The Devil and the Dairy Princess
Stories

Pedro E. Ponce Jr. (Author)

9780253058607

Paperback / softback, published 5 October 2021

140 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.4 cm, 0.249 kg

"I found The Devil and the Dairy Princess to be strikingly original. Each piece is distinctive, innovative, and full of fresh surprises. Yet the collection as a whole is cohesive in tone and voice, evocative, playful, haunting spaces both dreamy and nightmarish."—Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown, Blue Light Books Prize Judge, author of Interior Chinatown
"Ponce's stories are filled with vivid topographies, moving reveries, and quiet wonders. A little bit Calvino, and a little bit Borges, this collection is like a strange and haunting museum: the perfect place to get lost in for a while."—Lincoln Michel, author of The Body Scout

What happens when the stories we've been told fail us? In ten provocative and unsettling tales, Pedro Ponce grapples with the human instinct to create a narrative out of disparate experiences.
The Devil and the Dairy Princess interrogates the power of stories to impact us for good or ill. We are all taught that love is destined to happen with our soul mate and that hard work eventually leads to success. But when faced with circumstances that no longer fit the chosen narrative, some protagonists cling to their outmoded stories with greater fervor, while others realize the old stories no longer suffice, so they choose to inhabit a new reality in stories yet to be told.
Perfect for any reader who enjoys literary realism or speculative fiction, The Devil and the Dairy Princess reveals the episodic history of humanity's romance with narrative, from first love to breakup to hopeful reconciliation.

Acknowledgements
1. The Piazza de Chirico
2. The Discovery of Dr. James Osborne Beckett
3. The Presentation
4. The Well at Founders Grove
5. The Abbreviated Life of Whitney Bascombe
6. Divination by Water
7. Nuptial Superstitions of the West
8. The Possession of Charles Ignatius De Leon
9. The Devil and the Dairy Princess
10. In the Empire of Cetaceans
Credits