Hopeful Monsters

The first collection of short fiction from the award-winning novelist.

This Whitbread Book of The Year Award winner for 1990 is the final novel of the "Catastrophe Practice" series. Set in the 1920s and 30s it tells the story of two young radicals, Max and Eleanor, who meet, love, separate and come together again during the maelstrom of the Spanish Civil War.

“Hopeful monsters” are genetically abnormal organisms that, nonetheless, adapt and survive in their environments. In these devastating stories, the hopeful monsters in question are those who will not be tethered by familial duty nor bound by the ghosts of their past. Home becomes fraught, reality a nightmare as Hiromi Goto weaves her characters through tales of domestic crises and cultural dissonance. They are the walking wounded—a mother who is terrified by a newborn daughter who bears a tail; a “stinky girl” who studies the human condition in a shopping mall; a family on holiday wih a visiting grandfather who cannot abide their “foreign” nature. But wills are a force unto themselves, and Goto’s characters are imbued with the light of myth and magic-realism. With humor and keen insight, Goto makes the familiar seem strange, and deciphers those moments when the idyllic skews into the absurd and the sublime. From “Stinky Girl”: The unbearable voices of mythic manatees, the cry of the phoenix, the whispers of kappa lovers beside a gurgling stream. The voice of the moon that is ever turned away from our gaze, the song of suns colliding. The sounds which permeate from my skin on such a level of intensity that mortal senses recoil, deflect beauty into ugliness as a way of coping. And my joy. Such incredible joy. The hairs on my arms stand electric, the static energy and the heat amplifies my smell/sound with such exponential dizzying intensity, that the plastic which surrounds me bursts apart, falls away from my being like an artificial cocoon. I hover, twenty feet in the air. Hiromi Goto is the author of the novels Chorus of Mushrooms (winner of a Commonwealth Writers Prize and co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award) and The Kappa Child (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award). She lives in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Where do turtles hail from? Why and how did they acquire shells? These questions have spurred heated debate and intense research for more than two hundred years. Brilliantly weaving evidence from the latest paleontological discoveries with an accessible, incisive look at different theories of biological evolution and their proponents, Turtles as Hopeful Monsters tells the fascinating evolutionary story of the shelled reptiles. Paleontologist Olivier Rieppel traces the evolution of turtles from over 220 million years ago, examining closely the relationship of turtles to other reptiles and charting the development of the shell. Turtle issues fuel a debate between proponents of gradual evolutionary change and authors favoring change through bursts and leaps of macromutation. The first book-length popular history of its type, this indispensable resource is an engaging read for all those fascinated by this ubiquitous and uniquely shaped reptile.

EBOOK PUBLICATION DATE: 9th August 2019 PAPERBACK PUBLICATION DATE: 30th August 2019 “Roger McKnight is a very slick writer with an incredibly quirky sensibility. Miss him at your own peril.” – Mark SaFranko – "‘Hopeful Monsters’ is one of the best collections of linked stories I’ve ever read.” – Donald Ray Pollock – “These are stories full of compassion and humanity that beautifully evoke the plains of Minnesota from an exciting and authentic new voice in American letters.” – James Miller – “Hopeful Monsters features an array of intriguing characters brought to life through elegant, often gritty specificity that illuminates what it is to be human.” – Adam Lock – "In the carefully rendered world of this collection, chance and circumstance bring disappointment and struggle, but also moments of precious hope.” – Wendy Erskine – “This collection shows me why I read stories – to see beneath the surface of real lives and remember that I am not alone.” – Jason Brown – "Roger McKnight's prose tip toes across a vast landscape of sentiment, leaving the reader curious to learn more and hopeful like his monsters.” – Michelle Blair Wilker – “This is what we talk about when we talk about hope. The prose is incandescent, the characters riveting, the themes complex. Roger McKnight is one savvy, lyrical, and fearless writer.” – John Dufresne – HOPEFUL MONSTERS Roger McKnight’s debut collection depicts individuals hampered by hardship, self-doubt, and societal indifference, who thanks to circumstance or chance, find glimmers of hope in life’s more inauspicious moments. Hopeful Monsters is a fictional reflection on Minnesota’s people that explores the state’s transformation from a homogeneous northern European ethnic enclave to a multi-national American state. Love, loss, and longing cross the globe from Somalia and Sweden to Maine and Minnesota as everyday folk struggle for self-realization. Idyllic lake sides and scorching city streets provide authentic backdrops for a collection that shines a flickering light on vital global social issues. Read and expect howling winds, both literal and figurative, directed your way by a writer of immense talent. ROGER MCKNIGHT Roger McKnight hails from Little Egypt, a traditional farming and coal-mining region in downstate Illinois. He studied and taught English in Chicago, Sweden, and Puerto Rico. Roger relocated to Minnesota and taught Swedish and Scandinavian Studies. He now lives in the North Star State. “There’s an interesting fusion within the stories. Larger, universal and global issues such as poverty, race and injustice are picked apart, but from a Minnesotan point of view. Wherever you are in the world, this pedestal will provide a fresh take on opinion and assumption, and definitely leave readers understanding themselves and the world that little bit better. Ultimately we learn that all humans, wherever they live and whatever their circumstance, exist according to a series of common threads. It’s a sobering read and is ideal for large group discussion settings such as book clubs and universities. There really is something here for everyone.” – PR for Books – “What I adored most about Hopeful Monsters was the fact that Roger highlighted the plight of several vulnerable groups within his stories. He wasn’t afraid to discuss sensitive topics such as suicide, homelessness, addiction, and mental health, creating an array of intriguing characters and scenarios to give a voice to the forgotten in our society.” – Dan Stubbings – The Dimensions Between Worlds

The Blair Witch Project meets Imaginary Girls in this story of sisterhood turned toxic, imaginary monsters brought to life, and secrets that won't stay buried. Sixteen-year-old Skye is done playing the knight in shining armor for her insufferable younger sister, Deirdre. And moving across the country seems like the perfect chance to start over as someone different. In their isolated new neighborhood, Skye manages to fit in, but Deirdre withdraws from everyone, becoming fixated on the swampy woods behind their house and building monstrous sculptures out of sticks and bones. Then Deirdre disappears. And when something awful comes scratching at Skye's window in the middle of the night, claiming Skye's the only one who can save Deirdre, Skye knows she will stop at nothing to bring her sister home.

A collection of old and new, but finally put together as the author originally imagined the interlocking world of these six stories. Each of the six independent stories lightly touches on another, reminding us of our shared existence even as we deal with our own individual trials and tribulations.

Gather round close, for I have a secret to tell.Late at night, while everyone is sleeping, dreaming of white knights and fairytales. I'm making friends with the monsters. They call to me, like finds like, right? My biggest secret, I'm the scariest monster I know. I think I'm the bad guy. MFMM Reverse Harem novel with adult themes not recommended for those under 18.