Scroll down the page in the Guardian article to read about Whitbread finalist Rachel Zadok's Gem Squash Tokoloshe, a magical realist novel set in the northern part of South Africa known as the Transvaal, where the child protagonist, Faith, must live among the iconography of fairies painted and revered by her mother, Bella. "There's nothing fey about these fairies," writes columnist Hephzibah Anderson, "Dead Rex feeds on pain, Tit Tit Tay steals children and Tokoloshe steals the souls of the sleeping."

Dublinks.com gives the new film, "Breakfast on Pluto," which is set in Ireland, kudos for its "fast paced story reversing from comedy to tragedy, magic to harsh reality," the site reports. The film, based on a Pat McCabe novel, opens in January 2006 in Ireland. Look for it in American cinema sometime in the future.

Whoa, talk about the malleability of time. Punk magical realist queen Weetzie Bat has turned 40, according to this article in the Seattle Times. Writes AP journalist John Rogers, "With two girls of her own in college, and her longtime relationship with Max, her 'secret-agent lover man,' seemingly about to crumble, [Weetzie] sets out to find herself among the mystical characters and magical happenings that make up life in [author Francesca Lia] Block's Los Angeles." Now, Block has always contended that the Weetzie Bat books were never originally written as young adult novels, so it's not too hard to see Block's interest in propelling her teen diva into more "adult" territory (though how different could it be from her rather "adult" teenhood?). But wouldn't we lose Weetzie's essence as a 40-year-old? And what about teen readers? Will they be satisfied with such a plunge into the future? This is an odd shift; we'll keep tabs on it and see how it all works out.