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About OUT THERE
With a focus on the weird and eerie forces that lurk beneath the surface of ordinary experience, Kate Folk’s debut collection is perfectly pitched to the madness of our current moment. A medical ward for a mysterious bone-melting disorder is the setting of a perilous love triangle. A curtain of void obliterates the globe at a steady pace, forcing Earth’s remaining inhabitants to decide with whom they want to spend eternity. A man fleeing personal scandal enters a codependent relationship with a house that requires a particularly demanding level of care. And in the title story, originally published in The New Yorker, a woman in San Francisco uses dating apps to find a partner despite the threat posed by “blots,” preternaturally handsome artificial men dispatched by Russian hackers to steal data. Meanwhile, in a poignant companion piece, a woman and a blot forge a genuine, albeit doomed, connection.
Prescient and wildly imaginative, Out There depicts an uncanny landscape that holds a mirror to our subconscious fears and desires. Each story beats with its own fierce heart, and together they herald an exciting new arrival in the tradition of speculative literary fiction.
Prescient and wildly imaginative, Out There depicts an uncanny landscape that holds a mirror to our subconscious fears and desires. Each story beats with its own fierce heart, and together they herald an exciting new arrival in the tradition of speculative literary fiction.
Praise
“Out There is for readers who consider body horror to be a love language. True romantics will swoon either despite or because of the gore that accompanies these sharp, affable stories . . . Folk’s stories have been compared to Shirley Jackson’s, and this is most apparent in the way Folk balances her horror with humor.”-The New York Times Book Review
“[The short story] Out There originally ran in the New Yorker and was something of a viral sensation. Fans of the story won’t be disappointed by the collection, which also explores a gendered territory somewhere in the borderlands of magical realism, weird horror, sci-fi and literary fiction about jaded relationships.”-Los Angeles Times
“Folk’s ample imagination ably . . . offer[s] a perfect encapsulation of our modern madnesses, like an Alice’s looking glass for our social media–obsessed age.”-Chicago Review of Books
“[Folk] writes witty, cinematic fiction that merges familiar scenarios with uncanny menace [and] capably captures the lunacy of the moment we’re living through.”-San Francisco Chronicle
“Peppered with laugh-out-loud cringy yet relatable observations . . . it’s hard to pinpoint the exact equation that makes each story so funny, poignant, and memorable.”-Catapult
“[Folk] builds worlds that hover chillingly between ours and unfettered imagination. Her writing is uncanny and unsentimental and comic, a funhouse mirror showing us how strange we truly are.”-Electric Lit
“A perfect blend of sci-fi, realism, and tinges of Kafka-esque horror . . . It’ll break your brain in the best possible way.”-Debutiful
“Audacious . . . Folk’s debut collection contain[s] Black Mirror-esque meditations on intimacy and connection in a mad world.”-Literary Hub
“[These] stories dig even deeper into the eerie and weird . . . but most uncanny of all is Folk’s own voice, imaginative, sharp, and unsettling, human and alien together.”-The Millions
"A wonderful absurdist collection that explores the vagaries of human connections . . . Perfectly balances compassion and caustics, and the author has an easy hand blending everyday terror with the humor that helps people swallow it. Folk impresses with her imagination as well as her insights.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Tightly constructed and spectacularly mind-bending [stories] ingeniously pair everyday challenges and outlandish predicaments, ranging from hilarious to terrifying.” -Booklist (starred review)
“One could fancy Kate Folk as the literary love child of Kafka and Camus and Bradbury, if Kafka and Camus and Bradbury were penning episodes of Black Mirror, but that still wouldn’t capture the blazing originality and exhilarating weirdness of her writing. From the moment you read these wondrously perverse, often creepy and hilarious, and always sneakily heartbreaking tales, you’ll know you’re in the presence of a singularly brilliant vision.” -Chang-Rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad
“Kate Folk’s stories inhabit otherworldly realms where exquisite language and beguiling characters excavate the very nature of love and existence.” -Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son
“An assortment of stories so sharp and ingenious you may cut yourself on them while reading, like a drawer full of the most beautiful knives—Kate Folk’s Out There goes onto my shelf of favorite collections.” -Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble
“Fifteen extraordinary through-the-looking-glass tales, containing locked rooms, demanding houses, embodied Russian bots, revolution, and relationships—all delivered with a side of menace. . . Kate Folk is a dazzling talent.” -Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“Wry, riveting, and ambitious, Out There is one of those rare collections that manage to be both brilliantly inventive and emotionally resonant. . . Full of unforgettable voices and gleeful, exacting prose, this is a sharp and stylish debut from a wildly gifted writer.” -Kimberly King Parsons, author of the National Book Award nominated Black Light
"The lucid, unsettling landscapes in Out There bring our own world into chilly focus through an exquisitely distorted lens. Each one of these amazing stories is a masterclass in eeriness and perception. Kate Folk's imagination is on fire." -Ayşegül Savaş, author of White on White
