In a recent Time magazine retrospective on reggae master Bob Marley, the Caribbean's infamous musician was described as "a musical magic realist" by senior editor Christopher Farley. Go to the article

SEEING DOUBLE
from Mark Sanderson's "Literary Life" column at the Telegraph? "Twins, by their very nature, come in pairs. Now, it seems, so do novels about them. ? Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl, published this month by Bloomsbury, is a work of magical realism featuring mystical twins with a Nigerian mother. Diana Evans's 26A, to be published by Chatto & Windus in March, is a work of magical realism featuring mystical twins with a Nigerian mother."

Writers of flash fiction and prose poetry who have written work on the theme of twins, mirrors or doubles/doppelgangers might consider submitting to Periphery's current contest, following the theme of "Reasonable Facsimiles." Hurry, the deadline is Feb 15, 2005!

NEW WORK
Dean Bakopoulos earned four stars from book columnist Marta Salij for the Detroit Free Press for his subtly magical realist novel, Please Don't Come Back From the Moon, recently released by Harcourt.

Other recent releases:
Kafka on the Shore ~ Haruki Murakami
The Shadow of the Wind ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audiobook version, narrative by James Wilby)
Out on a Limb ~ Judith Budnitz
Tokyo Cancelled ~ Rana Dasgupta
The Last Song of Dusk ~ Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
Bab Al-Shams (The Gate of the Sun) ~ a film by Yousry Nasrallah

FILM
In the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, writer Philip Martin raves about Danny Boyle?s "delightful" Millions, a film slated for limited release in the US in March. Says Martin, "The March release date is a shame, for Millions is a funny bit of magical realism that just might be the best Christmas movie I?ve ever seen."

Some Sundance Film Festival selections to look for:
Thumbsucker by Mike Mills and Chumscrubber by Arie Posen

LITTLE GREEN MEN, RUSSIAN-STYLE
Recently reviewed in the St. Petersburg Times: Irina Denezhkina's "Vasya and the Green Men," a short story described as "a darkly humored, grim, and violent exercise in magical realism" from her new collection, Give Me.

ON THE OSCAR TRAIL
Notable screenwriter and playwright Jose Rivera studied with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and was the co-creator of the short-lived, but memorable, '80s television series, Eerie, Indiana. His work on both the screen and stage pushes the limits of reality in ways that are uniquely American. His latest script effort, The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about Che Guevera, was recently nominated for an Oscar. Read more