-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Stories
by Pascha Sotolongo
A captivating debut collection exploring longing, loneliness, and connection, in stories that feature Cuban American characters and uncanny, speculative twists.
In the tradition of narrativa de lo inusual (narrative of the unusual), The Only Sound Is the Wind combines the fantastic with the everyday, weaving elements of magical realism and surrealist twists to sharpen our view of human (and animal) connection. In the title story, the arrival of a mail-order clone complicates a burgeoning romance; a lonely librarian longing for her homeland strikes up an unusual relationship in the award-winning "The Moth"; when humans start giving birth to puppies and kittens in "This New Turn," a realignment of the natural order ensues. With a playful tenderness and satirical bent, The Only Sound Is the Wind explores solitude and communion, opening strange new worlds where characters try to make their way toward love.
"These stories―these bewitching portraits of a melancholy dystopia―are spellbinding... . With this rich collection, Sotolongo joins the ranks of Margaret Atwood and Cristina Rivera Garza, and other masters of illusion." ―Timothy Schaffert, author of The Perfume Thief and The Titanic Survivors Book Club
"In this gorgeous debut, Pascha Sotolongo lyrically blends the fantastical with stories of family, love, and longing. Within these pages are vampires, ghosts, invisible daughters, and near apocalypses, and just as readily, the stories of our secrets, our joys, our fears, and our dreams. A beautiful and spellbinding collection." ―Alexander Weinstein, author of Universal Love and Children of the New World
"Captivating... . Pascha Sotolongo has written a book that's simply exceptional, filled with startling, surreal, and utterly spectacular stories that demand to be savored." ―Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author of Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare
This information about The Only Sound Is the Wind was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Pascha Sotolongo's short fiction has been published in outlets including Narrative, American Short Fiction, Ninth Letter, and Pleiades. She teaches English and creative writing on the Great Plains.
If you liked The Only Sound Is the Wind, try these:
by Guadalupe Nettel
Published 2025
From the International Booker Shortlisted author of Still Born, a powerful collection of stories about characters coping with estrangement, isolation, and the unknown.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
by Kim Fu
Published 2022
A dazzling and daring debut story collection by PEN/Hemingway finalist, Kim Fu.
Spider Love Song and Other Stories
by Nancy Au
Published 2019
Nancy Au's debut collection is rich with scents, sounds, imaginative leaps, and unexpected angles of vision.
There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
