After the Earthquake a Fire

William Shunn

Sep 2015 · Sinister Regard Publishers

About this ebook

Elder Rigby is a young Mormon from Utah serving a mission in northern Idaho, though to him the experience is more like serving a prison sentence. He and his partner, Elder Crews, do their best to fill their days with meaningful work, but there are only so many doorbells to ring in a town as small as Bonners Ferry.

Then, between the boredom and broken rules, they meet Minnie, an elderly Russian Jew scarred by some of the worst atrocities of the early 20th century. She will force Elder Rigby to confront the bleakness of his own existence, and the limits of his faith.

This novelette, based on the author’s experiences as a missionary and originally published in Bloodstone Review, is now available for the first time as a standalone ebook.

About the author

Since his first publication in 1993, William Shunn's short fiction has appeared in Salon, Storyteller, Bloodstone Review, Newtown Literary, Asimov's, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Realms of Fantasy, Electric Velocipede, and various anthologies and year's-best collections. His essays have appeared in On Magazine and Sybil's Garage. His work has been shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. His chapbook An Alternate History of the 21st Century appeared from Spilt Milk Press in 2007, and his novella Cast a Cold Eye, a collaboration with Derryl Murphy, from PS Publishing in 2009. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Utah, he now lives and writes in New York City.