Showing results for "Animal" in Magical Realism

For readers of Shark Heart and Hollow Kingdom, a funny, magical, and tender novel following a lonely, conflict-averse man whose sudden ability to understand animals sends him on a wild romp around NYC, and ultimately helps him discover his own voice. Strolling through Central Park on a blind...

Three women. Three losses. One sanctuary that changes everything. When Tiffany, Charlotte, and Heather buy an old farmhouse nestled in the quiet hills of New England, they hope to rescue animals-and perhaps themselves. Each carries a private grief: a sudden loss, a life unraveled, a heart still searching for meaning. Together they begin to rebuild, creating a haven for creatures in need and discovering comfort in simple rhythms-the bleat of a goat at dawn, the rustle of wings, the hush of twilight settling over the fields. But the land has a memory.

PRAY ANIMAL is a modern re-working of Noah's Ark set on a cruise ship and narrated by a flea with a singular destiny. Biting, visceral and often funny, Timna Fibert's debut is timely in a completely original way. 'I was different. I was being called. I'm an exceptional flea, I remembered, which...

A bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto veterinary clinic. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old ‘dog’ ways, and those who embrace the change. The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their transformed world, as they become divided, as each struggles with their new existence.

Maurey's got bigger problems than a judgy judge to deal with: He has a murderer to bring to justice. And he's working on a short clock. Animal Tails for Grownups is a short collection of four vignettes that takes the listener inside the worlds of mice, dogs, cats, and horses. From your perspective, perhaps trapping and killing mice just makes you a responsible homeowner. As Maurey sees it? You're a genocideer! Dogs, cats, and horses? They have a bone or two to pick with humans as well.

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 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.

Worthington the Tiger is a novella about the slow madness which consumes a tiger living at the Ovidius Zoo. Worthington’s life in captivity spawns a distorted ideal of freedom in him that becomes torturous to endure. Even while dealing with animals who speak using mental telepathy, W. believes he is following the will of his God in his journey toward independence. W learns that freedom is not free and that without peace on the inside, there will be none on the outside.