This Island Earth

Inspired by the drive-in epics of the 1950s, the stories in This Island Earth marry the exuberance of Eisenhower-era sci-fi movies to nuanced examinations of love, family, fear, and loss―without leaving the robots and ray guns behind. These stories abound with the bug-eyed monsters and irradiated highschoolers you remember from the late-night Creature Feature. But they transcend nostalgia to illuminate the complications of the human heart with wit and compassion.

In I Married a Monster from Outer Space, winner of the Asimov’s Readers’ Poll Award, a Walmart cashier trapped in a disintegrating marriage finds herself tempted by the charms of an alien paramour. I Was a Teenage Werewolf, plunges us into a generation gap with teeth! And Bela Lugosi stars in The Ghoul Goes West as a fading Hollywood bogeyman whose star still burns in the reality next door.

So join the gang at Party Beach, and let Dale Bailey introduce you to some teenagers from outer space, a Creature from the Black Lagoon like you’ve never seen, and onslaughts of alien invaders with human women―among other things―on their minds! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll recoil in horror! And you’ll recall these stories long after the last flying saucer has ascended into the heavens of sci-fi cinema past.