Eric Schlich

FREDONIA — “Quantum Convention & Other Stories,” the first book written by Eric Schlich, lecturer of creative writing in the State University at Fredonia Department of English, was awarded the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction at the University of North Texas.

Porter was an acclaimed short-story writer whose books exhibited a richness of texture and complexity of delineation normally achieved in novels.

The book is a collection of eight genre-bending stories that walk the line between reality and fantasy. In the title story, the main character, Colin, finds himself at a crossroads in his marriage and professional life. He decides to attend a parallel universe conference, where he meets his multiple selves and explores the alternate paths of life’s what-ifs.

Other stories feature characters labeled as “outcasts” by society — whether physically, morally or fantastically — that include atheists, alcoholics, time-epileptics, geeks, keeners, banshees, cyclopses and others.

The book will be published by the University of North Texas Press and become available in November. Until then, the title story, “Quantum Convention,” can be read in the latest issue of the literary journal Crazyhorse, or online.

Schlich’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Fairy Tale Review, Gulf Coast, Mississippi Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Electric Literature, Redivider, River Styx, Nimrod and New South.