God Isn't Here Today

WINNER OF THE 2023 RELIT AWARD FOR SHORT FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 INDIGENOUS VOICES AWARDSLONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTIONFor fans of Chuck Palahniuk, Joyce Carol Oates, and Karen Russell, the stories in Francine Cunninghams debut collection God Isnt Here Today ricochet between form and genre, taking readers on a dark, irreverent, yet poignant journey led by a unique and powerful new voice.Driven by desperation into moments of transformation, Cunninghams characters are presented with moments of choicesome for the better and some for the worse. A young man goes to Gods office downtown for advice; a woman discovers she is the last human on Earth; an ice cream vendor is driven insane by his trucks song; an ageing stripper uses undergarments to enact her escape plan; an incubus tires of his professional grind; and a young woman inherits a power that has survived genocide, but comes with a burden of its own.Even as they flirt with the fantastic, Cunninghams stories unfold with the innate elegance of a spring fern, reminding us of the inherent dualities in human natureand that redemption can arise where we least expect it.