Creative Surgery - by Clelia Farris (Paperback)

About the Book

"In Clelia Farris' mind-bending tales, you'll find captivating characters with elusive identities like Kieser, who longs to transform himself through horrific procedures in "Creative Surgery," or Yuliano ("Secret Enemy"), a man with no aesthetic taste, or Gabola, engaged in the battle of a lifetime against the expropriation of the Little Tuvu Hill. With dry and polished prose, like the stones of her native Sardinia, Clelia Farris takes us on adventures among the ruins of a future marred by climate change ("A Day to Remember") and in a haunting prison inhabited by the enigmatic figure of "Rebecca." Collected and translated into English for the first time, these seven stories represent some of the greatest works from one of Italy's best science fiction authors."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In Clelia Farris' mind-bending tales, you'll find captivating characters with elusive identities like Kieser, who longs to transform himself through horrific procedures in "Creative Surgery," or Yuliano ("Secret Enemy"), a man with no aesthetic taste, or Gabola, engaged in the battle of a lifetime against the expropriation of the Little Tuvu Hill. With dry and polished prose, like the stones of her native Sardinia, Clelia Farris takes us on adventures among the ruins of a future marred by climate change ("A Day to Remember") and in a haunting prison inhabited by the enigmatic figure of "Rebecca." Collected and translated into English for the first time, these seven stories represent some of the greatest works from one of Italy's best science fiction authors.

Review Quotes

"Farris has the gift of making her wildly imaginative worlds feel fully lived-in. Readers of literary science fiction will devour this collection."

-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Biopunk at its best, complicated and organic and above all compellingly real."

-Cat Rambo

"Clelia Farris is a discovery! Every story surprised me in profound, unsettling, and fascinating ways."

-Kij Johnson

"Creative Surgery by Clelia Farris is not quite like anything else I've read. Stories feel like memories, and memories appear like the sky seen from the bottom of the ocean. There's nostalgia and beauty and strangeness. It is glorious."

-Angela Slatter

"Lyrical, sharp, a little disturbing and, above all, clever- stories that stick in the mind and invigorate the senses."

-Foz Meadows

"By turns charming, pithy, and brutal, Creative Surgery accomplishes so many things so well you'll hardly realize you're still contemplating certain lines weeks later. Devour this book, and then quote its many eccentric characters to mystify friends. But do read it."

-Strange Horizons

About the Author

Clelia Farris is considered one of Italy's best science fiction authors. She won the Fantascienza.com award with Rupes Recta, the Odyssey award with No Man Is My Brother, and the Kipple Prize with The Weighing of the Soul. She was a finalist for the Urania Mondadori Award in 2016 with "Uomini e Necro." Rachel Cordasco has a Ph.D in literary studies and currently works as a developmental editor. She's written for World Literature Today, Strange Horizons, and Samovar Magazine and also translates Italian SFF. Jennifer Delare is a full-time Italian-to-English translator.