Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds
A Kirkus ★ Starred Review — “A brilliant collection of delightfully surreal tales that linger long after reading.”
“These strange, wonderful tales will enchant readers of all stripes, from the literary-minded to the speculative-loving.”
— Kirkus Reviews, ★ Starred Review
"Moody's gorgeously lyrical stories of loss and transformation tread the border between the dream world and waking–fables infused with ordinary life, the quotidian set aglow with a loving and sinister magic."
— Dan Chaon, national bestselling author of Ill Will and One of Us
About the Book
For fans of George Saunders and Haruki Murakami, Christian Moody delivers his debut speculative short story collection, Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds––tales of the strange beauty and shadowy fears that lurk beneath the surface of our everyday lives.
A hide-and-seek club goes too far when one girl refuses to be found. An orphan discovers trees that record the town’s darkest secrets. A family builds mechanical birds to replace the real ones that have vanished. And a worker at a futuristic egg factory uncovers a secret that could upend everything.
Winner of the 2023 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, this debut collection weaves surreal and haunting tales that explore climate change, technology, surveillance, and the hidden mysteries of being human.
About the Author
Christian Moody’s stories have appeared in Esquire, Alaska Quarterly Review, and in the anthologies Best New American Voices and Best American Fantasy. He received his MFA from Syracuse and PhD from the University of Cincinnati, and spent years as a creative writing professor. He now works as a brand director and lives in Indianapolis with his two kids and his wife, memoirist and illustrator Margaret Kimball.