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Also by Karen E. Bender:

The Words of Dr. L: & Other Stories, May 2025
Hardcover / e-Book

The Words of Dr. L: & Other Stories
Karen E. Bender

Catapult
May 2025
On Sale: May 6, 2025
304 pages
ISBN: 1640095705
EAN: 9781640095700
Kindle: B0D5VMPZSX
Hardcover / e-Book
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Fiction Family Life | Novella / Short Story

National Book Award finalist Karen E. Bender returns with stunning speculative stories of parents and children, together and apart, surviving near-future dystopias that feel all-too-possible—and realities that can be even stranger

Grounded in both the contemporary United States and a variety of dystopias, celebrated author Karen E. Bender’s otherworldly collection examines the evolving dynamics of the nuclear family during adolescence, motherhood, the empty nest, and caring for an aging parent.

A young woman seeks to learn the magical words that can terminate her unwanted pregnancy. A mother discovers an extra child in her home she had forgotten about. A couple is separated from their son and encased in globes orbiting the Earth. Society develops a terrible plan to leave the burning planet for a life on Mars. Each story honors the emotional force of its situation by grappling with themes of freedom, self-definition, youth, aging, control, and power. Using settings both familiar and fantastic, Bender’s work explores the ordinary in the extraordinary to discover secret, hidden truths in the lifelong connection between parents and their children.

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