The death of an avocado, a moon boy and his family, a plant called Gerry, Clute’s collection is bursting with stories that are otherworldly and yet achingly relatable.

She writes about children trying to find their way in a strange and unpredictable world and adults, who still feel like children, searching for approval. The Fermi Paradox is a collection of the lonely and the lost where the truth of each narrative bubbles from just beneath the surface.

Clute’s prose layers the everyday with wonderful, absurdist imagery, shape shifting characters and characters that dream of something different. Hold on tight because these stories will take you somewhere new and surprising.

-Keely O’Shaughnessy, author of Baby is a Thing Best Whispered and The Swell of Seafoam

Here is a fresh new voice that takes on the gamut of life’s experiences, often with dark humor. Clute’s ability to tackle dissonance, to thrive in its welter so that elation and grief, loneliness and love coexist in constantly shifting relation give this debut collection its impressive power.

-Enid Shomer, author most recently of Shoreless: Poems, winner of Persea Books’ Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award.

In The Fermi Paradox, debut author Courtney Clute delivers quirky, memorable flash fiction that sparkles with wit. From realistic coming-of-age tales—to tender explorations of awkward mother-daughter relationships—to fantastic worlds in which extra-terrestrial creatures beam their love down on earthlings—the diversity and range of Clute’s work demonstrates why micro-fiction resonates so well with modern readers.

-Rita Ciresi, author ofSecond Wife, Pink Slip, and Sometimes I Dream in Italian