Thanks to netgalley for this ARC! This book had a lot of heavy material stuffed into one small book. I enjoyed the stories of grief and how beautifully tragic it was described. Overall, this book wasn’t for me but it was a quick read

The writing in this collection is fast-paced, flowery and descriptive, packing as much detail about the world as possible into each short story. However, I feel that in an attempt to fit each story into just a short chapter has left many holes in the stories, causing me quite a bit of confusion while reading. Concepts are introduced with little to no background or follow up, and characters are not fully developed and so feel very one-dimensional. I feel that this collection has so much potential should the stories be expanded upon more. Many just needed more time to shine and to fully flesh out the characters and settings and to fully elaborate on the concepts introduced within each chapter.

Finally, thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for this ARC

Stewart C Baker's 'The Butterfly Disjunct' is a collection of science fiction short stories that span across many galaxies, centuries and timelines! I loved this collection of work very much. It was such a wonderful, chaotic and fun read. Every story had an unusual element to it as they discuss themes of politics, science, relationships the environment and so many more.

There was so much variety and so many worlds in this short collection, an absolutely delightful aspect of the book. The shortness of each story allowed for fast paced, engaging reads that kept the reader drawn into these creative and expanse worlds.

One factor to the collection that I loved was the recurring characters, Kirsi and Aaala, who's development we got to follow across several stories. This allowed the collection to feel interconnected and created an underlying sense of growth to the novel. Several stories, especially 'How to Configure your Quantum Disambiguator' also had big 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' vibes which I adored! The chaos and randomness to the stories were an extremely fun and hilarious touch!

I thoroughly enjoyed the collection as a whole, but some stories felt that they were too short and some of the characters and plots were left underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more. This also resulted in some stories becoming quite confusing to understand due to how brief and fast paced they were.

I loved 'The Butterfly Disjunct' and I believe that Baker did a wonderful job at creating such a fun and thought provoking read. Fans of science fiction and h2g2 will love this collection!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this e-ARC for my honest review! This was my first time reading a collection of short stories and I loved them. The pervading sense of dread mixed wjth the unknown that is illustrated by these glances at a sci-fi dystopian future gave each story a little extra gravitas. This collection is a 5 stars for me.

4*

This collection of stories was well crafted, each one unique and fitting within the backdrop of the other tales. Despite how many stories were packed inside, it was a quick read, though it maybe would have benefited dropping one or two stories to more closely focus on others.

Thank you Interstellar Flight Press, and the author for reaching out and sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it! It's a collection of stories, so there were certainly ones I was more fond of than others (in particular, Fugue in a Minor Key, The Spread of Space and Endless Devastation, and Memorial Park were my favorites). Overall, though, the stories were solid. They never felt like they went on too long and, if I wasn't enjoying one of them, I always knew one I liked better was just around the corner.

Good book, good stories. Took a star off just because I didn't like Ghosts of Maricourt Crater, but that's a personal taste thing and has nothing to do with my opinion on the overall quality of the stories in this collection.

I wanted to like this collection of short stories (mainly stand alone but a few interlinked) but, while some of them were ok, others were just too short and disjointed and left me confused.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Reviewing this boos was like trying to hold onto a butterfly in a storm of shifting realities (pun totally intended 😋😬)—each story flutters by, unique yet connected in a strangely captivating way. ✨ With a mix of humor, adventure, and deep emotions, this collection spans everything from time-traveling scientists in luxury hotel suites to villains battling dinosaurs on the moon. Every chapter feels like a new universe, yet there are subtle threads tying them together, making you question time, space, and everything in between.

One of the challenges in reviewing a book like this is the sheer diversity of the stories. They each have their own tone, genre, and setting, yet somehow they all feel like they belong together, forming a mind-bending collection. It's a multiverse where anything can happen—AI fragments realizing they’re not human, ghostly women appearing on Mars, and scholars hosting time-manipulation symposiums with only themselves in attendance. Let's not forget, there is a ghost… in Mars 😖🤯

Some of my absolute favorites were The Butterfly Disjunct (Chapter 17), How to Break Causality and Write the Perfect Time Travel Story (Chapter 16), and How to Configure Your Quantum Disambiguator (Chapter 14). These stories captured the essence of the collection—funny, chaotic, and full of creative twists. In How to Break Causality, the guide to writing a time travel story while breaking all the rules had me grinning from ear to ear. It was a hilarious reminder of how tricky (and paradoxical) time travel narratives can be. The self-awareness of the storytelling here was pure gold. 🕰️💥

Error: Out of Timeline, Unable to Process (Chapter 13) was another standout for me—its playful tone made it feel like a glitch in the matrix, with reality itself breaking down in hilarious ways. And who could forget Words I've Redefined Since Your Dinosaurs Invaded My Lunar Lair (Chapter 9)? Dinosaurs, villainy, and internet slang somehow made perfect sense together, and it’s probably the funniest take on a villainous rivalry I’ve ever read. 🦖🦹‍♀️

While each chapter has a different style and focus, they all share an underlying connection in how they explore the limits of reality, time, and identity. Ghosts of Maricourt Crater (Chapter 1) sets the tone by blending eerie, haunted Mars exploration with humor, making it both suspenseful and fun. Similarly, Proceedings from the First and Only Sixteenth Annual One-Woman Symposium on Time Manipulation (Chapter 22) played with time and humor in a way that reminded me of how fragile and absurd timelines can be.

