Ten Planets: Stories [Paperback]

A collection of fanciful, philosophical science fictions by one of Mexicos finest novelists (Vulture).

The characters that populate Yuri Herreras surprising new story collection inhabit imagined futures that reveal the strangeness and instability of the present. Drawing on science fiction, noir, and the philosophical parables of Jorge Luis BorgessFictionsand Italo CalvinosCosmicomics, these very short stories are an inspired extension of this significant writers work.

InTen Planets, objects can be sentient and might rebel against the unhappy human family to which they are attached. A detective of sorts finds clues to buried secrets by studying the noses of his clients, which he insists are covert maps. A meager bacterium in a human intestine gains consciousness when a psychotropic drug is ingested. Monsters and aliens abound, but in the fiction of Yuri Herrera, knowing who is the monster and who the alien is a tricky proposition.

In Ten Planets, Herreras consistent themesthe mutability of borders, the wounds and legacy of colonial violence, and a deep love of storytelling in all its formsare explored with evident brilliance and delight.

Born in Actopan, Mexico,Yuri Herrerais the author of three novels, includingSigns Preceding the End of the World, which was one of theGuardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century and won the Best Translated Book Award. He teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Lisa Dillmanlives in Decatur, Georgia, where she translates Spanish-language fiction and teaches at Emory University. Her recent translations include National Book Award finalistThe Bitchby Pilar Quintana andA Silent Furyby Yuri Herrera.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

This speculative collection draws inspiration from Melville, Jorge Luis Borges, Philip K. Dick and others to produce contemplÃN