Portable Black Magic: Tales of the Afro Strange (HC) (2019)

Stephen King once said that books are portable magic. Ran Walker decided to take this phrase a bit more literally in his third short story collection, bringing to life vibrant new landscapes of both the strange and the familiar.

A writer finds himself in a love triangle where one of the women is a ghost. A woman discovers that her cure for alopecia has unintended consequences. An artist paints a woman he has been dreaming about, only to discover his dreams might be closer to reality than he thought. A graduating senior learns the true value of sacrifice. A guy professes his love for his girlfriend through an overwhelming metaphor. A social media-focused couple welcomes the world into their adoption struggles. And a relationship is threatened when a childhood secret is revealed.

In these seven stories, Walker paints a world where nothing is quite as it seems.