Enchantment New and Selected Stories

by Frank, Thaisa

• ISBN13: 9781582438108
• ISBN10: 1582438102
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-10
• Publisher: Counterpoint

Summary

The short fiction of Thaisa Frank has captivated readers for two decades, and now many of those pieces are collected in one volume, along with several new stories. In the title story, a lonely mother and housewife orders an enchanted man from a website called The Wondrous Traveler, who arrives with instructions for use and a list of frequently asked questions about enchantment. In “Thread,” two circus performers who pass through the eye of a needle become undone by a complicated love triangle. In “Henna,” a young writing teacher must contend with an exotic student who will not write, her hands covered in dye and her fingers “sprouting innumerable gardens.” And in “The Loneliness of the Midwestern Vampire,” the undead descend upon the heartland of the country and become accustomed to its friendlier way of life, attending barn raisings and feasting on cattle in an attempt to normalize their darker passions. These are vibrant, compelling stories that examine the distance between imagination and reality, and how characters bridge that gap in their attempt to reach one another.

Author Biography

Thaisa Frank's short stories have received two PEN awards, and her two previous collections have been on the bestseller list of the San Francisco Chronicle. Her has work been widely translated, and her first novel, Heidegger's Glasses, was published by Counterpoint in 2010.

Table of Contents

Enchantment: New and Selected Stories

Thread
Enchantment
The Loneliness of the Midwestern Vampire
Poland

Love in the Hour of Haniel
The Cat Lover
The Terrain of Madame Blavatsky
The Eye of the Needle
Stoned
Padma Karnak
Milagros
The Dungeon Master’s Mother
The Letter Writer
Stairway to the Stars
Running in Place
Frozen Cats
Traveling Clothes
In the Middle of the Night
Silver
Sweetheart
Rossetti’s Closet
Copernicus Chair
The White Coat
Sleeping in Velvet

The Map Maker

Henna

Stories We Began to Tell
The Mole
The Last Lady who Loved Howard Hughes
Silence
The New Thieves
Using the Car for Business
Work and Time
The Second Husband
Hyperventilation
Buying a Rug in Esquares
Zelda
Postcards
Snow
Soulmates
Ms.Pacman
Aberrations of Light
A Brief History of Camouflage

An Afternoon in Kansas
My Face
Origins
The Kiss
The Enchanted Man
The Store
My Mother’s Voice
Door into Dark
Country Boy