Attention, fans of George Saunders and Karen Russell: if you haven't yet read the stories of Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners), jump now at the chance to read her collection Get in Trouble. Link graduated from the steampunk, sci-fi and fantasy schools of writing, so in her world, there's no idea or situation too strange to explore.
"The Summer People" is an O. Henry Prize winner that turns "there's no place like home" on its head. Teenage Fran takes care of homes that belong to the summer people. One is inhabited by strange creatures who have created a "pocket universe" within their house--here, a full tent folds up to fit in your wallet and a bed, when slept in, reveals "your heart's desire." Fran, bored with her work, is under a magical contract to stay unless she can find someone to take her place.
Young girls build pyramids on the California coast in the dark "Valley of the Girls," where most people have a "Face," a sort of real-life stand-in who interacts with the world on a person's behalf. A girl with two shadows inhabits "Light." A dilapidated Land of Oz theme park is home to a young female superhero in "Origin Story."
Link tiptoes up behind these characters and gives them a push; get in trouble, she seems to say, show us what you can do. She perfectly captures the same weirdness of the classic Adventures into the Unknown comics, but her controlled, simple prose makes the unreal seem downright dazzlingly real. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher