Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil By Ananda Lima

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil marks Ananda Lima's intoxicating debut into fiction, described as strange, intimate, haunted, and hungry. Lima's narrative prowess shines through a collection that spans surreal pockets of the United States and Brazil, inviting readers into worlds where the boundaries between the real and the fantastical blur.

The protagonist, a writer who encounters the devil at a Halloween party in 1999, finds her life intertwined with his thereafter. Through her stories, she explores themes both impossible and true, capturing the essence of modern Brazilian-American immigrant experiences—ambition, fear, longing, and the quest for belonging. Lima deftly portrays the porous nature of storytelling and the places we call home, delving into surreal scenarios like bite-size Americans in vending machines and the presence of ghosts who are not quite dead.

Praised for her singular voice and wise imagination, Lima's writing evokes comparisons to literary luminaries such as Bulgakov and Lispector, while also resonating with contemporary voices like Ted Chiang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Her stories, ranging from the heart-wrenching to the wickedly funny, propel readers through narratives like "Rapture," "Ghost Story," "Tropiclia," and more, each contributing to a rich tapestry of speculative fiction and magical realism.

Craft promises to captivate readers who enjoyed Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties and V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, offering a blend of literary excellence and imaginative depth that has garnered acclaim from critics and literary outlets alike. Lima's debut stands as a testament to the power of storytelling to explore the complexities of human experience and the supernatural realms that intersect with it. 📚❤️