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Stories
by Kathryn Harlan
This genre-bending debut collection of stories constructs eight eerie worlds full of desire, wisdom, and magic blooming amidst decay.
In stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters―mostly queer, mostly women―on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis.
In "The Changeling," two young cousins wait in dread for a new family member to arrive, convinced that he may be a dangerous supernatural creature. In "Endangered Animals," Jane prepares to say goodbye to her almost-love while they road-trip across a country irrevocably altered by climate change. In "Take Only What Belongs to You," a queer woman struggles with the personal history of an author she idolized, while in "Fiddler, Fool, Pair," an anthropologist is drawn into a magical―and dangerous―gamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agnes's body―until an unwanted male guest disturbs their cloistered home.
Audacious, striking, and wholly original, Fruiting Bodies offers stories about knowledge in a world on the verge of collapse, knowledge that alternately empowers or devastates. Pulling beautifully, brazenly, from a variety of literary traditions, Kathryn Harlan firmly establishes herself as a thrilling new voice in fiction.
"In Harlan's enticing debut collection, primarily queer, female characters encounter surreal and fantastical situations...This is well worth diving into." - Publishers Weekly
"Original, deftly told stories that chart coming-of-age in perilous times for our planet." - Kirkus Reviews
"A debut of astonishing range and beauty, nimble and magical and profound. In stunning prose, Kathryn Harlan's wildly imaginative and daring stories reveal the anguish of growing up in a dying world. Her characters' quest for knowledge―about themselves, their families, their bodies, and their yearnings―will thrill and haunt you." - Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers
"These excellent stories are insightful, transporting, and gloriously uncanny. In story after story, Fruiting Bodies uncovers knowledge that is tantalizing and terrible." - Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of The Five Wounds
"Fruiting Bodies is abundant with dark and tender wonders. In the spirit of Shirley Jackson, Kathryn Harlan coaxes their characters' secret feelings into the open, where they bloom into compelling dramas. A book as loving as it is eerie, full of queer love and queer longing, I so enjoyed my stay in the deep woods of Harlan's imagination." - CJ Hauser, author of Family of Origin
"Allow me to tell the unvarnished truth: Fruiting Bodies is going to knock your socks off. Put on your socks right now and get prepared. Kathryn Harlan's writing is just what you're looking for, but something you've never seen before." - Judith Claire Mitchell, author of A Reunion of Ghosts
"Oh my gosh Kathryn Harlan's stories are so good―they're feral and formal and funny and exactly what you want when you turn to a person you love and say 'tell me a story.'" - Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
"This is an extraordinary, gorgeous, wildly imaginative collection of stories. I know I will be returning to them again and again." - Beth (Bich Minh) Nguyen, author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner
This information about Fruiting Bodies was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathryn Harlan received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she now teaches writing. She was the recipient of the 2019 August Derleth Graduate Creative Writing Prize. Her work has appeared in the Gettysburg Review, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere.
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