Annihilation for Beginners is a collection of 28 stories set across different terrains of Oregon, where creatures, ancient trees, and bodies of water offer solace and companionship to characters living in various aftermaths, all asking and answering the question of how to go on. Single parents invent their own habitats of home, others reckon with the reality of who their children are turning out to be, and young people outgrow innocence and create their own philosophies of survival. The first story collection from award-winning novelist Charlie J. Stephens, Annihilation for Beginners dauntlessly explores wildernesses within and without.