Too stuffy inside? All those familiar social realist furnishings, all those comfortable literary tropes. Perhaps a stroll out under the trees, where things are breezier, stranger, more liable to break the rules. You may meet monsters out there, true. But that’s the point. Casting its net widely, this anthology of Aotearoa-New Zealand science fiction and fantasy ranges from the satirical novels of the 19th-century utopians
one of which includes the first description of atmospheric aerobreaking in world literature
to the bleeding edge of now. Spaceships and worried sheep. Dragons and AI. The shopping mall that swallowed the Earth. The deviant, the fishy and the rum, all bioengineered for your reading pleasure. Featuring stories by some of the country’s best known writers as well as work from exciting new talent, Monsters in the Garden invites you for a walk on the wild side. We promise you’ll get back safely. Unchanged? Well, that’s another question. David Larsen is a Wellington-based writer and editor with a long-time love for science fiction, fantasy, and most adjacent genres or genre-like categories. Elizabeth Knox is the author of thirteen novels, three novellas, and a collection of essays. Her latest book is The Absolute Book.