{"product_id":"the-strange-beautiful-9781634050531","title":"The Strange Beautiful","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom debut fiction writer Carla Crujido comes a delicately intertwined, fairytale-inspired collection of short stories.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart vivid historical drama, part melancholy fever dream, \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Beautiful\u003c\/i\u003e centers on Mount Vernon Apartments in Spokane, Washington, offering a glimpse into the lives of ten tenants over a period of one hundred years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the opening story, \"The Songbird,\" we meet the building's caretaker, a WWI veteran trying to rebuild his life amidst the Spanish flu pandemic. In \"The Telephone,\" a 21st-century poet's longing for a bygone era nurtures a friendship that transcends time. A 1930s department store mannequin navigates the challenges of womanhood in the surreal, darkly humorous tale, \"The Mannequin.\" And in \"The Suitcase,\" an exhausted woman scrambles to tidy up her boyfriend's unprocessed emotions, which have materialized inside boxes all over the apartment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs we witness the quiet but fraught moments of the tenants' everyday lives, these uncanny narratives create a world that is at once familiar and fantastic. A striking portrait of a city not often depicted in literature, \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Beautiful\u003c\/i\u003e leads us through the streets of Spokane and the similarly evolving internal landscapes of these ten characters. Crujido's masterful storytelling shows us how a single place can hold a myriad of histories, how our lives are interconnected with strangers, and how our collective tales are forever repeating.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCarla Crujido is the Nonfiction Editor at \u003ci\u003eRiver Styx Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and has had work published in \u003ci\u003eCrazyhorse\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eYellow Medicine Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRicepaper Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTinfish Press\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Ana\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Chin Music","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50641879171346,"sku":"9781634050531","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_48ed734d-d25b-4b97-874b-6263e7e399a8.jpg?v=1733044049","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-strange-beautiful-9781634050531","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}