In a future decimated by rising tides and extreme weather, the people of Earth have been displaced from their land and look to the sea to establish new civilizations. In order to survey the ocean and explore its resources, the U.S. Navy enlists an all-female cohort of “military mermaids,” whose human limbs and organs are genetically modified into fins and gills.

In a future society of solely women who have found ways to reproduce and survive after a devastating plague, a young couple and their eldest daughter encounter four human males from Earth, and they anticipate the impending end of their matriarchal society.

An all-female expeditionary crew endeavor to become the first humans to reach the South Pole.

Monica and Di, a teenage mother and a unique child, become targets of Monica's parents and protesters all over the world who demand that child like Di be eradicated.

An unhappily married man is on his way to the wedding of a much happier couple. He no longer finds his wife attractive because of her weight loss, and thus endeavors into an affair with a larger woman, though she may have ulterior motives that he has not considered.

In the far future, a zealous scientist wanders the highlands of Venus alone, risking death at the hands of Cytherean tigers in order to discover the lost settlement that would vindicate her research and satisfy her jealousy for her "perfect" partner. What she discovers, however, fails to satisfy her. Tired of living in her famous partner's shadow, a zealous scientist in the far future embarks on a dangerous solo expedition through the highlands of Venus in order to discover the lost city of Ishtar. What she discovers, however, fails to satisfy her.

As she walks alongside the Hudson River with her friend, a woman excitedly explains her intricate vision of what would give her happiness.

In the post-apocalyptic United States, a handful of survivors fend off demons desperate to feed on human flesh.

As a teenage girl stumbles upon a mysterious portal leading her to a utopian, magical world, her storyline converges with that of the author—a middle-aged, married mother of two who has come out as asexual to her husband—leading both to a reckoning with their unfulfilling romantic relationships and deepest desires.

A Black, southern house servant with internalized racism, joins her mistress on a visit to another region, where she observes Black people acting with something she abhors: autonomy.