I'd Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories
by Julianna Baggott
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Pub Date 28 Mar 2023 | Archive Date Not set

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Description
Bestselling author Julianna Baggott delivers her mind-bending debut short-story collection, featuring an array of genres populated by deeply human characters, and with film rights to the stories already having been sold to Netflix, Paramount, Amblin, Lionsgate, and others!
In the title story, set five minutes in the future where you not only have a credit score but also a dating score, a woman who’s been banished from all dating apps attends a weekly help group with others who have been “banned for life,” and finds herself falling in love. In “Backwards,” a twist on Benjamin Button, a woman reconnects with her estranged father as he de-ages ten years each day they spend together. In “Welcome to Oxhead,” all the parents in a gated community “shut off” when the power goes out. In “Portals,” a small town deals with hope and loss when dozens of portals suddenly open. In “The Now of Now,” two teenagers who can literally stop time find themselves falling in love. In “How They Got In,” a grieving family starts to see a murdered girl in all of their old home videos. In “The Versions,” two stand-in androids fall in love at a wedding, even though they’re not programmed to have emotion. And many other stories of the weird and wonderful.
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9798200873562 |
PRICE | $25.99 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

This is an amazing short story collection as Baggott is a first-rate writer. The first story pulled me in and I didn't lift my head from reading until the book was almost finished. Favorites are "The Now of Now" and "Backwards." Highly recommended. Similar to Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" with its lyricism and mystery. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.