Spaceboy Books

Title: Respirator

Author: Addison Herron-Wheeler

From desolate wasteland to crumbling society to the deep, cold void of space, Respirator collects visions of the future that pierce the veils of time and space to show us an evolving, perseverant human grace as it faces off against the unknown.

Across 28 short stories and poems, Addison Herron-Wheeler presents dystopian tomorrows, poisoned environments, and interstellar explorations through bold speculative snapshots and intimate portraits of human kindness, desperation, and deceit.

With each, a common question is posed: Are we brave enough to confront the challenges of the future without losing ourselves along the way?

 

ISBN: 978-1-951393-02-1
Price: $9.95 (paperback) $2.99 (Kindle ebook)
Release Date: 5/5/20

 

Praise for Respirator:


“Addison [Herron-Wheeler] has a knack for immersing readers in an entire alternate universe in very few words.” 
- Amanda E.K., Suspect Press

“Respirator is a witch’s spellbook of end-time fairy tales, snapshots of dark and beautiful apocalypses seen through the clouded lenses of a gas mask, through the clear and endless portals of interstellar spacecraft. Despite its prophetic here-and-now themes, these stories also carry the nostalgic stamp of classic sci-fi—a little bit of Solaris or Omega Man subverted with queer identity, strong femininity, and flashes of the surreal. In one later story, a character remarks, ‘Death is always a beautiful process because of the way it gives back, but it doesn’t always look this blatantly beautiful.’ She means a dying star, but she could be describing this collection.” -Brandon Getz, Author, Lars Breaxface: Werewolf in Space

“Any time I read an Addison Herron-Wheeler story or poem, I am met with someone who pulls in science fiction, as if creating the perfect pizza, to piece together a beautiful pie of social commentary. Heavy metal spices sprinkled over a sauce of vivid imagery come together to create the beautiful literary entree that is her writing. I highly recommend reading her words in a back corner of Black Sky Brewery with a Brutal Butcher pizza and a nice India Pale Ale. Herron-Wheeler delivers a voice fresh out of the oven.” -Brice Maiurro, Editor-In-Chief, South Broadway Press

“Addison Herron-Wheeler’s stylish stories don’t pull any punches when it comes to social critique or tech-pessimism, but still hold faint glimmers of redemption and rebellion. Respirator hits you with all the speed and fury of a White Lung album.” -Zach Bartlett, Author, To Another Abyss!

“Respirator is a fantastical journey into a rich and vibrant world that opens as slowly and as beautifully as a flower. It explores thorny issues with a careful and precise distance that allows us to digest the issues raised, yet it is not so far removed that we can’t apply the questions each story confronts us with to current times.

It reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. It carries that same expertly maintained distance which allows us to explore sensitive issues without the knee-jerk arguments which so often cripple these topics. At the same time Herron-Wheeler keeps us tethered to current issues through the structure and combination of each story and poem.

A key example of this is the story The Weak Whimper of Rape which explores the wider issues of rape and rape culture by utilizing a futuristic setting and using the plot thread of assassination as a consumer service to push the issue far enough away to observe without being mired by the arguments and counter-arguments so common to the topic of rape culture.

This book is a journey that is worth every single page turn. It is everything a good science fiction book should be and more.” -Kathy Joy, Author, Last One To The Bridge