I absolutely loved reading this collection of interrelated narrative short stories. The novel/stories are dark, eccentric, wildly inventive, and beautifully written. At times, you forget that you’re reading a work of fiction— which is a testament to the writing, given the content and structure of the novel.

I read this while recovering from a flu of some sort. As a result, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of truly comprehending all of the interrelated complexities weaved throughout the stories. Buuut on the plus side, it really enhanced the atmospheric fever-dream esque vibe of the book, even though it touched on some very concrete and tangible subjects.

I can say with certainty that this book will not be for everyone, but I do think that everyone can take something from it. I recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to Tor for the complimentary advance e-copy.

Once you realize this is a “slice of life.” Type book with short stories woven in between it’s quite enjoyable. Oh how I wish we’d seen more of the Devil though.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this collection of short stories dealing with a variety of issues, alienation, lost love, and lost cultures, with a surprising source of inspiration.

The author Harlan Ellison was once asked where he got his ideas from. Ellison, being Ellison answered Schenectady. There is an ideas factory there, you send them a check, they send an idea. For years Ellison was constantly asked for the address of this company, some growing mad when he wouldn't share. People are always wondering what makes an author write the way they do, where do they find their ideas, what hole in one's life allowed thoughts like this to appear on the page. After reading Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima aspiring writers might be going to church more, or engaging in risking behavior in hope of making the Prince of Lies their muse. Or maybe mentor, as I hear his writing workshops get kind of heated.

The book is collection of short stories with an overarching theme about a young writer, feeling lost one night on Halloween. Those the writer loved were in love with each other, making the writer feel ostracized. Dressed as Nancy Reagan, the writer meets the Devil, who is not costumed well but has a sense of style, and a look like an old time movie actor. As the night progresses, songs are played that are from the future, questions the writer thinks of are answered vocally by the Devil, the loving couple is broken up and brought back together. The writer and Devil have a rendezvous, and the writer begins to write stories for the Devil. Stories that deal with the sense of being a stranger in a strange land that is not very kind to strangers, odd stories, stories that don't seem like stories, or maybe are something more. These are not horror stories, nor fantasy stories, but something different, something of this weird time the world has found itself in.

A collection of short stories not easily forgotten, or easy to explain. This is a work that seems from the future, and yet the themes are so of now that it could only be written today. Some are experimental, some are painful, and some are not for me, which is fine. A world where everything is for me is a boring world, and this collection is anything but boring. The writing seems different in each story, as if Lima was trying new ways of writing for herself, and had not idea where the story would go. I liked the daring of that, something one doesn't see much of anymore. This collection might be a little much for some readers, but anyone who loves to think, loves to be challenged, and loves to find new ideas will enjoy the heck out of this.

Engaging, entertaining, and utterly original. A recommended purchase for collections where short stories circulate.

<i>Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil</i> is a collection of fiction that transcends the boundaries of common conventions to explore the craft, meaning, and importance of storytelling in human life. The collection of stories, loosely connected by a frame narrative about a writer meeting the Devil one night in a bar, is at times funny, at times heartbreaking, at times frustrating, and at all times evolutionary to how we conceive of the place and purpose of short fiction.

The thing I love most about this collection is its metaliterary intentions. The book isn't any collection of modern fiction, it's oftentimes about the very creation of short fiction. Its metaliterary awareness allows it to speak on various symbolic levels at once--as stories about individual women living complicated lives, as stories about the impact of memory or experience on the shape of our lives, or even as stories about the very act of meaning-making through story. Lima doesn't ever seem to work in just one symbolic code, instead constantly code-switching through symbolic resonances to flesh out not just definite (and indefinite) feelings about the world around us but also art's place in human life as reaction to and metabolization of (sometimes) difficult feelings and situations brought about by our interaction with the rest of society.

Lima's art becomes human politics, not just about elections and economic pressures, but about the relationships shared between people and relationships developed inwardly toward the self. These stories and their interstices become about our very ability to navigate life as human beings.

I can't think of a book that made me stop and question my own relationship to art more than this collection--and as a reader, reviewer, and podcaster, I interrogate art and my relationship to it <i>constantly.</i> But that's the magic of what Lima is doing with this collection: questioning what we need from art and its power or its powerlessness to provide for those needs.

To sum it up as a blurb: <i>Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil</i> is philosophy masquerading as short story, unashamed of exposing its beating heart and thinking mind to the world. It is a colossal undertaking, with ideas to digest for years after reading. I can't recommend it more highly.

I loved the concept of this, but it just didn't come together for me. I feel like this was a me problem. I just didn't ~get it~ despite how desperately I wanted to.

There were some moments I really loved though so I will definitely check out more from this author again.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC for review. All opinions remain my own.

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil is a delicious hybrid: short story collection, memoir of an immigrant writer in the US during tumultuous times, and black comedy. As might be expected, the horrors are mostly the most everyday kind, and the unifying conceit of the writer’s dalliance with the Devil is less a source of mystery or fear than a kind of reassuring motif, an order-giving element to bind the book’s more chaotic elements.

