Planting Wolves, by Neda Disney, is a collection of linked short stories. “Planting wolves” refers to releasing small groups of wolves to help reignite the local wolf population or reintroduce wolves to a new area. This is directly discussed at one point, recounting how a few pairs of wolves were released in an environment with deer, in the hopes that they’d adapt and develop a new pack, but the wolves failed to thrive and even turned on each other. Did the wolves have trouble adjusting to strange surroundings? Were the deer too clever for prey? What unseen elements made it impossible to thrive? These themes of survival in harsh climates and of the conflict between wildness and civil society are constantly at play in these short stories.

In bookblogger and MFA circles, we often talk about whether characters need to be likeable for the book to readable. Here, the author introduces such a string of unpleasant people, sometimes completely lacking in insight or self-awareness.  In one story, a sex addict blames his ex for leaving and taking all her things, after all, he did all the hard emotional work of telling her that he has a problem and he’s been constantly cheating on her. In another,  a rage-fueled wardrobe manager blames everyone she encounters for her unhappiness. And a husband is shocked to his core to discover his wife has an inner life and personal dreams. None of these characters were anyone I wanted to be friends with (a certain few would be absolute nightmare coworkers!), but I loved seeing inside their minds and lives.

Most of this is realistic fiction, but there are hints of magical realism. These are cleverly done, so that by the time a production assistant faces his stigmata, real life has already been shown to be completely bizarre and surreal anyway.