Quantum Convention, Volume 17

"No matter their bizarre circumstances, these characters remain intensely human, with deep and often humorous stores of self-irony . . . Quantum Convention is that rare collection that delights, expands horizons, and leaves a mark."--Foreword Reviews

"Eric Schlich's stories are clever and moving and disarmingly precise."--Dolan Morgan, author of That's When the Knives Come Down and Insignificana, and judge

"From a conference of one's various selves across the multiverse to the movie set for The Wizard of Oz, each of Quantum Convention's eight stories feels like opening a funhouse door on a new adventure. This is a kaleidoscope of dazzling fiction, and an excellent book." --Anne Valente, author of Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down

"In one spellbinding story after another, debut author Eric Schlich melds the surreal and the all-too real in wondrous ways. I absolutely loved these stories." --Elizabeth Stuckey-French, author of The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady

"Reading Quantum Convention is like bathing in the uncanny. Merlin ages backwards, a man goes to a convention to meet all his other dimensional selves, and a young orphan girl becomes a professional mourner at funerals. These stories walk the line between comic and tragic, resulting in a collection that crams an admirable amount of heartbreak and laughter between its pages." --SJ Sindu, author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies

"In Quantum Convention, the familiar is made strange and the strange is celebrated gleefully. These unexpected and brilliant stories introduce an author as skillful with a daring speculative twist as he is at rendering the subtleties of marriage, loss, and growing up."--CJ Hauser, author of The From-Aways

Schlich's first solo short story collection showcases a formidable ability to walk the emotional tightrope between uncanny setups and deeply relatable characters. . . . [T]he stories are consistently enjoyable and thought-provoking. They share an aesthetic, but they're different enough that the book seems almost too short, leaving the reader hungry for more."--Publishers Weekly
"[E]ight richly imagined, humanity-affirming tales lay new turf for short stories. . . . Eric Schlich's Quantum Convention is that rare collection that delights, expands horizons, and leaves a mark."--Foreword Reviews
"Quantum Convention will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections"--Midwest Book Review
"The strength of this book lies not only in its real, quirky, relatable characters and their credible, unique voices, but also in the powerful settings the author establishes and uses to his advantage."--Mid-American Review