This collection of speculative short stories mostly focusses on possible futures and presents set in British Columbia as well as stories about transformation. The stories often focus on nature and humanity and the way the world changes. My favorite stories where A Hole Cut in the Wall, about a scholar interviewing a poet, who finds himself unable to leave when he wants to, The Bletted Woman, about a woman who agrees to partake in a science experiment that keeps her between life and death, but may give her the ability to communicate with mycelium, Such Thoughts Are Unproductive, which follows a call center employee, who finds himself cut off from the outside except for the calls he gets, and Wider Than the Sky, Deeper Than the Sea, about a woman, who has used technology to extend her senses and now tries to figure out what she can use her sensory experience for besides performance.
In general, my favorite stories were the ones that made use of creeping horror and dread, which I think worked very well with the atmospheric writing. Some of the stories did feel a bit short, but all in all I quite enjoyed reading this collection, in particular for exploring strange worlds across genres from explorations of mythology to magical realism, folk horror and sci-fi, mostly with a focus on ecological themes. If you enjoy weird fiction, then I can certainly recommend this collection to you.
My only criticism is that some of the stories were a bit too short to really allow me to dive deeper into the topic and were over before I could really grasp what was going on. And while there was a somewhat overarching theme present in this anthology (ecology and change), the stories did not really flow well into each other all things considered. I decided to take a short break after each short story and that certainly improved my reading experience, but I would not recommend to read the stories quickly one after the other.
And finally, while some people may not enjoy the little author notes before each story, I mostly liked them as I found it interesting to see what the author intended with the stories and how that influenced my reading experience for each short story. However, I do prefer such story notes to be placed behind a short story, as it did keep me from going into each short story unprejudiced and that can be a bit distracting. If I could reread this collection, I would try to skip the author’s notes from the beginning, as my reading experience definitely improved once I started doing so.

The High Lonesome Frontier: This story centers around a song, from its moment of conception to the fame it brought to an artist and finally into space, where it remains as a fond memory for one astronaut. Intriguing and really touching!
*FAV* A Hole Cut in the Wall of the World: A scholar interviews a poet for his dissertation on a small, deserted island. While the poet just wants to enjoy his isolated island life, the scholar dreams of fame. Very lyrical writing style that lulls you into a false sense of security (just like it does the scholar), which worked really well!
Lares Familiares 1981: A family celebration of a family shaped by their trade in the lumber industry receives an unexpected guest, that offers a few of them a trade. Really interesting take on fae and the dangerous lure they offer.
TW: ableism, homophobia, injury, sexism, slurs (f-slur)
On Highway 18: A story about girls hitchhiking on a lonely road, the friendship of two of them and how it changes as they grow up. Touching.
TW: murder
The Other Shore: A waitress watches a group of archeologist divers as they unearth items from her past. Their initial joy at discovery soon turns into confusion as they become aware that time has not passed quite as linear as they expected. Haunting and strange and really atmospheric, I loved that one!
Thank You For Your Patience: Working in a call center is not really fun for the protagonist of this story, who has to deal with high pressure and annoying managers. But worse is the fact that he is completely cut off from the world due to long work hours and a no-mobile-phones-allowed policy keeps news restricted to what he is able to glance from times when costumers drop his calls. I really liked how tense this story!
TW: anti-muslim racism, terrorist attack
*FAV* The Bletted Woman: A woman is offered the opportunity to partake in a new study after she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s like her mother before her. Her choice to rot alive and form a bridge between human life and the afterlife will transform the world. Strange, beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking, I really loved this story!
TW: death, vomit
*FAV* Such Thoughts Are Unproductive: In a world full of surveillance, where people who say or do the wrong thing can be easily disappeared a daughter tries to keep in contact with her imprisoned mother, growing more and more unsure if she is actually talking to her mother or an AI replica. And when an aunt, that cannot be her aunt, shows up to keep her company, things soon become even scarier. Really haunting story!
TW: imprisonment, surveillance
*FAV* Wider than the Sky, Deeper than the Sea: In this story a woman has chosen to extend her senses through technological means far beyond what humans normal perceive for the sake of performances. Now retired, she plans to create a full sensory Salmon Map so people can experience a salmon spawning, but she’s been stuck in a rut for a while now, watching her funds run dry. As she tries to figure out how to make her artistic vision come to life, she reminisces about her time as a performer and the ways she and her troupe pushed their bodies, sometimes too far. Incredibly intriguing take on cyborg technology as a way to get closer to nature, while causing constant sensory overload in human environments and how this might change ones interactions with others.
An Incomplete Catalogue of Miraculous Births, or, Secrets of the Uterus Abscondita: Here the author examines a few historical cases of miraculous births, as well as stories from folklore, including the woman, who birthed rabbits, Gaea and her cyclops babies captured in Tartarus and a hen that laid eggs inscribed with holy words. It was very interesting to see how the author gave a voice to these figures and described their (potential) motivations.

