Magical Realism Fiction Short Stories

The stories in Animal Husbandry all deal in some way with mythology, from animal fables to imaginary friends to the myths people tell themselves. In some cases, the myths are fantastical: a farmer finds his cow has given birth to a surprising offspring; a guitarist tries to improve his skills with a visit to the crossroads; or a young girl meets with a visitor in the woods to plot against her neighbors. Others concern everyday mythology: a small-town ballplayer struggles to earn a nickname; or a man's clean bill of health arrives at the worst possible time.

Nounous is a fourteen-year-old Maltese who adores people—but above all, he loves his mother. As he takes his last steps, he reflects on a life filled with love and loyalty, his most significant concern being the thought of leaving his beloved Mommy behind. His mother, Susanne Leist, is a paranormal suspense author and former financial analyst. When she isn’t weaving thrilling tales, Susanne cherishes every precious moment with Nounous—her best friend, constant companion, and inspiration.

"Олеся", "Гранатовый браслет", "Суламифь", "Поединок" — произведения Александра Куприна охватывают множество разных тем: социальную, военную, любовную. Но этот сборник открывает читателю другого Куприна — проводника в таинственный мир, где переплелись и стали неразличимы реальность и мистика. Молодой незаметный мелкий чиновник Иван Степанович Цвет случайно разгадывает таинственную головоломку и овладевает "тайной, которой больше тридцати столетий". Отныне все, о чем бы он ни подумал, начинает сбываться. Цвет становится богат, успешен, знаменит — но счастлив ли? Ведь у каждого исполненного желания есть последствия.

In the town of Duskhelm, the people have been taught that magic isn’t real.... Dragons, elves, and dwarves are found in the realm of fairy tales and lore. The dangers facing the town are based in reality, with marauders lurking beyond their walls, waiting for any opportunity to sneak in and quietly raid the down. Enter Mani, a young and unrefined cadet training earnestly with the hope to one day be able to serve in the King’s Service.... Together with his friend Goby, he is about to find out, along with the rest of the people of Duskhelm, that what lurks in the darkness beyond and above...

Scant years after the Civil War, a mysterious family confronts the legacy that has pursued them across centuries, out of slavery, and finally to the idyllic peace of the town of Rosetree. The shattering consequences of this confrontation echo backwards and forwards in time, even to the present day.

Un placido lago di montagna ha un abitante misterioso, un essere solitario che conduce la sua esistenza in una caverna sottomarina. Da sotto la superficie dell'acqua, senza mai farsi vedere, osserva il mondo esterno, ne invidia i colori sgargianti, e guarda con curiosità e paura a quegli esseri così diversi da lui che animano le rive del lago. Può sentire le vibrazioni dei loro sentimenti, ma ha troppa paura per mostrarsi. Quando arriva sul pontile una ragazza speciale, dai capelli rossi e lo sguardo triste, tutto cambia. Le sue vibrazioni sono diverse da quelle di tutti gli altri.

Playful, frightening, shocking - these stories from a writer at the height of his power will make you think, or make you laugh. Sometimes they’ll make you want to look away, but they will always hold your gaze. These are stories set in London, in Byzantium, in the ghetto, in the Andes, and in a printer’s shop in Lagos. Characters include a murderer, a writer, a detective, a man in a cave, a man in a mirror, three little boys, a prison door, and the author himself. Each one of these 23 stories will make you wonder if what you see in the world can really be all there is....

This collection of eight stories paints a vivid image of people who don't do what you might expect them to living on the fringes in America. Not stories of triumph over adversity but something completely other. Described in language that is brilliantly sardonic, Woods' characters return repeatedly to places where they don't belong - often the places where they were born. In the background are the endless American wars and occupations and too many early deaths of friends and family. This is fiction that is fresh and of the moment, even as it is timeless.

Seamlessly shifting between the speculative and the blindingly real, balancing the bizarre with the subtle brutality of the mundane, A Manual for How to Love Us is a tender portrait of women trying their best to survive, love, and find genuine meaning in the aftermath of loss. In these unconventional and unpredictably connected stories, Erin Slaughter shatters the stereotype of the soft-spoken, sorrowful woman in distress, queering the domestic and honoring the feral in all of us.

