Petrushevskaya has also written several novella and novels. Some titles of her collections include the following: There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories and There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales. Her collections of magical realism short stories aim to explain human connection in macabre and burlesque ways.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya is one of Russia’s leading contemporary fiction writers. For example, what is a 200-year-old vampire doing in southern Italy? Or, what happens when a family of minotaurs takes the Oregon Trail? Or, what if all of the American presidents were reincarnated as horses in the same stable? Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolvesand Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I love these collections because several of these magical realism short stories take characters that we know from popular culture or mythology and place them in settings where they don’t belong. Karen Russell is another powerhouse among magical realism authors.

Some of her most notable collections of magical realism short stories are The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, Willful Creatures, and The Color Master, though she also has written several book-length works. Her stories generally take place in America, but not always, and they bend reality in a way that is not quite surreal, but will leave the reader wondering…”Wait, what happened? No, I mean, WHY did that happen?” My favorite of her works is “The Rememberer,” in which the protagonist’s lover begins to experience reverse-evolution. This fantastic queen is also a staple among magical realism authors.

Magic shop short story