The Wish Mechanics

Introduction

INTRODUCTIONWho, or what, are Wish Mechanics?

Are Wish Mechanics mechanisms by which we collectively, or individually, bring wishes into being?

Is a Wish Mechanic an expert in his or her field? An artisan, of anything, so adept at his or her craft that to the untrained eye his or her ways appear to be magic?

Is a Wish Mechanic one who seeks to bring a vision into being?

Parents. Publishers. Storytellers. Each with their own brand of mad alchemy they transmute experiences from remote corners of the wide world and or just around the corner into tales, stories, spells, hopes, and wishes meant to live again on the page and in the minds and lives of others.

I hope after reading these stories you will answer the question, and tell me.

There are so many labels, categories, and genres and sub-genres for our stories. I’ve always preferred the term fiction. As a child those were the tales where anything could happen. During most of the fifteen-year period over which most of these stories were written I was either ignorant of or deliberately ignoring genre lines. Muse, imagination, and a desire to share were enough to bring these stories to be.

If you are reading this introduction I figure there is a good chance you might be wondering what to expect from this strange book, of strange tales, from an unknown author, and just what kind of stories you will find here.

I hope you will tell me. It isn’t that I don’t want to say. It isn’t that I don’t care, although I do admit my process is not to know or care when I imagine them. What matters most to me is that you enjoy them as much as I do. Learning about the structures and history of the various genres has been an enjoyable new pursuit for me. I’ve learned enough to know that although there are relations in style, structure, and theme, the stories in this book do not fit neatly into the literary horror or weird fiction label associated with my debut collection The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales. Thus this book operates as both a wonderful pairing and a departure.

Are there science fiction stories here?

Well some of them have rocket ships and things from space and worlds beyond this one.

Are there fantasy stories here?

Well, in some of them there might be dragons of sorts, or people carry swords or go on mad adventures, and there are some very strange trees.

Are there horror stories here?

Well, they are all very dark, they don’t always end well, and there are dead people and things that might be ghosts and demons.

You’ll find something to enjoy here if you are fond of the Twilight Zone and if you delight in things interstitial, tales that defy classification, or stories that mix and operate in between and beyond the boundaries of genre.

The stories original to this collection are “A Man’s Guide to Costumes and the Most Common Ways to Get Arrested,” “Red Lights,” “Resolution Seventeen,” “The Truth About Planet X,” and “This Is the Sound of Your Dreams Dying.

All of the strange tales in this book are dark and dangerous. They don’t necessarily have happy endings. They have a strong sense of setting and place, even if the place is somewhere impossible, far away, or one that exists no longer.

Be ready to move through darkness. There are grand, impersonal, and often uncaring forces at play.

On the journey I hope you will also see the Love. Magic. Mystery. And Wonder that I have seen. And maybe you’ll even notice an overlooked wish or two.

Daniel Braum

New York, February 11, 2017