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In eleven chapters, Kalpa Imperial's multiple storytellers relate the story of a fabled nameless empire which has risen and fallen innumerable times. Fairy tales, oral histories and political commentaries are all woven tapestry-style into Kalpa Imperial: beggars become emperors, democracies become dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories.

But this is much more than a simple political allegory or fable. It is also a celebration of the power of storytelling. Gorodischer and translator Ursula K. Le Guin are a well-matched, sly and delightful team of magician-storytellers. Rarely have author and translator been such an effortless pairing. Kalpa Imperial is a powerful introduction to the writing of Angélica Gorodischer, a novel which will enthrall readers already familiar with the worlds of Le Guin.

Prodigies explores the story of the poet Novalis's birthplace in the German town of Weissenfels after it is converted into a boarding house. Moving, subtle, and full of wit, irony, and dreams, this novel fills the house with the women who lived there throughout the nineteenth century, and across the flow of history constructs the secret drama of their destinies.

Translated by Sue Burke

This short story was translated from Spanish by Amalia Gladhart. It originally appeared in the book Trafalgar (1979), and was reprinted in Lightspeed, March 2013.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This novelette originally appeared in Spanish in 1973, The first English language publication can be found in Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain (2003), edited by Andrea L. Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilán. It is included in the anthology Year's Best SF 9 (2004), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Don't rush Trafalgar Medrano when he starts telling you about his latest intergalactic sales trip. He likes to stretch things out over precisely seven coffees. No one knows whether he actually travels to the stars, but he tells the best tall tales in the city, so why doubt him?

Translated by Amalia Gladhart

This short story originally appeared in Spanish incorporated in the novel Trafalgar (1979). The novel is presented as a series of stories told by on of the characters. It was translated by Amalia Gladhart and published in English in 2013. This story can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014, edited by Rich Horton.