When the members of the Bainbridge-based Science Fiction Writing Cooperative were trying to think up a name for their second anthology, they decided they wanted a title that would reflect the diversity of the content.

The book contains contributions from 14 local authors, and ranges from hard science fiction and science fantasy to magical realism and whimsy. Collectively it is called speculative fiction, with all the stories containing a “what if” element.

The title they settled on was just one word, but what a word: Obliquity.

Paul Hanson, group founder, contributor and manager of Eagle Harbor Books, said the name came from an Emily Dickinson quote: “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.”

“That sparked a discussion,” he said. “We liked the multiple meanings of it (obliquity), because all the stories have different meanings. And it’s a word you have to look up.”

The dictionary indeed lists multiple definitions of obliquity, including, “the quality or state of being oblique; a deviation from a horizontal or vertical line, plane, position, or direction; and immoral behavior.”

Hanson said while all the stories are different, there are overriding common themes, including the hero’s quest and stories of loss and redemption.

“Universal themes are what makes for good speculative fiction,” Hanson said. “It needs to be truer than straight fiction. If it’s not grounded in human reality or deeper truths then it falls flat.”

In other words, when contributor Clarence Moriwaki writes about a man in a futuristic bar picking up a beautiful woman in his story “Garbage Man,” the encounter needs to be realistic. (It is — he gets shot down.)

Or when Hanson’s hero in his story “Lodestone: An Orphan’s Tale” goes on a fantastic ocean voyage in search of his father, he still needs to be a scared little boy. And he is.

Hanson said the stories were written by the sci-fi group members and other local writers. All submissions were judged “blind” by three judges, who critiqued them and suggested improvements.

Other writers in the book and their stories are: Frank E. Anderson, “Motionpixels;” Bill Branley, “J;” Nancy Lou Canyon, “Ghost Rocks;” Lorenz Eber, “Genesis at Raradon;” Kaleena Fraga, “Island of Dreams, Island of Fears;” Nick Heinlein, “Redo;” Patricia Lewis, “The Asylum;” Daniel Monk, “Surgical Diplomacy;” Vicki Saunders “Rollover;” Verne Wade, “Afternoon of the World;” Charles Walbridge, “In His Own Country;” and Christine Wyatt, “Tabit’s Odyssey.”

Some of the writers have been widely published, such as Canyon, who has had work appear in several anthologies and is working on her third novel, while for others it’s a relatively new experience.

Several of the contributors have stories in the first SFWC anthology, “Off the Ecliptic,” published in 2004.

Heinlein was only in ninth grade when he was first published in that collection. Now a sophomore at Bainbridge High School, he’s back with another contribution.

The Science Fiction Writing Cooperative was founded seven years ago by Hanson and island writer Ann Lovejoy.

Hanson stressed he is not the leader of the group, but that it is truly a cooperative venture.

“I am impressed that the book was a collaborative effort. We all produced the book together.”

All the layout, interior design and cover design were done by members of the group of their families. It was published by Tuesday Night Publishing, an independent publishing house based on Bainbridge Island.

The book cover features an unusual creature, described in the back of the book as a winged salamander, or “Dicamptodon daedalus,” said to be a native of the Pacific Northwest.

Hanson admitted it was a tongue-in-cheek creature, another product of their fertile imaginations.

Like the salamander, Hanson said the writers are “emerging from our slimy little holes — and we’ve got wings.”

The Science Fiction Writing Cooperative members will present “Obliquity” to the public 7:30 p.m. March 23 in a reading at Eagle Harbor Books, 157 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island.