We Animals

In this debut collection of Canadian short fiction, Emma Bider explores how humans relate to animals, and their animal selves. Weaving together science, myth and the quandaries of our climate crisis into twelve provocative stories, Bider deftly brings her characters into contact with the natural world in ways they rarely expect. In “Transplant”, tropical volcanoes mysteriously appear in the northern Ontario town of Sudbury. Their primate inhabitants become the focus of an international emergency, and a fixation for two young brothers who won't miss an opportunity to explore an unknown environment. In “Tiger Baby”, a group of women decide to offer up their bodies to conservation—literally—and become three of the first surrogates of animal foetuses. In “Marla’s Ashes”, a couple stay together for their elderly dog in the hopes of easing her pain, if not their own. We Animals offers original storytelling with urgent themes that will linger with readers long after the stories are over.