The Prismatic Menagerie by Bernardo Villela

The Prismatic Menagerie is a dazzling collection of speculative fiction that invites readers into a world where imagination refracts into countless colors. Drawing together an array of distinctive perspectives, the collection explores the many shades of fantasy, science fiction, surrealism, and the uncanny. Each poem presents a new facet of possibility: strange creatures and shifting realities, quiet moments of magic, unsettling encounters with the unknown, and luminous glimpses of hope amid darkness.

The collection’s title reflects its central vision—a literary menagerie where every poem is a prism through which reality bends and transforms. Some poems lean toward mythic fantasy and folklore, others toward futuristic speculation or psychological unease. Yet all share a fascination with transformation: of identity, of world, and of the boundaries between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

From haunting atmospheres to bursts of wonder, The Prismatic Menagerie celebrates the boundless creativity of contemporary speculative writing. Readers who enjoy genre-blending fiction, imaginative world-building, and poems that challenge the limits of perception will find themselves captivated by this kaleidoscopic journey.

Contemporary and Speculative Verse

BERNARDO VILLELA lives in Wilmington, Delaware. He’s had short fiction included in periodicals such as LatineLit, Penumbra Online and Horror Tree and in anthologies such as We Deserve to Exist, Dismember the Coop and There’s More of Us Than You Know.

He’s published original poetry with the likes of Phantom Kangaroo, Straylight, Star*Line and Ravens Quoth Press and has had translations published by Mantis, AzonaL, Red Fern Review and others.