A unique collection of environmental, mythic, and compelling short stories. In some cases they didn't land the punch that they needed to and read more like flash. I liked the themes and the overall arc of the stories. Campbell is great at telling stories that relate to nature and the northwest. Overall not a bad read.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I started this book, which I chose because of the cover art. While I did enjoy reading this, it was a slow go for me as I had to really sit with each concept and search some of the more unique words I had not previously heard of. 

Undoubtedly, Rebecca Campbell has a beautiful way of writing that invites you in and haunts you with what you learn in the telling. My favourite part was actually the introduction. It really reshaped my perspective of the land around me, and I kept thinking about it, long after I finished reading. It made me want to go touch grass or forest bathe and seriously reflect on my relationship to this land and its stewards.

That said, I thought the strength of the short stories was not consistent across all tales. I often found myself just starting to settle into one of the stories and then it would abruptly end. Overall, my favourites were The High Lonesome Frontier, The Bletted Women, Thank you for Your Patience, and The Other Shore. My least favourite were Wider than the Sky, Deeper than the Sea and Lares Familiares 1981.

I do think that the essay style of the introduction and story notes were the strongest and most consistent parts of this collection. And as a result, I think I would have preferred a series of essays in place of short stories. Overall, I'd recommend this to people with a bigger vocabulary and a strong interest in environmentalism.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Also reviewed on Fable, where I rounded up my rating to a 3.5.

I like that we get these stories that blend Indigenous Canadian perspectives with a sort of dark folkloric vibe to them. This feels like it was likely a thesis project with the story explanations that precede each story, but it was still neat to see how the stories themselves played out. Definitely worth your time.

Rebecca Campbells latest collection centers themes of environmental collapse in this series of stories and shorts. Unfortunately, quite like it was the case with Arboreality, this collection failed to connect with me.

I personally like my short-story collections to feel cohesive, either in style, substance or theme, which this one didn’t. Although there’s a clear overarching theme of “climate”, the separate stories felt disconnected and lackluster in their execution. Many of them are very short (1-2 pages) and are already over before I felt I could get my footing, leading to a disconnected feeling with the book overall.
Adding to this disconnect, is the fact that many of the stories are quite abstract, and lack a clear plot. In a way I appreciate the idea of letting a landscape tell a story by itself, but an entire book filled with this just didn’t work for me.
As I mentioned; I felt quite similar about the authors most well-known climate-fiction novel, and I think it’s partially just a matter of this authors work not being for me. I love Stelliform Press and the voices they center, but I don’t think I will seek out this authors work in the future.

Many thanks to Stelliform Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Stelliform Press for the ARC.

This was a very good collection of short stories. I read a short story from this author previously and went looking for other work, and happened upon this.

I like 3-4 stories immensely and felt like they had more to offer and could have been turned into full-length novels. None of the stories were bad, and honestly, the few I didn’t fully understand were due to a lack of research and understanding of the content on my part. The stories I liked the best had some great new concepts to me that I found very intriguing.

The author did well with making each story its own thing and stand out. I did, however, feel like the writing style and tone followed in each story. Which is not a bad thing, but you definitely notice when an author can break out of their writing style and make you feel like a collection of short stories was written by multiple authors.

This is definitely an author I will continue to explore.

Thank you Netgalley and Stelliform Press for the ARC.

I will start by saying: I love a good weird book, I love women writing creepy and weird things, I love abstract literature, I love short stories collections, and I love nature, anticipation and eco-anxiety themes. And this book? Is all of that in one. So it's a lot to take in. And I highly respect Rebecca Campbell for writing these good, weird stories.

Unfortunately, I believe that in my case, English not being my first language, I, sometimes, did not understood half of the sentence I had just read. The first stories went completely over my head. Perhaps they were supposed to do that. But a lot of the words, I just had no idea what they meant and found myself looking them up in the dictionary, when possible. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm sure it's a really good read for native English speakers. But I can't comment on what I did not get. And I did not always feel like I was supposed to not get it.

The stories I did get, though, I liked. Notably Highway 18, Thank you for your patience, The Bletted Woman, and Such Thoughts are Unproductive. I think Such Thoughts is my favorite, though The Bletted Woman was a lot of what I adore (eco horror? suspiciously unethical 'pharma'? let's go!), I found the hopeless vibes of Such Thoughts incredible.

While this was not as much of a hit as I expected it to be with me, I appreciate weird fiction and our ability and liberty to write and read about it in a world where everything, especially creativity, is more and more sanitized and regulated.

It took me a couple of stories to settle into the rhythm of this collection, but once it clicked, I was hooked. Rebecca Campbell’s writing is quiet, precise, and deeply thoughtful. The stories drift between myth, magical realism, eco horror, and climate sci-fi—but no matter the genre, there’s a clear through-line: a deep reverence for the natural world and a keen awareness of how fragile it is.

The pacing is slow, often meditative, and best read when you’re in the mood to linger. Some pieces really stood out, delivering that perfect blend of emotion and atmosphere. What stuck with me most was how Campbell captures the tension between small, personal moments and the much bigger, looming forces of environmental change. It’s subtle, but powerful.

