Download high-resolution image
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio play button
0:00
0:00

The Last Catastrophe

Stories

Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio play button
0:00
0:00
A hopeful, speculative short story collection about how humanity grapples in a world transformed by climate change.

“Climate fiction does not owe readers hope, but through humor and humanity Hyde manages to present a harsh reality without descending into despair, offering a space for mourning and for reimagining life in a permanently changed world. Each of the 15 stories is swiftly paced and engaging, rich with detail, highlighting and celebrating nature as it borders on the unnatural.” —The New York Times Book Review

A vast caravan of RVs roams the United States. A girl grows a unicorn horn, complicating her small-town friendships and big city ambitions. A young lady on a spaceship bonds with her AI warden while trying to avoid an arranged marriage. In Allegra Hyde’s universe nothing is as it seems, yet the challenges encountered in these pages mirror those we face in our modern age. Spanning the length of our very solar system, the fifteen stories in this collection explore a myriad of potential futures through the concept of “global weirding,” planetary and social disruptions due to climate change. In unexpected and genre-defying ways, this revelatory collection reminds us that our world is precious, and that protecting it has the potential to bring us all together.
Contents

Mobilization

I

Disruptions

The Tough Part

Zoo Suicides

Afterglow

Chevalier

II


The Future Is a Click Away

Endangered

Loving Homes for Lost & Broken Men

Cougar

III


Frights

Democracy in America

Adjustments

Colonel Merryweather’s Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature

The Eaters
© Tanya Rosen-Jones
ALLEGRA HYDE is the author of the novel Eleutheria and the story collection Of This New World, which won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Pushcart PrizeBest of the NetThe Best Small FictionsThe Best American Travel Writing, and elsewhere. She lives in Ohio and teaches at Oberlin College. View titles by Allegra Hyde

About

A hopeful, speculative short story collection about how humanity grapples in a world transformed by climate change.

“Climate fiction does not owe readers hope, but through humor and humanity Hyde manages to present a harsh reality without descending into despair, offering a space for mourning and for reimagining life in a permanently changed world. Each of the 15 stories is swiftly paced and engaging, rich with detail, highlighting and celebrating nature as it borders on the unnatural.” —The New York Times Book Review

A vast caravan of RVs roams the United States. A girl grows a unicorn horn, complicating her small-town friendships and big city ambitions. A young lady on a spaceship bonds with her AI warden while trying to avoid an arranged marriage. In Allegra Hyde’s universe nothing is as it seems, yet the challenges encountered in these pages mirror those we face in our modern age. Spanning the length of our very solar system, the fifteen stories in this collection explore a myriad of potential futures through the concept of “global weirding,” planetary and social disruptions due to climate change. In unexpected and genre-defying ways, this revelatory collection reminds us that our world is precious, and that protecting it has the potential to bring us all together.

Excerpt

Contents

Mobilization

I

Disruptions

The Tough Part

Zoo Suicides

Afterglow

Chevalier

II


The Future Is a Click Away

Endangered

Loving Homes for Lost & Broken Men

Cougar

III


Frights

Democracy in America

Adjustments

Colonel Merryweather’s Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature

The Eaters

Author

© Tanya Rosen-Jones
ALLEGRA HYDE is the author of the novel Eleutheria and the story collection Of This New World, which won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Pushcart PrizeBest of the NetThe Best Small FictionsThe Best American Travel Writing, and elsewhere. She lives in Ohio and teaches at Oberlin College. View titles by Allegra Hyde

Books for National Depression Education and Awareness Month

For National Depression Education and Awareness Month in October, we are sharing a collection of titles that educates and informs on depression, including personal stories from those who have experienced depression and topics that range from causes and symptoms of depression to how to develop coping mechanisms to battle depression.

Read more

Horror Titles for the Halloween Season

In celebration of the Halloween season, we are sharing horror books that are aligned with the themes of the holiday: the sometimes unknown and scary creatures and witches. From classic ghost stories and popular novels that are celebrated today, in literature courses and beyond, to contemporary stories about the monsters that hide in the dark, our list

Read more

Books for LGBTQIA+ History Month

For LGBTQIA+ History Month in October, we’re celebrating the shared history of individuals within the community and the importance of the activists who have fought for their rights and the rights of others. We acknowledge the varying and diverse experiences within the LGBTQIA+ community that have shaped history and have led the way for those

Read more