{"id":91,"date":"2025-07-31T14:51:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/?page_id=91"},"modified":"2026-07-27T10:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:54:07","slug":"prickly-pears","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/?page_id=91","title":{"rendered":"Prickly Pears: A Collection of Short Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8d39b2df wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ab7cbb25 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a8b4b6c12d74&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a8b4b6c12d74\" class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"644\" height=\"1024\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-644x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-298\" style=\"width:438px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-644x1024.png 644w, https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-189x300.png 189w, https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-768x1222.png 768w, https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-965x1536.png 965w, https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-1287x2048.png 1287w, https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/redim-2-scaled.png 1609w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Prickly Pears is a short stories collection featuring some of Isabelle B.L\u2019s best work, mostly published in literary magazines. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-lora-font-family has-x-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Excerpt of &#8220;Cords&#8221;, by Isabelle B.L<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Hands of a woman I can&#8217;t see thread black cords, in and out, pulls and ties. My feet enter a circle of jade and white lace. I&#8217;m a church bell. Ding-dong. He wants to see me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>My right arm slides down the mahogany rail. With each step, he adds an adjective. Breath-taking. Beautiful. Bewitching but I can only feel breathless.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-layout-flex wp-container-core-list-is-layout-8cdb3485 wp-block-list-is-layout-flex\" style=\"\">\n<li class=\"has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size\">First published in <em>Flashback Fiction<\/em> in November 2021 <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size\">Nominated for Best Small Fictions 2021 and Best Microfiction 2021<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size\">Published in the anthology <em>Best Microfiction<\/em> 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-base-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Featuring a painterly palette, a miniaturist&#8217;s eye for detail, and a watchmaker&#8217;s precision, Isabelle B.L&#8217;s short fiction sparkle and shine with a radiance all their own. In her sharply concretized fictional worlds, Isabelle B.L&#8217;s characters navigate through landscapes and brush across objects imbued with a vitality and presence that brings to mind a Vermeer painting or one of Giovanni Verga&#8217;s folksy short stories. At the same time, a dreamlike and often dissonant tone elevates her tales from the mere sum of their polished but mundane parts, an effect that resonates long after reading them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-lora-font-family has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Salvatore Difalco, author of Black Rabbit &amp; Other Stories (Anvil); The Mountie At Niagara Falls &amp; Other Brief Stories (Anvil); Mean Season (Mansfield), and Minotaur (Truth Serum Press)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-a49f0ca2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline is-style-outline--1\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-neutral-950-color has-neutral-0-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-border-color has-neutral-950-border-color has-lora-font-family has-text-align-center has-large-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Prickly-Pears-Collection-Short-Fiction\/dp\/B0C8841Q2C\/ref=sr_1_9?refinements=p_27%3AIsabelle+B.L&amp;s=books&amp;text=Isabelle+B.L\"><em>Prickly Pears: A Collection of Short Fiction<\/em> Amazon<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prickly Pears is a short stories collection featuring some of Isabelle B.L\u2019s best work, mostly published in literary magazines. &nbsp;&nbsp; Excerpt of &#8220;Cords&#8221;, by Isabelle B.L Hands of a woman I can&#8217;t see thread black cords, in and out, pulls and ties. My feet enter a circle of jade and white lace. I&#8217;m a church [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-91","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabelleblauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}