{"product_id":"the-baum-plan-for-financial-john-kessel-9781931520508","title":"The Baum Plan for Financial Independence: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Pride and Prometheus,\" a story in \u003cb\u003eThe Baum Plan for Financial Independence\u003c\/b\u003e involving characters from Jane Austen's \u003cb\u003ePride and Prejudice\u003c\/b\u003e and Mary Shelley's \u003cb\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/b\u003e, is winner of the 2008 Nebula award for Best Novelette.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA long-awaited collection of fourteen stories that intersect imaginatively with \u003ci\u003ePride and Prejudice\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Wizard of Oz\u003c\/i\u003e, and Flannery O'Connor. Kessel, whose story \"A Clean Escape\" was filmed as part of ABC's \u003ci\u003eMasters of Science Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, ranges through genres with a lean, graceful style that incorporates everything from future autobiography, alternate history, phone sex, perpetual motion, and his modern classic sequence of four stories about life on the moon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In his first collection in a decade, Kessel jumps from place to place like a jolty time machine. In \"Pride and Prometheus,\" Frankenstein and Jane Austen intersect in an uncanny Victorian tale of unrequited love, while \"A Lunar Quartet\" introduces a matriarchal, hypersexual moon colony in the future. But as a group, these stories offer a sustained exploration of the ways gender dynamics can both empower and enslave us. Kessel's wit sparkles throughout, peaking with the most uproariously weird phone-sex conversation you'll ever read (\"The Red Phone\").\" A-\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Anyone who thinks genre writing can't be literary deserves to have Kessel's hefty new collection of stories dropped on his or her head.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eTime Out Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Dark, wacky, wide-ranging short stories.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eCharlotte Observer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A pleasant callback to the days when science-fiction authors read more than just science fiction.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Kessel's blend of dark humor and reality-stretching scenarios is consistently mesmerizing.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"These well-crafted stories, full of elegantly drawn characters, deliver a powerful emotional punch.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Kessel proves himself again a master not just of science fiction, but also of the modern short story, crafting compelling characters and following them through plots that never fail to please--or to defy prediction.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eMetro Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"One of the best collections of the year.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Kessel is a deft stylist and a master of all his tools, whose range is nearly limitless.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eSciFi.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"John Kessel's writing exists at the edge of things, in the dark corner where the fiction section abuts the science-fiction shelves, in the hyphen where magic meets realism. Reading Kessel's wonderful fabulations is like staying out too late partying and seeing strange angels while stumbling home in the dawn's first light. This is one of those too rare short story collections that you can recommend with confidence to both the literary snob and the hard-core computer geek.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Rich Rennicks, Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Invest. Invest now.... Your returns will be multitudinous.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Fix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Kessel\u003c\/b\u003e co-directs the creative writing program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. A winner of the Nebula, Sturgeon, Locus, and Tiptree awards, his books include \u003ci\u003eGood News from Outer Space, Corrupting Dr. Nice, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Pure Product, \u003c\/i\u003eand story collection, \u003ci\u003eMeeting in Infinity\u003c\/i\u003e (a\u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book).\u003cbr\u003e Most recently, with James Patrick Kelly he edited the anthologies \u003ci\u003eFeeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Secret History of Science Fiction.\u003c\/i\u003e He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John Kessel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 193152050X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781931520508\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Small Beer Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.45h x 5.79w x 0.76d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2008 pg. 28","brand":"John Kessel","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44075160994047,"sku":"9781931520508","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a3175300-8b02-4543-b380-28b56f2c9601.jpg?v=1685457958","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-baum-plan-for-financial-john-kessel-9781931520508","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}