Today, a nearly forty-year repertoire of short stories comes to print for the first time with the release of The Fragrance of Orchids and Other Stories by Sally McBride.
This first volume of McBride’s short stories includes the Aurora Award-winning title story, the author’s first story sale from 1985 (“Totem”), and an all-new novella (“The Faraway Club”) lauded as “very clever” (Steve Fahnestalk, Amazing Stories). The stories in the collection run the gamut of science fiction and fantasy, with dips into horror, several of which are notably difficult to categorize: the Ottawa Review of Books said, “the common link here is unpredictability… discovering the premise is half of what makes these stories so absorbing.” The astute and engaging foreword written by Peter Watts (author of Blindsight) adds, “You cannot shoehorn this woman into a flowchart. There is no shtick upon which GPT-4 can build a convincing forgery.”
The book has been widely praised and reviewers have made special mention of the humanity of McBride’s writing. Publishers Weekly says, “Thematically, the pieces vary enormously, but uniting them is a lovely sense of playfulness and the clear joy McBride takes in writing.” Author Julie E. Czerneda (the Night’s Edge series) says the collection exposes McBride’s “deep understanding and compassion for us, along with an ability to set a scene nothing less than miraculous. Step into these wonderful stories, experience her fearless grasp of the wondrous and strange, and know you’re in the hands of a truly gifted storyteller.” Amazing Stories magazine also adds, “every story is a people story, concerned with people and their interactions and reactions to extraordinary circumstances. It’s a great collection.”
The book is now available to purchase in trade paperback (264 pages, ISBN 978-1-998795-00-0, $23.99 CAD) and ebook (ISBN 978-1-998795-01-7, $4.99) formats through bookstores everywhere. A launch party is being held at Bakka-Phoenix Books, 84 Harbord St. in Toronto, Saturday, July 15 at 3:00 p.m. The author will be giving readings, signing books, and discussing the collection with attendees. Refreshments will be served.
After living in cities across Canada and (briefly) Florida, McBride now divides her time between Toronto and the mountains of Idaho. Her latest novel, The Nightingale’s Tooth, was released by Brain Lag in January. A second volume of her short fiction will be coming in 2024.
The Fragrance of Orchids and Other Stories is Milton, Ontario science fiction and fantasy publisher Brain Lag’s forty-seventh title. It is Brain Lag’s sixth release of 2023, and the event tomorrow is the first in-person launch party the publisher has hosted since 2018.
Media inquiries and requests to contact the author can be directed to publishing@brain-lag.com.
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