Jared Lemus and Dr. Samantha Edmonds

Oct. 4, 2025, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Main Library (Darragh Center)
100 Rock Street
Little Rock, AR 72201

About the Event

A vibrant debut story collection—poignant, unflinching, and immersive—masterfully moving between sharp wit and profound tenderness, the short-story collection Guatemalan Rhapsody offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of an ever-changing country, the people who claim it as home, and those who no longer do. It explores how we journey from the circumstances that we are forged by, and whether the ability to change our fortunes lies in our own hands or in those of another.

Blending fairy tale and science fiction with the otherworldliness of adolescence, A Preponderance of Starry Beings is a short-story collection for anyone prone to gazing skyward. In seventeen genre-bending stories of the cosmos, Edmonds probes the experience of coming of age on the outskirts of the universe, whether that be a small Midwestern town or a distant galaxy, and of weighing earthly obligations against the vast promises of space. These stories invite us into a mundane and whimsical world of night islands, alien planets, small towns, and faith lost and found, where a safe landing matters less than taking the leap.