The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories

Thirteen stories, all originally published between 2002 and 2007, examine the struggle for human survival and identity in strange places. In the title story, humans transmitted across space end up in a quasi-reality that may permit transcendence. The last man on earth in “The Best Christmas Ever,” a sorrowful abandoned house in “Bernardo's House” and a PI in a world without men in “Men Are Trouble” all plumb the depths of loneliness. In “The Dark Side of Town,” an estranged married couple find each other again in a drug-induced shared virtual reality, while in the Nebula-winning novella “Burn,” a man from an isolationist colony struggles to save it despite terrible revelations. Kelly frequently evokes a twisted, nostalgic America, and his characters seem contemporary and casual even in the prehistoric fairy tale “Luck.” Though this lends his stories a certain sameness, it also gives readers a way to connect with his surreal visions. (Aug.)