Magic for Unlucky Girls

by A.A. Balaskovits

Overview

The fourteen fantastical stories in Magic For Unlucky Girls take the familiar tropes of fairytales and twist them into new and surprising shapes. These unlucky girls, struggling against a society that all too often oppresses them, are forced to navigate strange worlds as they try to survive. From carnivorous husbands to a bath of lemons to whirling basements that drive people mad, these stories are about the demons that lurk in the corners and the women who refuse to submit to them, instead fighting back—sometimes with their wit, sometimes with their beauty, and sometimes with shotguns in the dead of night.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939650665
Publisher:	Santa Fe Writer's Project
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Series:	SFWP Literary Awards
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

A. A. Balaskovits won the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards grand prize in 2015. Her work appears in Indiana Review, The Madison Review, The Southeast Review, Booth, Wigleaf, and many others. She is the social media editor for Cartridge Lit. 

Editorial Reviews

12/12/2016
The mundane and bizarre walk hand in hand—or sometimes run around, setting fire to everything in their path—in Balaskovits’s stories about girls and women thrust into strange circumstances. A mysterious unspeaking man with apparent superpowers becomes the hope of a city wracked by earthquakes in “Put Back Together Again.” The alchemist of “Suburban Alchemy” learns that being a master of the changeable art doesn’t mean he can cope with the changes in his tween daughter. A woman takes her ailing grandfather to Israel in search of an old family story that may be about her in “The Ibex Girl of Qumran.” The evils of strict religion and abuse lead a group of desperate girls to try to escape through a sacrifice in “Bloody Mary.” There isn’t a single tired trope here—in fact, there are few familiar elements at all—so readers looking for something askew from any fantasy they’ve read before will want to get to know the unlucky but determined girls of Balaskovits’s stories. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Magic for Unlucky Girls] is that rarest of things: A book that doesn’t remind me of anything else I’ve read . . . A wonderful, truly original work.” —Emily St. John Mandel, author, Station Eleven


"Magic For Unlucky Girls is a bold debut from a bold author, and make no mistake—these are stories that matter, and that will stick with you long after you’ve read them." —William Jablonsky, author, The Indestructible Man: Stories and The Clockwork Man


"You'll find familiar fairytale tropes here, but Balaskovits shatters these familiar mirrors and finds fresh, original stories in the sinister shards." —Tara Laskowski, author, Bystanders and Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons


"Readers looking for something askew from any fantasy they’ve read before will want to get to know the unlucky but determined girls of Balaskovits’s stories." —Publishers Weekly


"The stories in Magic for Unlucky Girls combine the magical with contemporary realism, rendering an aesthetic I’ve not quite seen but couldn’t get enough of. Balaskovits has an in-depth eye for detail, creates her own folklores, and possesses a dry wit that adds a welcome attitude to her fables." —Michael Czyzniejewski, story366blog.wordpress.com


"Balaskovits’s anthology breathes fresh life into classic fairy tales. Readers who enjoy short fiction with a fantastical bent should pick up this award-winning book." —Library Journal


"Balaskovits’ stories are spectacularly entertaining and artfully executed." —Ashley Miller, Atticus Review


"Balaskovits creates her own mythology that transcends time and upends traditional ideas about helpless damsels and men-as-beasts." —Jen Michalski, washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com

From the Publisher

02/15/2017
A new bride is faced with her husband's mysterious locked door. Twin infants finally wake their mother from a century of sleep. One woman finds that her prince adores her perfect hair, but abhors any other flaws. These 14 stories spins new twists on familiar fairy-tale tropes with heroines who take control of their situations. The darkness that could destroy them is vanquished through brains, beauty, and the light of their own souls. VERDICT Winner of the 2015 Santa Fe Literary Awards Program, Balaskovits's anthology breathes fresh life into classic fairy tales. Readers who enjoy short fiction with a fantastical bent should pick up this award-winning book.—KC

Library Journal