“Kate Folk is a formidable writer, a literary swordsmith of feline dexterity, very dark and very funny, equally at home in the magisterial darkness and the relentless glare of truth.” -Lisa Locascio, author of Open Me
“This collection of internet gothic fiction delighted, unsettled, and moved me in the best possible way. Kate Folk is an exceptionally talented new voice, able to render both the otherworldly and the absurd banalities of contemporary life with a cutting, mirthful grace.” -Mary South, author of You Will Never Be Forgotten
“Kate Folk’s imagination is uncanny and arresting. Out There . . . is a chilling and tender portrait of love that will stick with you long after you finish the book.” -Isle McElroy, author of The Atmospherians
“With unassuming precision and casual beauty, these superbly crafted stories make uncanny meaning of our vacant moment. Out There is a friend in the dark and Kate Folk is a marvel.” -Sarah McColl, author of Joy Enough
“[The short story] Out There originally ran in the New Yorker and was something of a viral sensation. Fans of the story won’t be disappointed by the collection, which also explores a gendered territory somewhere in the borderlands of magical realism, weird horror, sci-fi and literary fiction about jaded relationships.”-Los Angeles Times
“Folk’s ample imagination ably . . . offer[s] a perfect encapsulation of our modern madnesses, like an Alice’s looking glass for our social media–obsessed age.”-Chicago Review of Books
“[Folk] writes witty, cinematic fiction that merges familiar scenarios with uncanny menace [and] capably captures the lunacy of the moment we’re living through.”-San Francisco Chronicle
“Peppered with laugh-out-loud cringy yet relatable observations . . . it’s hard to pinpoint the exact equation that makes each story so funny, poignant, and memorable.”-Catapult
“[Folk] builds worlds that hover chillingly between ours and unfettered imagination. Her writing is uncanny and unsentimental and comic, a funhouse mirror showing us how strange we truly are.”-Electric Lit
“A perfect blend of sci-fi, realism, and tinges of Kafka-esque horror . . . It’ll break your brain in the best possible way.”-Debutiful
“Audacious . . . Folk’s debut collection contain[s] Black Mirror-esque meditations on intimacy and connection in a mad world.”-Literary Hub
“[These] stories dig even deeper into the eerie and weird . . . but most uncanny of all is Folk’s own voice, imaginative, sharp, and unsettling, human and alien together.”-The Millions
"A wonderful absurdist collection that explores the vagaries of human connections . . . Perfectly balances compassion and caustics, and the author has an easy hand blending everyday terror with the humor that helps people swallow it. Folk impresses with her imagination as well as her insights.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Tightly constructed and spectacularly mind-bending [stories] ingeniously pair everyday challenges and outlandish predicaments, ranging from hilarious to terrifying.” -Booklist (starred review)
“One could fancy Kate Folk as the literary love child of Kafka and Camus and Bradbury, if Kafka and Camus and Bradbury were penning episodes of Black Mirror, but that still wouldn’t capture the blazing originality and exhilarating weirdness of her writing. From the moment you read these wondrously perverse, often creepy and hilarious, and always sneakily heartbreaking tales, you’ll know you’re in the presence of a singularly brilliant vision.” -Chang-Rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad
“Kate Folk’s stories inhabit otherworldly realms where exquisite language and beguiling characters excavate the very nature of love and existence.” -Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son
“An assortment of stories so sharp and ingenious you may cut yourself on them while reading, like a drawer full of the most beautiful knives—Kate Folk’s Out There goes onto my shelf of favorite collections.” -Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble
“Fifteen extraordinary through-the-looking-glass tales, containing locked rooms, demanding houses, embodied Russian bots, revolution, and relationships—all delivered with a side of menace. . . Kate Folk is a dazzling talent.” -Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“Wry, riveting, and ambitious, Out There is one of those rare collections that manage to be both brilliantly inventive and emotionally resonant. . . Full of unforgettable voices and gleeful, exacting prose, this is a sharp and stylish debut from a wildly gifted writer.” -Kimberly King Parsons, author of the National Book Award nominated Black Light
"The lucid, unsettling landscapes in Out There bring our own world into chilly focus through an exquisitely distorted lens. Each one of these amazing stories is a masterclass in eeriness and perception. Kate Folk's imagination is on fire." -Ayşegül Savaş, author of White on White
“Kate Folk is a formidable writer, a literary swordsmith of feline dexterity, very dark and very funny, equally at home in the magisterial darkness and the relentless glare of truth.” -Lisa Locascio, author of Open Me
“This collection of internet gothic fiction delighted, unsettled, and moved me in the best possible way. Kate Folk is an exceptionally talented new voice, able to render both the otherworldly and the absurd banalities of contemporary life with a cutting, mirthful grace.” -Mary South, author of You Will Never Be Forgotten
“Kate Folk’s imagination is uncanny and arresting. Out There . . . is a chilling and tender portrait of love that will stick with you long after you finish the book.” -Isle McElroy, author of The Atmospherians
“With unassuming precision and casual beauty, these superbly crafted stories make uncanny meaning of our vacant moment. Out There is a friend in the dark and Kate Folk is a marvel.” -Sarah McColl, author of Joy Enough