Magical Realism Short Stories

The collected fantasy stories of World Fantasy Award winner S.P. Somtow — a half century of his acclaimed work brought together in a single volume. From rural America to exotic Bangkok, from ancient history to contemporary times — and sometimes both within the same story — Somtow's world betray a limitless imagination and the finely honed writing that has brought him numerous awards during his half-century writing career. Beginning with his first fantasy story from the 1970s, Fire from the Wine-dark Sea to his most recent tales, this collection is a a treasure chest.

The Staggered Births of the Triplet Witches Reuniting after years apart, three sisters find their latent powers springing to life, evolving into potent shields against looming darkness. Despite sharing a birthright, they've grown up unaware of their shared lineage, thanks to being brought up by a secretive grandmother and an enigmatic great aunt. As the shadows of an unsolved serial murder case resurface, troubling signs emerge— their young cousin bears unexplained bruises, and the townsfolk are growing increasingly sinister. Can the sisters, bound by blood but unaware of their profound ...

In the world of speculative fiction… Your favorite authors… Have selected best new voices of the year.

From the National Book Award “5 Under 35” honoree and author of Bestiary comes startling stories that center the bodies, memories, myths, and relationships of Asian American women. In “Auntland,” a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughters “Dog.” In “The Chorus of Dead Cousins,” ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm chaser.

At the border with another world, a line of people wait for the gates to open; on the floor of a lonely room, a Born Winner runs through his life’s achievements and losses; in a suburban garden, a man witnesses a murder that pushes him out into the community. Struggling to realise the human ideals of love and freedom, the characters of Dark Neighbourhood roam instead the depths of alienation, loss and shame.

Aimee Bender’s Willful Creatures conjures a fantastical world in which authentic love blooms. This is a place where a boy with keys for fingers is a hero, a woman’s children are potatoes, and a little boy with an iron for a head is born to a family of pumpkin heads. With her singular mix of surrealism, musical prose, and keenly felt emotion, Bender once again proves herself to be a masterful chronicler of the human condition.

In stories that evoke the haunting beauty of New England beaches and resonate with a bittersweet loneliness, Romero blurs the lines between life and death, reality and fantasy. A deceased woman counsels her son’s fiancée on how to be a good wife to him, with disastrous consequences. A mysterious cat appears in a young woman’s home, as inexplicable as the demise of her years-long relationship with her boyfriend. At turns humorous, sorrowful, and whimsical, this collection spans the familiar setting of a college town supermarket to eerie dystopias that are not just post-pandemic, but post-art.

Immerse yourself in a world of love, vengeance, compassion, and irony with the evocative stories of Eva Luna. Author Isabel Allende introduced this well-loved character to audiences in her earlier novel, Eva Luna. Listen to Allende talk about the role of writing in her life in Giving Birth, Finding Form. This program also features Alice Walker and Jean Shinoda Bolen.

Is what you see all there is? Look again. Playful, frightening, even shocking - the stories in this collection blur the lines between illusion and reality. This is a writer at the height of his power, making the listener think, making them laugh, and sometimes making them want to look away while holding their gaze. Stories here are set in London, in Byzantium, in the ghetto, in the Andes, in a printer's shop in Spain. The characters include a murderer, a writer, a detective, a man in a cave, a man in a mirror, two little boys, a prison door, and the author himself.

Together in one package for the first time, the dazzling prequels to the Three Dark Crowns series are finally available for fans in audio format. Uncover the sisters’ origins, dive deep into the catastrophic reign of the Oracle Queen, and reveal layers of Fennbirn’s past, hidden until now.

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.

In this poignant tale of transitions, Chris moves to New York and his path soon intertwines with that of Jane’s, a young woman looking for a missing cat. The Reasons We Had to Meet is a magical story that weaves itself around themes of mortality, affliction, and the profound impact of lending a helping hand.

The tales in Mark Haddon's lyrical and uncompromising new collection take many forms - Victorian adventure story, science fiction, morality tale, contemporary realism - but they all showcase his virtuoso gifts as a stylist and the deep well of empathy that made his three best-selling novels so compelling. The characters here are often isolated physically or estranged from their families, yet they yearn for connection.

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close to her. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books have delighted readers and listeners across the globe for more than 100 years. The Wonderland Collection presents three of Carroll's most famous works.

**Follow-up to Black Willow** After Jack Green is sucked through a portal known as "The Split," he is dumped into a wasteland from Hell. Lightning fingers smolder the black expanse and winged creatures patrol the skies, and Jack Green, shocked and despairing, is left with no escape. It is time to face the demons..

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.

The Unlikely Match This is a cozy fantasy novella from the land of Frostoria. When Crystal, a delicate snowflake, is swept away by the Ice Queen’s magic to the human realm, she finds herself in the unlikeliest of places: the arms of Alex, a handsome and charming human. As their whirlwind romance blossoms, Crystal must choose between her icy homeland of Frostoria and the warmth of Alex's love.

"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.

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.

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.