In the end, this book is a wild ride, full of unexpected laughs, deep reflections, and creative twists. It’s the kind of book that makes you think—and then makes you laugh a second later. If you’re into multiverse chaos, time travel headaches, and stories that don’t take themselves too seriously while still hitting emotional beats, this is definitely one to pick up.

Thank you NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for this ARC!

There are a lot of stories in this collection, and while it is super cool to see so many diverse and unique perspectives, it has the unfortunate side effect of making the majority of the stories feel rushed and unimpactful. I believe this would have been better as two or even three separate collections.

However, I did find many of the stories to be enjoyable. There's a lot of neat concepts and worlds introduced in here. Virtually every story also has either queer representation, disabled representation, or both, which is great.

You can really tell that Baker cares about his work. He writes with a passion and love of the genre. I'm definitely open to reading more from him in the future.

These were some pretty wonderful short stories and focus on the intersections of different abilities and some really neat ideas (see: the cover image). Definitely worth a read.

‘’And this is real, I think, and this is science. This is life.’’

The Butterfly Disjunct offers a diverse collection of sci-fi tales that mix profound themes with lighter, quirky moments. While more than half of the stories left me unsure of what was happening, each still managed to create a distinct atmosphere. The best stories for me were “Doge Coefficient” and “The Future, One Summer Behind.”

What worked:
• Vivid imagery and atmosphere
• Strong variety of tone, from humorous to serious
• Inventive storytelling with creative literary techniques

What fell flat:
• Some stories felt rushed and unclear
• The use of dreams started to irritate me, as they were used multiple times. It felt like an easy way to add meaning to the stories.

Final take: ★★★☆☆
Though not every story hits the mark, The Butterfly Disjunct is a must-read for those who enjoy experimental and unconventional sci-fi narratives.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very entertaining collection of often humorous stories, with a refreshing take on favourite SF tropes such as time travel or spaceships. Many of the stories are short, and so this is a collection that benefits from being read in short bites. The more serious pieces are moving, and provide emotional depth to the whole. Very enjoyable on the whole!

A great collection with a variety of science fiction, fantasy, characters, and settings. I appreciated the science fiction focus in particular.

This is a really complex story to write a review for. This is a collection of short stories set in a mostly sci-fi setting with very few threads connecting some stories to each other (Although some stories do!). This is a book that gives you whiplash as you read it. Some stories are so deep and truly engaging, and then the next one is a lot harder to decipher and understand which means that the pace of the book varies. This book touches on a lot of key themes such as what is humanity, community, grief and love but some stories do it better than others. I'd overall give this 3.5 stars.

A good collection of short unique stories exploring themes of grief and the future. Interconnected stories that span throughout space and time

Brilliant, quirky, and original writing--The Butterfly Disjunct is a treat to read. I loved the wide range of genres and ideas author Baker has packed into this volume, and was charmed by the writing. A perfect gift for yourself or the SFFH fan in your life, and a book you'll dip into time and again.

The Butterfly Disjunct is a great collection of science fiction short stories. The collection brings together likeminded tales, exploring themes of morality, mortality, and many more gothic-esque mashups. Although the stories didn’t always feel original, they always put forward a love for the science fiction genre, which made them thoroughly enjoyable reads.

This was an interesting and quick read with a lot of different elements and a unique premise for each story. I did find it somewhat hard to connect with some of the stories, but that’s okay. I think there is something in here for everyone if you’re going into it with an open mind.

In a way, I was reminded of the show Black Mirror with the combination of sci-fi, fantasy, and slightly macabre vibe which made it very intriguing. There were a lot of directions explored and it allowed the reader to really experience what felt like a genre of its own. I have never read anything quite like this before so as a curious reader I was challenged to think outside the box. To explore the possibilities of the strange and enigmatic.

Overall, this was a great read. Thank you NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This collection has some excellent writing - the imagery is some if the best I've read.

The only downside is that some stories feel a bit rushed and not fleshed out. That said, they're quick and easy to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Space, Mystery, Time, Humor, and Intrigue - Stories to restore your spirit.

This wondrous collection by Stewart C Baker engages like a dance through the mysterious and illimitable at the fingertips of a storyteller who, at each meeting of the eyes, each insight of connection, flicks away with a wink to the next turn. Clever, engaging, and enigmatic, an erratic rhythm of struggle between longing and contentment that soothes as it deepens, steadied by the undertone that sometimes one needs to keep on to get through.

Baker's words calm in the diaphanous embrace of melancholy - segments of tales, fragments of existence, pockets of unreality, generating the urgency to run to and grasp what we've forgotten to appreciate as our own. An artist in the liminal spaces of self, Baker writes quiet fiction that excites, in notes similar to those in the works of Zig Zag Claybourne, yet with the sparkle of unerring snap only a librarian of the world could provide.

This collection of short stories represents a decade+ of work and publication, yet in the sort of comprehensive way in which they seem destined to be read together. In these stories redefining power, genre, and purpose, I hope that you will find yourself in the Butterfly Disjunct.