Ex Cathedra

"Smart stories with heart--Maines's special gift is the fusion of faith and futurism, the ability to touch the deep part of us that wants to believe."
--Cory Doctorow, author of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

An insectile alien on a pilgrimage to a future Canterbury. A city where the law-abiding are locked behind bars. A roboticist challenged to build simulated slaves. A Biblical mother who makes God listen to her. A devoted Cub fan who just wants to see his team in the World Series before he dies. These eleven stories look deep into the hearts of men and women, past, present, and future, to find the beliefs that drive them. Vivid, graceful stories that will live with you long after the reading.

“Rebecca Maines is a deeply moral thinker who writes with a storyteller’s flair. She’s not afraid to pose the Big Questions and rejects all the easy answers: these are stories for grownups. This collection signals the arrival of an exciting new talent.”
--James Patrick Kelly, author of Burn

“Disturbing, intelligent, and powerful, Rebecca Maines’s fiction outshines the work of many of her contemporaries.”
--Elizabeth Massie, two-time Bram Stoker award-winning author of horror novels and short stories

“You’ll go away from this compelling collection questioning the validity of your own assumptions about faith and reality. This is a thought-provoking, readable anthology full of variety in style and interesting ideas.”
--Jodie Lynn Nye, author of the Mythology 101 and Taylor’s Ark series