Impossibilia

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Aurora Award Finalist

We all have things we hide away inside—secrets, fears, aspects of ourselves we keep locked away. Or try to.

In that respect, the characters we meet in Impossibilia are like any of us. They have things inside them too. Only their things are a little... different.

A dead wife that won't leave. A wolf. The secret to being the luckiest man alive.

Impossibilia was Doug's first collection of short fiction and includes the following novelettes:

"Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by van Gogh"
"Spirit Dance"
"Going Down to Lucky Town"

In "Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by van Gogh," remote viewing drives a search through the past for lost masterpieces. An ex-CIA agent, haunted by the presence of his dead wife, falls in love with a beautiful remote viewer with her own secret. But can viewing the past change the present?

Cree legends, a love triangle, a covert government agency, and shape shifters collide in the award-winning "Spirit Dance," described in Challenging Destiny as "...a vivid and wonderfully written tale about Native Canadian spirits, in the vein of Thomas King."

In "Going Down to Lucky Town," an itinerant gambler chases a streak of luck across the country, while trying to win back the love of his daughter. The secret he finds forces him into an ultimate gamble for the highest stakes of all: his daughter's life.

And through all the stories, these characters share one more thing beyond what they hold inside. In the decisions they face, in the choices they make, they do what they do out of love. Lost love, found love, the love of a child. But love. So maybe they aren't that different from us after all...

"Highly, highly recommended." —Fantasy Book Critic

"The writing is superb. Douglas Smith is an artisan and his stories beautifully crafted. ... In my search for the perfect short story, the three in this volume certainly qualify." —SF Crowsnest Book Reviews

"Rarely have I seen such an apt title to any book! Douglas Smith has given us three amazing stories that are so unusual and beautiful that no other name than Impossibilia could possibly describe this collection. Each tale was rapture and ecstasy, magical and mysterious, perfect and implausible. In short, I loved them all from the first word to the last. ... I don’t know what else to say without spoiling things for you so I won’t say anything else, except READ THIS BOOK!!!" —Mass Movement Magazine