Edited by G. Harron Davis, Cam Montgomery, and Adrianne White, All Signs Point to Yes is a collection of short stories targeting those who are addicted to reading their daily horoscopes. That many of the collected stories end with a kiss and several include references to the occult or witches shouldn’t alarm readers. After all, there is something magical about love.
The thirteen authors who contributed stories prove that love is as universal as sexuality and ethnicity are diverse. Their works further share powerful morals, such as: regrets don’t serve anyone or that flirting isn’t a valid form of identification.
These authors also invite critical thinking on topics like organized children’s activities. In “Alternative Combustion,” Kiana Nguyen asks readers to consider the impact and influences that might result from regulated childhood activity—whether little league sports or Girl Scouts. While such pursuits may predispose children to become goal and achievement oriented or inculcate humanitarian training and outreach behaviors, they may have unintended consequences.
In “The Cure for Heartbreak,” Emery Lee inspires us to wonder about magic and its meaning. Is magic about spells and conjuring or less about witches and more about spirituality and beliefs? Under the influence of Lee’s pen, readers begin to recognize that while a potion can’t fix a broken heart, perhaps hope and communication can produce magical results. Love may seem like a bad idea—“pouring your heart into someone just so they [can] choose when to toss you away, exerting all that energy just to ultimately hurt each other” (295)—yet the truest magic is “about reading energy, molding and reshaping it to create a preferred outcome” (296).
Over all, this is a book about diverse cultures and ways of being in the world. It shares how love connects us all despite our differences and despite love’s disconnection with logic.
- Posted by Donna