Magical Realism Fiction Short Stories

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.

Spanning decades and landscapes, from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul, Kenan Orhan’s ​playful stories ​conjure dreamlike worlds—of talking animals, flying houses, and omniscient prayer-callers—to ​examine humanity’s unfaltering pursuit of hope in even the darkest circumstances.

Lady Miss Jacqueline swears that hair makes a difference. And it does! Now Janet is taking charge on the job and making moves on a local barista she’s always shied away from. But when her brash new Lady Miss drawl gets all the wrong attention, Janet realizes that she needs to change her style - and her wig. It’s all a matter of finding the perfect fit.

I am a shadow. I live in the dark recesses of the darkest places in the tunnels of Grand Central Station, but I do not stay put there; I am free to pass into the light. I wander among the vast marble passages. Sometimes, I make myself as noticeable as possible. I have prevented muggings by casting an ominous shadow in front of the intended victims to warn them. I like to think of myself as an angel; a shadow angel.

Set against the tropics and megacities of the Americas, Maria, Maria takes inspiration from wild creatures, tarot, and the porous borders between life and death. Motivated by love and its inverse, grief, the characters who inhabit these stories negotiate boldly with nature to cast their desired ends. Brimming with sharp wit and ferocious female intuition, these stories bubble over into the titular novella, "Maria, Maria"—a family drama set in a reimagined California rainforest that explores the legacies of three Marias, and possibly all Marias.

This magical realist short tale was inspired by the Latin American myth of El Sombrerón, the nighttime guardian of peace and justice. El Sombrerón arrives in a sleepy town to find that a young girl has stolen a golden necklace. El Sombrerón must convince the girl to return the necklace so she can avoid El Sombrerón’s justice…and before the sun rises.

Big Rosa rescues unhappy women of the Wild West to work in a helium mine, and Georgie Appleseed rescues his failing diner with the help of neon. A silicon son tries to make his gold dad proud, while a scientist tries to make a new St. Francis from calcium bone fragments. Obadiah Toad gives away all his peace with a nickel, but Mama finally gives away her heart on account of arsenic. These 20 stories explore the elemental forces that underpin all of life.

Tu sei l’unico responsabile della tua "bella" o “brutta” vita. Cambiare la tua esistenza è possibile ed è possibile farlo in qualsiasi momento, a 15 anni come a 70. Ma non puoi cambiare la tua realtà, se prima non comprendi come è stata generata. Con questo breve racconto l’autore ci catapulta in un mondo fantastico fatto di libri che si cancellano, disegnatori di pensieri ed enormi bolle di sapone. Un sogno che di onirico, in fondo, ha ben poco. Attraverso gli occhi della protagonista ci introduce ai temi del cambiamento, della riprogrammazione, dell’immaginazione.