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Age of Blight

Stories
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( 147 ratings, 35 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Age of Blight by Kristine Ong Muslim delves into the aftermath of humanity's downfall, exploring a world where humans have vanished, leaving behind traces of their existence. Through a collection of interconnected stories, the book examines themes of survival, adaptation, and the remnants of civilisation through the eyes of creatures and beings that inhabit this new reality. The narrative offers a thought-provoking take on what remains when humanity is no longer the dominant force.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this Science Fiction & Fantasy book if you have a penchant for exploring post-apocalyptic worlds where human nature and survival instincts are tested. The author takes a unique approach to stories that intermingle dark atmospheres with evocative, literary prose. It's perfect for readers who appreciate thought-provoking narratives that linger in the mind.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

What if the end of man is not caused by some cataclysmic event, but by the nature of humans themselves?

In Age of Blight, a young scientist's harsh and unnecessary experiments on monkeys are recorded for posterity; children are replaced by their doppelgangers, which emerge like flowers in their backyards; and two men standing on opposing cliff faces bear witness to each other's terrifying ends.

Age of Blight explores a kind of post-future, in which the human race is finally abandoned to the end of its history. Muslim's poetic vignettes explore the nature of dystopia itself, often to darkly humorous effect. This is evident when the spirit of Laika (the Russian space dog that perished on Sputnik 2) tries to befriend a satellite, or when Beth, the narrator's older sister, returns from the dead.

The collection is illustrated throughout by the charcoal drawings of RISD artist Alessandra Hogan.

In haunting and precise prose, Kristine Ong Muslim posits that humanity's downfall will be both easily preventable and terrifyingly inevitable, for it depends on only one thing: human nature.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Kristine Ong Muslim's Age of Blight is praised for its haunting and imaginative speculative short stories. Reviews highlight the collection's masterful writing, evoking a bleak yet fascinating world. The stories inspire reflection on current societal issues, offering significant, albeit troubling, messages.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781939419569

Publisher: Unnamed Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 March 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: Unnamed Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Illustrated by Alessandra Hogan

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 127g

Pages: 144

About the Author

Kristine Ong Muslim (b. September 1980, Philippines) is the author of several books, including the forthcoming short story collection Age of Blight and poetry collection Lifeboat, as well as We Bury the Landscape and Grim Series. A new edition of A Roomful of Machines, her first book originally published in 2010 by UK-based Searle Publishing, appears from ELJ Publications this year. Her third book, Grim Series, was included in the preliminary ballot of the Horror Writers Association's 2012 Bram Stoker Award for poetry and was twice nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Elgin Award. Her poems and short stories were published and anthologized in the likes of Adbusters, Asia Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Boston Review, Confrontation Magazine, Contrary Magazine, Ellipsis, Existere, Gargoyle Magazine, Harpur Palate, Hobart, Narrative Magazine, New Welsh Review, Sou'wester, Southword, The Pedestal Magazine, The Puritan, The State, Verse Daily, and numerous pulp magazines, as well as Dadaoism (An Anthology) (Chmu Press, 2012), Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems (Accents Publishing, 2011), The Best of Abyss and Apex Volume One (Hadley Rille Books, 2008), and several volumes of the annual Rhysling Award anthologies. Kristine Ong Muslim is the poetry editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction. She grew up and continues to live in a small farming town in the southern Philippines.

Alessandra Hogan has a B.F.A. in printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. She was born in New Haven, CT, and aspires to be a professional fine artist.

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