The Photographer in Search of Death ─ Stories of the Real and the Magical

In the binary world of Michael Mirolla’s stories, magical realms blend with the natural, our “familiar” world exposed through a hyper-realistic and mysterious lens. Daily life and ordinary occurrences acquire new focus through transcendental optics, revealing the marvelous, fantastic and sublime that resides beneath the surface of normal. In The Photographer In Search of Death, the author does not invent new worlds, rather he brings to our attention the magical in this world. The “real” shifts through realms where interior and exterior fold into one another. Houses have rooms that appear and disappear. Objects in a highly detailed, realistic setting are invaded by something too strange to believe. Streets are filled with individuals who are familiar, but the uncanniness of people and our modern technological environment reveals they are extraordinary. All are places we might want to avoid, but like daily life, they prove unavoidable.

Michael Mirolla is the author of numerous novels, plays, and short story and poetry collections. Among his publications are three Bressani Prize winners: the novel, Berlin (2010); the poetry collection, The House on 14th Avenue (2014); the short story collection, Lessons in Relationship Dyads (2016). “A Theory of Discontinuous Existence,” was selected among the stories chosen for The Journey Prize Anthology. “The Sand Flea” was a Pushcart Prize nominee. Born in Italy and raised in Montreal, Michael now makes his home in the Greater Toronto Area.