Mars: Stories
By Asja Baki??, Translated by Jennifer Zoble
(The Feminist Press at CUNY)
Bosnian author Asja Baki?’s celebrated 2015 book, Mars, has now been translated by Jennifer Zoble for English-speaking readers to enjoy. It contains a skillfully disorienting collection of short stories that traverse the orbits of fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. These ghostly fables also dissect such matters as robot love, clone love, high school love, and cults. Sometimes the writing feels uneven—readers will frequently have no idea what’s happening until the end of a story, when everything comes together. The act of writing, however, is a constant theme, especially in the timely “The Underworld,” in which all writers are banished to Mars. Divinely unpredictable, Mars will leave readers who try to foresee where each story is going surprised every time. (4/5)
By Whitney Dwire
Mars: Stories was published March 19, 2019. This article originally appeared in the July/August 2019 print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today!
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