Bare Ana and Other Stories

Robert Shapard’s exquisitely crafted short stories take readers to enchantingly peculiar realms: A young girl poignantly rejects immortality in favor of love. A startling revelation confronts a son who discovers his father’s head is only burlap with piercing Marks-A-Lot eyes. A couple in their early 30s engage in sex role-play involving the destruction of Mars. A young woman valet parker at an all-night diner in Los Angeles is ensnared by the world’s most famous monster. A boy’s life is irrevocably altered by witnessing a Mexican family’s farm-truck accident. An old, hungover science professor imparts the Earth’s greatest secret to his students. The stories are not merely an escape into the surreal but also delve into the human experience. Interwoven throughout is the delicate balance between mortality and love, the intersection of reality and fantasy, the transformative power of unexpected events, and the perennial quest for meaning. The compelling and thought-provoking collection beckons readers to explore the depths of their own existence and embrace the extraordinary within the ordinary.

Robert Shapard co-created and edited many of the well-known W.W. Norton flash and sudden fiction anthologies. His own stories, mostly very short and a few longer, have won awards and appeared in many literary magazines. Bare Ana and Other Stories is his first collection.