Happy book birthday to All The Animals On Earth by Mark Sampson, out now from Buckrider Books!
In a world subtly like and unlike our own, buttoned-down HR manager Hector Thompson is sure of two things: he hates both change and science fiction. But then lurid green streamers drift from the sky in an escaped experiment and birds and animals fall to the ground as their bodies stretch and change and grow. It’s an apocalypse. Or is it?
Now Hector works in a company with detail-oriented pigeons for project managers while shifts of dependable dogs work round the clock in orange safety vests building housing for earth’s newest inhabitants. In a dizzying mix of imagination and wry social commentary, author Mark Sampson creates a believable world with an unbelievable future and takes his readers on a road trip across a remarkable vision of America as his Everyman finds his role in this strange new reality.
Mark Sampson is the author of five previous books: the novels The Slip (Dundurn Press, 2017), Sad Peninsula (Dundurn Press, 2014) and Off Book (Norwood Publishing, 2007); the short story collection The Secrets Men Keep (Now or Never Publishing, 2015); and the poetry collection Weathervane (Palimpsest Press, 2016). Mark has published many short stories and poems in literary journals across Canada, including in The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, PRISM international, The Nashwaak Review, The Puritan, This magazine and FreeFall. He is a frequent book reviewer for Quill & Quire, Canadian Notes & Queries (CNQ) and other publications. Born and raised on Prince Edward Island, he currently lives and writes in Toronto. Mark is represented by Stephanie Sinclair.