I'm glad I picked up The Miniature Wife by Manuel Gonzales on a whim at the library. It's a 2013 short story collection by an author I hadn't heard of, but unsettling speculative stories are my jam lately and this seemed it would fit the bill. Gonzales' premises are so creative; one of my favorites was the title story, a chilling tale about a man who accidentally miniaturized his wife and the war they wage upon each other. I also loved The Sound of Early Morning, which imagines a world where sound has become physically painful to hear, and One-Horned & Wild-Eyed, a story about two friends who become obsessed by a unicorn. ⁣
⁣
My enjoyment of the book was a little uneven, I especially didn't know what to do with the "Meritorious Life" series of strange obituaries that were interspersed throughout, but I was always excited to read the next story and see where Gonzales' imagination would take me next. ⁣