From Mexico’s preeminent man of letters, "a Balzacian novel in nine masterly stories" (Vanity Fair) that explores the "uneven and painful meshing of two North American cultures" (Washington Post Book World). A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Translated by Alfred Mac Adam.

A woman meets her next-door neighbor and loans her a spatula, then starts suffering horrific gaps in her memory. A man, feeling jilted by an unrequited love, becomes obsessed with sorting through his neighbors' garbage in the belief that it will teach him how to better relate to people. A landlord decides to raise the rent, and his tenants hatch a plan to kill him at a team-building retreat. In 10 captivating, unnerving stories, Flowers of Mold presents a range of ordinary individuals who have found themselves left behind by an increasingly urbanized and fragmented world.

Just because Jenny was born without a head doesn't mean she isn't still annoying to her older brother, and just because the Man of the Future's carefully planned extramarital affair ends in alien abduction and network fame doesn't mean he can't still pine for his absent wife. Romping through the fantastic with big-hearted ease, these stories cut to the core of what it means to navigate family, faith, and longing.

In the tradition of narrativa de lo inusual (narrative of the unusual), The Only Sound Is the Wind combines the fantastic with the everyday, weaving elements of magical realism and surrealist twists to sharpen our view of human (and animal) connection. In the title story, the arrival of a mail-order clone complicates a burgeoning romance; a lonely librarian longing for her homeland strikes up an unusual relationship in the award-winning “The Moth”; when humans start giving birth to puppies and kittens in “This New Turn,” a realignment of the natural order ensues.

Two dark pasts. One bond beyond their control. For a month, Coal has tried to stay away from the beautiful cadet who makes him feel things he shouldn’t, each day of separation spiraling him deeper into worsening nightmares. Already on edge, it takes Coal one split second to plunge into violence - and find himself in shackles once more.

“In villages where women bore most of the weight of a constricted life, witches flew by night on broomsticks,” said Italo Calvino of the way imagination bridges the gap between everyday existence and an idealized alternative. The 15 stories of Animal Wife are each about girls and women who cross this threshold seeking liberation from family responsibilities, from societal expectations, from their own minds.

Getting stopped by a cop never felt so good. Timothy is timid and sweet as apple pie and guards his heart from hurt. Timothy wants to find an alpha before he gets too old, but he’s terrified of committing to the wrong man, so he takes a camping trip to clear his mind. Officer Peter Conrad enters Timothy’s life to offer a helping hand when Timothy gets stuck, and the two can’t help but notice their attraction for each other. Officer Alpha is a gay mpreg short story with two men who instantly fall for each other. They both want to be in love, make babies, and live the best lives they ...

Cuentos telúricos es una antología de cuentos casi fantásticos, o una colección de relatos mágicos por poco. En Cuentos telúricos caben los califas venerables, los hombres reptil, las niñas listas, los personajes atrapados dentro de personajes, las cartas llegadas del futuro, los círculos en los campos de cereal, los volcanes furibundos, las declaraciones de amor cuántico, los gatos, las abducciones, los calamares gigantes, las fábulas sin moraleja, las emanaciones invisibles surgidas del corazón de la tierra, los curas inmateriales, las mujeres del tiempo.

Un gruppo di viaggiatori che, per un complesso di circostanze diverse, hanno perso la parola si ritrovano in un castello. L'unico mezzo che hanno per comunicare è rappresentato da un mazzo di tarocchi. Un romanzo affascinante composto da tante storie intrecciate.

A group of women contemplate violence after they’re sent into foreign territory to make husbands of the enemy. A support network of traumatized joggers meets to discuss the bodies they’ve found on their runs. And a town replaces its Confederate monument with a rotating cast of local residents. Slippery but muscular, sly but electric, this stunning debut collection moves from horror to magical realism to satire with total authority. In these stories, characters build and remake their sense of home, be it with one another or within themselves.

In this masterful debut, an award-winning writer and first-rate storyteller explores the tenuous bonds of family - fathers and sons, husbands and wives - as they are tested by the sometimes brutal power of love. In each of the stories in this remarkable collection, David James Poissant delivers a moving portrayal of a relationship in turmoil. His strikingly true-to-life characters have reached a precipice, chased there by troubles of their own making. Some stand frightened, some ready to fight. Some seek atonement, others the atonement that is owed them.