The Museum of Future Mistakes

Gruesome scenarios take a tenderturn; beautiful moments become sources of derision. Winner of the BOA ShortFiction Prize, The Museum of Future Mistakes is packed with inventivenarrative choices and sharp lyricism, upending expectations on every page.

In "Brother and Not-Brother," theresidents of an entire city transform into perfect copies of the narrator'sdeceased brother; these uncanny doppelgngers spark meditations on childhoodscars, grief taking root within the body, and how painful memories can bloominto joy, laughter, and love. In "The Last Dinosaurs of Portland," twoanthropomorphic dinosaurs yearn for companionship and empathy while fightingfor a meager existence under the weight of past traumas. In "Three-MonthAutopsy," a character visits ex-lovers and returns Ziploc baggies full of theirbody parts, exploring infatuation, jealousy, regret, and the contours of bothgiving and receiving within a relationship.

Through these and other fabulistand magical realist stories, James R. Gapinski considers our physicalrelationship with our own bodies, how we process love and loss, and thefragility of identity amid moments of personal crisis. With elements of thegrotesque and the surreal, fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link willfind much to admire in this award-winning collection.