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"The sheer narrative daring in the title story, where Cacoyannis strips away the facade of a romance to expose its calculated origins, is superb. The intellectual wit and irony promised in the afterword shine through in the sharp dialogue and situational setup... Cacoyannis's talent is immense" Scott Olsen - San Francisco Book Review
"The focus on art and perception ties together disparate stories, suggesting that the act of creation mirrors the human effort to find meaning and beauty in the nuances and entanglements of life... acts of cruelty or betrayal coexist with moments of profound insight or aesthetic clarity."Kirkus Reviews
"a hauntingly beautiful exploration of the human psyche" Kathryn Dare - Manhattan Book Review
Melancholy, bitingly satirical, occasionally tragic and frequently romantic, IMAGINING MORE and Other Stories brings together a kaleidoscope of flawed, searching characters, among them actors, writers, troubled artists, striving to make sense of themselves, their relationships, and their place in the world.
The fifteen stories' protagonists are confronted with impossible dilemmas, or are forced to ask unanswerable questions: Is love the meaning of life? Is sex the meaning of love? What does it mean to be dead? Is "the truth" more important than happiness? Is there ever a single, "objective" view of reality?
"Cacoyannis' first collection of short stories dissects beauty, truth, and the nature of relationships. Across fifteen stories, questions of identity, deception, and artistic expression intertwine, revealing characters who blur the line between perception and reality." Kirkus Review
"Cacoyannis has an ease with language that conveys character details and harsh truths effectively without over-writing, making it a pleasure to read and move from story to story... There's an earthy, grounded feel to the stories that gives their characters heft; they lust, they hate, they enjoy the sensory experience of living." IndieReader
"The prose throughout is often lyrical and philosophical, reinforcing the thematic preoccupation with capturing fleeting, almost ineffable aspects of existence." Kirkus Reviews
Many of the stories are themed around relationships, often centred around sex. In others a single protagonist grapples with internal demons, imagining (or perhaps actually living) a parallel life in order to make 'real' life less unbearable. In one, the protagonist is caught in a dystopian nightmare that he doesn't understand. This sense of the uncertain and the hidden is pervasive: in almost all the stories nothing is entirely as it seems.
"In the titular story, a man and woman seemingly meet for the first time and agree to lie to each other, although the depth of their deceptions runs much deeper than it first appears... A professor of art history attempts to combine academia and eroticism in Pleasure Pain. In Patient Zero, a painter, suddenly obsessed with what it means to be dead, goes to see a doctor. A screenwriter who has purported himself as a loner now wishes to extricate himself from this fabricated identity by acting in his latest project in The Right Part, although his co-star faces backlash and violent threats... Rooms follows an underperforming writer with 'a thing about Kafka', traveling with his actor boyfriend to Berlin." Kirkus Reviews
Contains Mature Themes and Strong Language
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