I came to SF by reading the short-stories collections on my father’s bookshelves. I would sit on the rug, at the foot of the wooden shelves, and crack the book open. A short-story was an open window on an author’s style, favorite themes and personal voice. It eventually guided me towards their longer works.
A lot of years and life choices later, I have become a mainly-SF writer myself. And I still discover a lot of new voices by reading their short fiction in anthologies, short-story collections, and magazines!
In the present days, when you do not have a lot of free time, plunging in a 800-page saga that turns out to be disappointing (for any reason outside the author’s talent, like: not to your taste, or your favorite character dies to thicken the plot, or you’re not into space-faring, chocolate-sauce-gurgling vampires etc.) Hence my own offering of short-story collections.
As the number of my published works rises, I decided to publish short-story collections that won’t consume too much reading time, while giving a taste of my brand of science fiction. And, lo and behold, there are now five of ’em, in both languages. Most of those books are under 160 pages in paperback form, the electronic edition affordable.
5 Hard and Crunchy SF Tales
Sink your teeth in those crunchy SF tales!
Welcome to the Big Bang Bar, where the playground of the ultra-rich spans whole solar systems. Follow a cyber-butterfly soaring over the scarred Earth, with strings attached! Watch a proud woman stranded in the pitiless Martian desert find her way out — or die trying. Discover why an alien ship must keep eternally shifting its parts. Or would you prefer to jump a few billions years forward to witness the end of our universe?
Five hard and crunchy science-fiction stories, cooked by multi-award winner Michèle Laframboise, with the help of translators Sheryl Curtis and N. R. M. Roshak for two of those stories.
- Thinking inside te Box (2017) Compelling SF 7
- Ice Monarch (2018) Abyss&Apex 67
- Closing the Big Bang (2017) Fiction River no 21
- Women are from Mars, Men are from Venus (2006), Tesseract 10, Edge publ.
- Cousin Entropy (2020) dans Future SF Digest 7
5 Histoires de SF dure et croquante
The French version of 5 Hard and Crunchy SF Tales!
Five hard and crunchy science-fiction stories, cooked by multi-award winner Michèle Laframboise.
- Penser à l’intérieur de la boîte (2015) Géante Rouge 23
- Monarque des glaces (2010) Solaris 175 – Prix Solaris 2010
- Fermer le Big Bang (2021) dans Solaris 218
- Les femmes viennent de Mars et les hommes, de Vénus (2002), Solaris 140
- La cousine Entropie (2016) Galaxies 40
Pour l’acheter / buy it in French
5 Histoires de SF dystopique
What will happen when AIs write better, and faster, than writers? When Montreal freezes under the ice and the budget cuts, will solidarity hold? See humans gifted with eternal life experience a cruel reminder of their mortality. A termite woman whose life in the mines has lost value wants to live her last vacation. And what about the young people trapped in a generation-ship that is falling apart over the light-years?
Five dangerous visions of SF author Michèle Laframboise.
- Les âmes gelées (1999) recueil Transes Lucides, Ashem Fiction
- Quand le dernier écrivain est mort (2014) Solaris 92
- Petzis (2017) Solaris 203
- Dernières vacances de la femme termite, Solaris 215
- Un vœu sur l’Araignée Solaris (2018) Solaris 207
Pour l’acheter / buy it in French
5 Histoires de SF douce et fondante
On Mars, an augmented gorilla must protect the cyber-pollinators in his garden… and the morale of his human colleague. Elsewhere, a first contact stumbles on an advanced race that shuns numbers. A lonely biologist wants to discover the secret of migratory trees threatened by a project. The captain of a cargo ship on a diplomatic mission must go out of his way to convince a talkative door to open. Finally, after the climatic catastrophe, what are we ready to pay to make the Moon habitable?
Five science fiction stories that melt on the tongue, by author Michèle Laframboise. A cocktail of science, humour and tenderness.
- Tinkerbelles, Galaxies 61© 2019, Michèle Laframboise,
- Ceux qui ne comptent pas, Solaris 149 © 2004, Michèle Laframboise
- Sous réserve, Brins d’éternité 43 © 2016, Michèle Laframboise
- La récalcitrante du Cachalot, Anthologie Pulp Aventures Sidérantes © 2020 Michèle Laframboise
- Pitch de vente aux Archétypes, Galaxies 60 © 2020 Michèle Laframboise
Pour l’acheter / buy it in French
5 Hard and Hopeful SF Tales (upcoming )
A stomach technician experiences the pitfalls of living off the land, the ultimate test of a viable world. On Ganymede, a young girl receives an invasive lifeform for her eleventh birthday… A young heir discovers the real living (and dying) conditions of the inhabitants manning the exclusive resort on a balmy planet. A weary cargo captain deals with a stubborn door and a snarky ship’s AI. On a luxury cruise ship, a lonely technician discover an eccentric lady, and an odd friendship blooms.
Five hard, but also humorous and hopeful science-fiction stories, cooked by multi-award winner Michèle Laframboise.
- Essential Maintenance (2022) NeoOpsis 33
- Moby Dick’s Doors (2022) in Space Opera Digest 2022 Have Ship, Will Travel
- Renter’s Report (2022) in Polar Borealis 21
- October’s Feast (2022) Asimov’s Vol 47 (Jan-Feb issue)
- Ganymede’s Lamps (2019) in Luna Station Quarterly
That short-story collection is coming in August !
More short-story collections and SF books on my publisher’s site, Echofictions
(Résumé en français) — J’ai découvert la science fiction par les recueils de nouvelle de mon père. Je m’assoyais sur le tapis et je lisais, adossée à la bibliothèque. Ces livres m’ont attirée, m’ont fait oublier mes problèmes, m’ont fait découvrir des autres mondes. J’ai par la suite acheté les romans des auteurs que j’avais ainsi découverts. (Au masculin à l’époque!) Comme j’ai beaucoup publié, j’ai décidé de rendre accessible ces histoires, dont certaines ont vu le jour voici vingt ans. Et c’est plus agréable de feuilleter un court recueil, qu’une brique de 800 pages!
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