Lima manages a kind of bait and switch, introducing the frame elements between the collected stories, stories of “The Writer,” the devil, etc. and then allowing this frame narrative to grow, echo through the stories themselves, and spread, eventually almost taking over the book. It’s a neat trick.

As for the stories themselves, they are varied and delightfully strange. Some are almost realistic slice of life, with writer-protagonists that are almost indistinguishable from the writer of the frame narratives (“Rapture,” “Ghosts”). Others are more surreal, such as the story about the immigrant hospital worker who become addicted to eating Americans out of the hallway vending machine, consuming a whole range of types until they make her sick (“Antropofaga”).

“Idle Hands” offers a delicious lampoon of every writing workshop, the story presented as workshop feedback so that the reader infers the main narrative and characters through the classmates’ comments about them. It’s wickedly funny, though I do wonder how the humor lands for those who have not spent a significant amount of time engaged in that particular horror.

My favorite, “Hasselblad: Triptych,” is almost a game. Employing the same elements in each piece (our protagonist, Michelle, “the girl,” Michelle’s twin boys, a backpack, and an old Hasselblad camera), each of the three sections shakes up the ingredients and reimagines them, creating a space where identity is fluid, where narrative is exposed as the random whim of a creative agent, and where, finally, the many versions of Michelle’s story play off one another in poignant ways.

Don’t come to this book expecting any kind of traditional horror, however. Beyond the playful figure of the Devil, there’s very little of that here. But, as which so much of the great work being done today, there’s a fair amount of room carved out to investigate the real world horrors of being an immigrant in a country sliding swiftly into fascism and all its attendant horrors.

Ananda Lima is certainly a writer to watch.

I stopped at 10% in. The target for this will be super niche, but likely an easy 4-5 stars for them. It’s really unique, from the style to the prose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

It all starts with a writer meeting the Devil at a Halloween party. A deliciously dark collection of stories within stories, I think that this collection will stay with me for a while. I may not have completely understood or connected with every story, this was a perfectly unique storytelling experience. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Ananda Lima's writing is masterful, clever, funny, moving, full of insight. I was already a fan of her poetry and this book did not disappoint. A woman meets the devil at a halloween party is just such an amazing book premise and I was impressed by how she executed it. Can't wait to give this book to everyone I know.

Dark and sharp stories with lovely teeth. This is a collection threaded together with darkly lustrous threads. There's a surreal, nightmarish/dreamlike tilt to the world in Lima's stories that is deeply appealing.

Wonderfully bizarre from beginning to end. Very interesting use of meta-commentary and an inception-type story structure. Haunting and illuminating in equal measure that will be unforgettable.

The story about a writer who sleeps with the devil and writes stories for him throughout her life after seeing him again and again. The writer met the devil at a Halloween party in 1999... and she slept with him. It was only once but after that she sees him over and over again throughout her life. She's a writer and she spends the rest of her life writing stories for him. She writes little standalone stories that are all interconnected in the novel and the story itself is a blend of things. It's definitely a unique structure and it feels surreal. The story discusses the immigration experience and weaves surrealism and fantasy into modern life. It's an interesting story and has a unique feel to it.

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was an interesting collection of inter-connected stories. I'm not sure I completely vibed with the stories but I think that this would be a good pick for a book club.

Thank you NetGalley for a free e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil" by Ananda Lima is a mesmerizing and surreal fiction debut that blends elements of the fantastical with the poignant realities of the Brazilian-American immigrant experience. This collection of stories, described as strange, intimate, haunted, and hungry, takes readers on a journey through surreal landscapes in the United States and Brazil, offering a unique and imaginative exploration of ambition, fear, longing, and belonging.

Lima's storytelling is both captivating and thought-provoking. The narrative begins with a writer who sleeps with the devil at a Halloween party in 1999 and continues to encounter him throughout her life, writing stories that straddle the line between the impossible and the true. Each story in the collection is a standalone piece, yet they collectively weave a tapestry that speaks to the broader themes of identity, storytelling, and the concept of home.

The stories are filled with rich, surreal imagery, such as bite-size Americans in vending machines and ghosts of the living. Lima's writing style is evocative and lyrical, drawing the reader into each unique world she creates. The exploration of modern Brazilian-American immigrant experiences is handled with sensitivity and depth, adding layers of meaning to the fantastical elements.

However, readers who prefer more traditional narrative structures may find the collection's surreal and fragmented style challenging. The blending of fantasy with real-life experiences requires a willingness to embrace the unconventional and the abstract.

Content warnings for themes of surrealism, immigrant experiences, and encounters with the devil are appropriate. "Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil" will appeal most to readers who enjoy experimental and imaginative fiction, especially fans of authors like Carmen Maria Machado and V. E. Schwab.

In conclusion, "Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil" by Ananda Lima is a stunning literary debut that offers a fresh and innovative voice in the realm of speculative fiction. Its blend of surrealism, deep emotional resonance, and exploration of identity make it a compelling read for those seeking fiction that pushes boundaries and challenges conventions.