The Subject is Love

And Other Stories

How can one describe love to extraterrestrial life? This is the challenge faced by a person chosen to compose a message for a time capsule placed inside a spacecraft destined to travel beyond our solar system. This is just one story in a collection of ten that vividly portrays love in its many forms. The stories explore a range of emotions, from the intense feelings of romantic attraction to the deep bonds found in friendships and familial love, and even to unsettling forms of love shaped by societal norms. The narratives are as diverse in time and place as the types of love they depict. To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning: How many kinds of love are there? Let me count the ways.