Sex, Death, and the End of the World — Martha Cornog; Timothy Perper

Ghosts, aliens, vampires, zombies, God and the Devil, robots, detectives, the Arabian Nights, and the afterlife: Thirteen mostly lighthearted tales subvert expectations to introduce unusual characters faced with the unexpected. We discover that devastating power can inhere in sex organs, that the end of the world might get a bit crowded, that blood is thicker than interstellar space, and that some ghosts have heroic histories. And several acerbic dialogues unpack a classic Jewish joke. Under the quirky fun, however, lurk transgressive messages of peace, justice, and freedom. All of us think about sex, many of us think about death (willingly or not), and some of us have thought about the end of the world. But probably not like this. Infused with fantasy and touches of science fiction, these surprising takes on a trio of universal themes will awaken the imagination to new impossibilities.