The Night Bazaar: Venice

Hart invites readers to return to the delightfully inventive setting of the Night Bizarre with this second anthology of fantastical short stories featuring a magical traveling market that visits any given city only once. These 14 linked stories chronicle the Night Bazaar’s appearance in Venice during the plague year of 1348. A pious monk’s foray into the market leads him to encounter an artist who uses the human body as a canvas in “The Exquisite Hide of Brother Eduard” by Edison McDaniels. “Posione D’Amore” by Dana Miller sees a witch-hunter turn against his calling after a witch offers him a chance at finding true love. David Poyer’s “The Thousand Injuries of Fortunato” sets a prequel to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” in the bazaar, revealing the monstrous betrayal that sparks the revenge plot of the original, and Naia Poyer’s “Cinnabar and Stone” is a lively story of a modern day PhD student reckoning with the ghosts of the past. Together the tales form a sumptuous carnival, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the mystical underworld of plague-ridden Europe. These dark flights of fancy delight. (Aug.)