(Apologies if there are 2 reviews from me! I did one on my Kobo and I’m not sure if it pulled over.) I REALLY liked this collection of stories. There were so many themes inside this that I personally enjoy. I really appreciate Rebecca’s perspective and thoughtfulness on all of the themes she chose to explore. She had soooo many cool ideas that I would be thrilled to learn more about! I’m definitely going to look for more of her work!

The premise of this book was super intriguing and honestly I partially picked it up cause of the cover. While there were moments of beautiful writing and interesting ideas, the execution didn’t quite land for me. The multiple perspectives made it hard to connect with the characters and the pacing was slow consistently, plus some parts felt repetitive. For short story collections, I usually expect some to hit and some to miss but I felt like more of these missed for me than I was hoping for. It never fully clicked, and that could be cause I think the prose just wasn't for me. That said, I can see how readers who enjoy quiet, character-driven stories might appreciate it more. Along with this if you are a reader more open to experimental structure and abstract prose, this may be your jam! It wasn’t a total miss—just not quite what I’d hoped for.

Thank you to Netgalley and Stelliform Press for the ARC

This collection takes a couple stories to find its rhythm, but picks up steam and delivers a few stellar pieces along the way. The stories range from literary greek myth, to magical realism, to eco folk horror, to climate sci-fi, and Rebecca Campbell's writing consistently sets a high bar of quality. The stories are slow and contemplative. There is a deep appreciation for the natural world throughout the collection, and Campbell's balance of small human moments as part of the natural order against humanity's impact on our world delivers a nuanced and emotional tone about the precariousness of our ecosystem.

Standout stories for me were Thank You For Your Patience - a desperate and earnest apocalypse story - and The Bletted Woman - eco horror about grief, loss, and the afterlife.

An introspective, funky collection of short stories about technology, climate, and the Pacific Northwest. While compelling in themes and concepts, the actual execution of the stories was lacklustre. I had a hard time grounding myself in each story, which is unfortunate because each story is so short that by the time I oriented myself and really got invested, it was already over.

I will chalk this up to the author's writing style just not vibing with me personally; a touch too abstract, and not as plot-focused as I typically prefer. That being said, I would still recommend reading On Highway 18—it was by far my favourite of the collection.

Thank you to Netgalley and Stelliform Press for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Stelliform Press for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This collection of creeping short stories from Rebecca Campbell was eerie and unsettling for sure. I found a lot of the themes they worked with (like nature/environment being the main one) really interesting and when it worked, compelling. However, as a whole this collection didn't really land for me. These short stories felt closer to flash fiction and the feeling they left me with as a reader was incomplete. I'm not sure about why all these stories seemed to end way too early, but there was definitely room to better expand on each story's plot and actually end them in a satisfying way. As they currently are, it just feels like a lazy writer's choice hoping that the story leaves an impact because of its brevity, but instead you're left wondering "That's it?"

Overall, I found myself very bored as I read through this collection. The stories were cool ideas but they were executed pretty poorly.

Rebecca Campbell's speculative collection is a slow start, but worth the work. She hits a groove with "On Highway 18," which carries the reader from a classic ghost story trope to an elegy to childhood. Each story shows the different tensions between nature and technology against a backdrop of swiftly changing culture and time.

The strongest story for me was "The Bletted Woman." I loved the imagery and the overall concept.

A timely and sometimes melancholy collection about horror, ecology and climate change. I loved these stories. These were all so beautifully written. Sometimes sad, always gorgeous, highly recommended.

This book had such an interesting mix of nature, eerie vibes, and I was really curious to see where it would go. The themes around the environment and the way the world is shifting were genuinely compelling, and the writing itself was strong and thoughtful throughout.

But in the end, it just didn’t fully land for me. A lot of the stories were super short, and instead of feeling sharp or punchy, they left me kind of underwhelmed. There were a few standouts that had me leaning in, but most didn’t stick with me after I finished. What pulled me out the most, though, were the author’s notes after each story. I totally get wanting to give insight or context, but it kind of broke the momentum and made the whole thing feel more like a draft than a completed book.

That said, I think this would hit differently for someone who’s into slower, more reflective short fiction with a strong environmental aspect.

This is a series of short stories and notes. I personally liked the story notes before the stories. You don't have to read them but I read a few. The High Lonesome Frontier, the first story, has a few lines that resonated with me and gave me thoughts to chew on.

The overall theme of this book is full of nature, ecological, and horror stories. Landscapes that are lives lived and where the world is heading.

I really like the cover art with the skeleton and high contrast.

The Other Shore Stories: by Rebecca Campbell from Stelliform Press is a collection of stories that interested me based on the description. The plots of the stories were interesting at times, but I did not care for all of the story notes after each one. It pulled me out of the reading experience. That said, this could be an addition that some readers really love. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC.

I picked up this book because of the cool cover, but I like short stories so I was excited to read it. Unfortunately it didn't really work for me.

There were a lot of story notes in this book that felt like they were padding the page count.

The stories were very short, but I still felt bored reading some of them, which is not a good sign.

I think some people will like this because the writing was good, it just wasn't my taste.