A Small and Remarkable Life::

Fiction / Science Fiction
240 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/4"
Cloth ISBN 0-88995-336-8, CDN 28.95 • USA 23.95
Paper ISBN 0-88995-342-2, CDN 19.95 • USA 16.95

This much-anticipated first novel by Hugo and World Fantasy Award nominee Nick DiChario puts a spin on the story of being stranded on an alien planet, cut off from one’s own people, unsuited to a new environment and physically different from everyone else. This is what the young alien Tink Puddah must face when his parents are killed on their first day on Earth in 1845 and Tink finds himself stranded in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.

A story of courage, determination, hope, and survival, A Small and Remarkable Life chronicles the journey of two people headed in very different directions: the alien, Tink, a lonely outsider who finds the strength and resources within him to endure the most brutal and unforgiving conditions, and the holy man, Jacob Piersol, determined to save Tink’s soul but tortured by his past and the God who seems unable to console him.

Charming, literate, and thought provoking, A Small and Remarkable Life is a wonderful debut novel from one of the science fiction’s best-loved short-story writers.

The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel of the Year is one of the world’s most prestigious awards in all of science fiction, bestowed by a blue-ribbon panel of American and British academics and authors.

“A Small and Remarkable Life is a remarkable novel, but not a small one. With a persistence and sensitivity worthy of his quirky hero, DiChario quietly explores the big questions: faith, love, hope, and the true nature of reality. This is one of the most original first-contact novels I have ever read, and a must for everyone who cares about good fiction.”
–Hugo Award-winner Nancy Kress

Bonus Feature: Book Club discussion guide included

Nick DiChario’s short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century, among others. He has been nominated for a John W. Campbell Award, two Hugo Awards and a World Fantasy Award. Nick DiChario is an independent bookseller as owner of The Write Book and Gift Shop in Honeoye Falls, New York.

Nick DiChario Interview and Reading

Listen to Robert Sawyer's interview with Nick DiChario about A Small and Remarkable Life, from Nick's bookstore, The Wright Book and Gift Shop, in Honeoye Falls, New York.

Then listen to Nick reading from the start of the book.