Shapeshifter, by Joshua Vigil

Prose, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features. A man has his soul removed in a quick and painless procedure. Another finds solace among a group of exes, all of whom are slowly turning into coyotes—or are they? A young woman has news for her sister: she’s careening off to London to marry an alcoholic elf! Another transforms into a rat at night. In these stories, characters fail at intimacy, often with consequences that materialize across their bodies. Everyone is a shapeshifter, whether they want to be or not. With an eye for the absurd in the spirit of Kafka and Barthelme, Shapeshifter explores the daily struggle of being a human seeking connection. Joshua Vigil is a writer and educator. From El Salvador by way of Florida, he now lives in the Pioneer Valley, where he’s an MFA candidate at UMass Amherst. His writing has appeared in Hobart, Joyland, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.