Solitaire : A Novel

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Ren "Jackal" Segura is a Hope -- a special child, a powerful symbol of a new world government destined for greatness. But two months before she is to assume the role she has been preparing for her entire life, Jackal discovers that everything she believes, everything she is, is a lie. Convicted of a terrible crime, she agrees to participate in a "rehabilitation" experiment: While her body lies comatose for eight months, a computer will convince her mind that she is spending eight long years in solitary confinement. But Jackal's history as a Hope has given her strengths and skills other prisoners lack -- powers she will need to endure the tormenting loneliness, to discover the truth about her betrayal, and to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire.

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Ren Segura, Jackal to her friends, is the Hope of Ko Island, the world's only corporate nation state. Born at the right time, she is part of an elite group that will inherit powerful positions representing their nations in EarthGov. She has been groomed for the moment of her ascension her entire life--it is her birthright and her destiny. But a deadly secret makes her an inconvenient liability to her corporate masters and, in Solitaire, destinies are not always in the cards. Caught between corporate loyalty and self-doubt, Jackal finds herself cast away to an experimental, virtual solitary confinement program that will change her forever.

Author Kelley Eskridge's first novel is an intense and powerful tale of self-discovery set in a convincingly articulated future. She skillfully keeps the reader turning pages as Jackal's fate unravels. Meanwhile, Eskridge deals with issues of crime and punishment, corporate power, and even fame with a deft touch that keeps the reader painfully close to the young Jackal's journey into oblivion and back again. --Jeremy Pugh

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Dangerous Space

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Dangerous Space showcases a collection of seven seductive stories by Kelley Eskridge, whose novel Solitaire was a New York Times Notable Book, with an introduction by Geoff Ryman (author of Was and Air). The opening story, "Strings," takes us to a world that tightly controls musical expression and values faithfulness to the canon above all else. By contrast, in the title novella, "Dangerous Space," we see the full power of music unleashed to sexually enthralling as well as risky effect; original to the volume, this tale features Mars, the intriguing narrator of "And Salome Danced" (short-listed for the Tiptree Award), on tour with an indie rock band on the verge of breaking out. Closing the volume, the moving, edgy "Alien Jane" (a finalist for the Nebula Award and adapted for the SciFi Channel's Welcome to Paradox series) delves into the importance of pain for the human organism and finds hope in the most unlikely of places.

Jeff VanderMeer writes on Amazon's blog: "As short story collections go, this is one of the best of the year, with incisive, often subtle character studies combined with down-to-earth contemporary fantasy elements. The great writing here is at the service of fascinating people and unusual situations." And Julie Phllips, author of James Tiptree, Jr.:The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, writes: "Richly imagined, moving, and very sexy, these stories about music, art, sex, and identity will make you rethink all the categories you thought you knew."

Gwyneth Jones, author of White Queen and Life, writes: "Characters slip from story to story, role to role, delineating a fascination with the ruthless hunger for sensation that possesses all great artists; and the complicity of those who love them. Kelley Eskridge's collection is a treat: unassuming, deceptively gentle, packing a subtle punch."

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Biography - Eskridge, Kelley (1960-): An article from: Contemporary Authors

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Kelley Eskridge, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 806 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

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Kelley Eskridge

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Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Kelley Eskridge (born 1960) is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her work is generally regarded as speculative fiction and is associated with the more literary edge of the category, as well as with the category of slipstream fiction. Eskridge was born in Florida in 1960. She attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, Northwestern University, and the University of South Florida, where she earned a BA degree in Theatre Performance. She attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1988, where she met her partner, English novelist Nicola Griffith. Eskridge has published short fiction and essays since 1990. Her story And Salome Danced received the $11,000 Astraea Prize and was nominated for the Tiptree Award in 1995, and her story Alien Jane was a finalist for the Nebula Short story award, also in 1995. Alien Jane also received a TV adaptation on the short-lived Sci-Fi Channel Series Welcome to Paradox.

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PULPHOUSE - A Fiction Magazine - Volume 2, number 2 - December Dec 1992: The Eclectic Muse; Road Punks; Hardball; Playing with Dogs; Extinction; Nightmare Range; Ornamental Animals; Diamondback Road; Slave Trading; Full Frontal

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The Fiction Shelf.(Book review): An article from: Small Press Bookwatch

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