Wandering Realities: Mormonish Short Fiction

"Wandering Realities gathers together much of the Mormon-themed short fiction of perhaps Mormondom's best living writer," says Michael Austin. "The collection is strange, wonderful, eye opening and amazing. It is a book of revelations and spiritual gifts from an immensely talented author to his religious community, which has long needed somebody to show us how strange and wonderful (and strange) we can actually be."

"Wandering Realities is perfectly satisfying, a treat from beginning to end," says Steven Evans. "It is alternatively touching and funny and poignant, with horrors and wonders. Steven Peck is a gift to Mormon literature, and any opportunity to read his stories is not to be missed."

"This collection is one of the freshest, most engaging, and most entertaining contributions to Mormon literature that I've seen in a long while," says Jonathan Langford. "Steve Peck is an alien. . . . That's the only explanation I can come up with for how, in this set of 16 stories, he so consistently manages to provide such startlingly different, yet at the same time deeply insightful, perspectives on the culture and religion he has adopted for his own."

Peck's highly imaginative stories run the gamut from Mormons reverting to a medieval society on Mars to a bishop who is killing the neighborhood dogs. These stories not only entertain and delight, but they challenge and provoke as well. This collection includes several award-winning stories, including:

• "Two-Dog Dose"—best short story of 2014, Association for Mormon Letters
• "A Strange Report from the Church Archives"—second place, Irreantum fiction contest
• "Avek, Who Is Distributed"—first place, Four Centuries of Mormon Fiction Contest 2012
• "When the Bishop Started Killing Dogs"—second place, Four Centuries of Mormon Fiction Contest 2012

"Every story Steven L. Peck writes seems to lead Mormon fiction in exciting and innovative new directions," says Scott Hales. "I hate hyperbole, but Peck might be the Moses of Mormon letters in the twenty-first century."

Wandering Realities "may be the book of the year," says Andrew Hall. Peck is "perhaps the most interesting contemporary author of Mormon fiction."

"Peck is the best LDS science fiction writer currently out there," says Steven Evans. "Wandering Realities is an immensely enjoyable and powerful collection of short fiction, one that highlights both the possibilities and inevitabilities of Mormonism."

Steven L. Peck is a professor of biology at Brigham Young University, where he teaches philosophy of biology and bioethics. His publishing history includes lots of scientific work—over fifty scientific articles, including publications in American Naturalist, American Entomologist, Biological Theory, Biology & Philosophy, Newsweek, Evolution, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Agriculture and Human Values, and other science journals.

Peck's creative works include three novels. The magical-realism novel The Scholar of Moab (Torrey House Press) was named the Association for Mormon Letters best novel of 2011 and was a finalist for the Montaigne, a national award for the most thought provoking book. The existential horror novel A Short Stay in Hell, however, remains his most popular book.

Peck has published a collection of speculative poetry called Incorrect Astronomy with Aldrich Press, which includes the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s 2011 Rhysling Award–nominated poem "The Five Known Sutras of Mechanical Man." He has also published in Analog (fact article) Abyss & Apex, Black Denim Literature, Bellowing Ark, Daily Science Fiction, Dialogue, Glyphs III, Irreantum, Jabberwocky Magazine, Journal of Unlikely Entomology, Lissette's Tales of the Imagination, Nature Futures, Perihelion, Pedestal Magazine, Quantum Realties, Red Rock Review, Sunstone, Silver Blade, Sliver Thought Press, Tales of the Talisman, Victorian Violet Press, and Warp and Weave.