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The stories in this collection of Ellen Klages' short fiction are hard to categorize - some seem to fit within the umbrella of the new weird, others are dark fantasy, some are more traditional science fiction or fantasy tales, and still others are the sort of fiction one would expect to find in "mainstream" publications such as the New Yorker. However, at the end of the day, who cares what category the stories in Portable Childhoods fall in? All the reader needs to know is that the 16 stories in the collection are all really, really, good and he or she should run out and buy a copy of the book. I've already re-read the collection twice and come up with a list of people to whom I want to loan my copy.

Book Description: Emerging from a unique and powerful voice, this innovative collection offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies hidden just beyond the ordinary, skirting the border between childhood and adulthood. Mysticism, heroism, cruelty, and compassion thread through these multifaceted tales—which range from the origins of the Manhattan Project to a culinary object-lesson, from 1950s corruption to a slight glitch in Creation. Collected here for the first time and including an excerpt from her breakout first novel The Green Glass Sea, these stories are timeless and delightful, chilling and beautiful.

(Source: Tachyon Publications)