The characters in the short stories of Earthen are all in need of guidance: mothers, widows and wives, grandmas and grandpas, teachers, lovers, and the young. They find messages in the earth and rock beneath their feet, the mountains and atmosphere above, or the creatures surrounding them: birds and animals, plants and trees. The natural world insists on a relationship with both characters and readers of Earthen, in stories ranging from realism to fable to speculative fiction.