Night shift

This new installment in PM’s Outspoken Authors series spotlights Nebula Award winner Gunn (for the short story “Coming to Terms”) with a sharp collection of nine of her stories and essays, plus an interview with the author by her editor Terry Bisson, that showcases her sensibility, characteristic voice, and sometimes gonzo humor. Highlights include “Terribly Trudy on the Lam,” a noir tale starring a tapir escaped from the San Diego Zoo; “Transitions,” in which the protagonist’s nine-hour flight inexplicably lands 20 years after takeoff; and author portrait “Into the Wild with Carol Emshwiller.” Indeed, all of Gunn’s nonfiction pieces here celebrate fellow authors, highlighting some of the most challenging, subversive and radically imaginative science fiction from genre staples like Ursula K. Le Guin and less well-known names such as JT Stewart and Joanna Russ. With equal parts deep thought and heartfelt love for her genre and the people working in it, this is both an excellent introduction to Gunn and her work and a paean to some of the luminaries of a generation.