How to Get to Apocalypse and Other Disasters

Satifka (Busted Synapses) presents 23 strange and captivating stories about the end of the world. None of these endings call for rains of fire and brimstone. Instead, these apocalypses are most often brought about by extraterrestrials, and the tales explore a wide variety of human-alien relationships: in “Signs Following,” a man named Dennis prays to a small furry alien that his coworker will reciprocate his one-sided love before her departure to another planet; “Days Like These” finds best friends Park and Lynka living in a simulated subdivision called Home Sweet Home where they’re kept compliant via a daily fix of a liquid hallucinogenic from the Jolli-Tyme van; and aliens overrun a town in “The Fate of the World, Reduced to a Ten-Second Pissing Contest,” specifically targeting a local bar, leading a human man to have a close encounter when he steps outside to take a leak. Satifka’s other apocalypses range from the fantastic “Sasquatch Summer” to the satirical “Where You Lead, I Will Follow: An Oral History of the Denver Incident,” displaying wide-ranging creativity. Fans of speculative fiction are sure to be pleased. [em](Nov.) [/em]