While teaching creative writing and literature classes at the University can be time-consuming, English professor Susan Palwick still finds time to write and publish novels and short stories. Most recently, Palwick published The Fate of Mice, a collection of short stories. The book was given a starred review by Publishers Weekly.

Palwick will do a book signing for The Fate of Mice March 10 at 3 p.m. at Sundance Books. She will do a second signing March 12 at 5 p.m. in the University's alumni room inside the Jot Travis Student Union. Palwick said she will do a different reading at each event.

The Fate of Mice features eleven short stories written by Palwick over the last twenty years. Although three of the stories were published for the first time, the other eight have been featured in previous publications. "Elephant," the earliest story included in the book, was written in 1985 and published in 1986 in Asimov's science fiction magazine.

Because each story in The Fate of Mice has its own message, Palwick said she simply hopes for the book to opens readers' eyes to different genres. "I hope it will help demonstrate that science fiction and fantasy are vibrant literary genres," Palwick said.

Palwick has been publishing books and short stories for more than 20 years. She has published 25 short stories and two full-length novels. Shelter, a third book, will be published in June.

"Shelter, my third novel, is near-future science-fiction, set in San Francisco," Palwick said. "It is about changing definitions of personhood and how those definitions shape how people define family."

Palwick has won awards and kudos for her work. The Necessary Beggar, published in 2005, won an Alex award from the American Library Association and helped Palwick win a Silver Pen award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Library Journal named it one of the best five science-fiction/fantasy books of 2005. Publishers Weekly and Booklist also gave the book excellent reviews.

Palwick said she hopes to see similar success with her new book. When she was asked which story in it is her favorite, she had no answer. "That's like asking a parent, 'Who's your favorite child?'" Palwick said. "I like all the stories in the book for different reasons."

Student writer Sarah Licausi can be reached at licausis@yahoo.com.