e, and her story \"Double or Nothing\" won the 2021 Rougarou Fabulism and Speculative Fiction Contest. Her writing is informed by her experiences working in many different worlds: as program manager for a historic tall ship, receptionist at a garbage dump, olive oil saleswoman, teacher, radio copywriter, and currently as communications coordinator for the Reed College Office of Admission. She lives in Portland, Oregon. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of North Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50388960903442,"sku":"9781574418804","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4344b80e-b22a-4d46-ae90-0f14bae0df9b.jpg?v=1728913108","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/there-is-only-us-volume-21-9781574418804","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}