magical realism – Mina Ma

A short story I wrote

‘Wild Love’, by Mina Ma My short story ‘Wild Love’ has been published in Makarelle’s winter issue, which is on the theme of Love is love. You can read it here.

Here are just some of my favourites from my 2021 reading: ‘The Blind Woman Without a Toe’, by Intan Paramaditha, from the collection Apple and Knife Paramaditha’s short story collection reimagines fairy and folk tales, with a dark twist. This particular story is a fun retelling of Cinderella, while the others are tales from the author’sContinue reading “My top 10 of 2021”

A short story I recently read

‘Town of Birds’, by Heather Monley Read it here in about 10 minutes. Thinking about why I liked it… I love characters changing into animals, so was interested in this story from the first line, especially as that first line juxtaposes this unusual event with an unusual response: ‘In the town where the children turnedContinue reading “A short story I recently read”

A short story I recently read

‘Some Zombie Contingency Plans’ by Kelly Link Read it here, in about an hour (scroll down past the intro). Thinking about using prior knowledge of an author to interpret their work… This story is fascinating. If you’ve never read Kelly Link before, you may read it and come away thinking it’s a realist story aboutContinue reading “A short story I recently read”

A short story I recently read

‘The Sea Shell’ by Osama Alomar Read it here in about 1 minute (there are two flash stories on the page – scroll down for ‘The Sea Shell’). Thinking about use of narrative point of view… This magical little flash story features an unnamed man walking down a beach in an unnamed land, and finding aContinue reading “A short story I recently read”

Book review

You Let Me In, by Camilla Bruce You can read the opening here (‘look inside’). This is a deeply disturbing novel. The protagonist, novelist Cassandra Tipp, has vanished, leaving behind what is essentially a memoir, a document containing two competing narratives about her life. In one story, Cassie tells of a vampiric 1,000-year old faerieContinue reading “Book review”

A short story I recently re-read

‘The Paper Menagerie’, by Ken Liu Read it here in 15 minutes. Thinking about using foreign language and genre to illustrate a theme… I love how Liu uses words from a foreign language, and the magical realism genre, to show the character’s confusion about his identity. Chinese is character-based, but Liu Romanises the words soContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”