Pond Life

In Pond Life, Sam Kates unlocks a subtle and disturbing kaleidoscope of worlds in ten stories spanning a multitude of moods. Take a look inside, and you'll meet the person who claims to have caused the end of mankind, and be asked if you would follow a girl to a rooftop if she were convinced she could fly. Discover the Obsessive's Club, and contemplate whether you would dive into a pond that would fundamentally alter who you are. Explore a seemingly minor incident that may have affected the outcome of World War II and all history thereafter. Encounter a ghost, a deadly infatuation, a condemned prisoner who's convinced that she's Dorothy Gale, and a daring but brutal escape from a Siberian prison camp in this mind-bending collection of Sam Kates's best short horror.

"Sam Kates's writing style is elegant and deft, and his way with words is superbly meticulous. He paints a picture for the reader of color and space and emotion, but uses a light brush so that no two readers will see quite the same thing: he doesn't overburden the reader with description but leaves just enough, and just the right things, to the imagination. Kates has written some of the most powerful scenes anyone has put on paper, yet his writing is smooth, effortless, and supremely comfortable."

-Adam Byrn Tritt, author of the award-winning sci-fi short story "Ezekiel's Wheel"