Praise for Mars

“Asja Bakić’s stories are a dark delight—a treasury of forbidden pleasures, moments of resistance and resilience, and terrifying possibilities.” —Strange Horizons

“There’s an immediacy to Bakić’s offbeat worldview, sometimes strange and surreal, sometimes terrifying and upsetting, that pairs perfectly with the madness of the current political moment.” —Locus Magazine

“At turns funny, surreal, and grounded in simple language but flung through twisted realities, the stories in this collection are provocative and utterly readable.” —The Brooklyn Rail

“Skillfully disorienting.” —BUST

“Nested comfortably in the twilight zone, these stories push familiar scenarios (a cheating spouse, the serial killer next door) into the speculative realm and, in the process, push fiction in the direction of activism.” —Literary Hub

“Mars is an expedition, to be sure, and it demands that you hold on with the same force that it holds onto you long light years after it draws to a close.” —Paperback Paris

“From the very first story, the exciting plot lines and thought-provoking topics keep you reading and wanting more; however, this book is best taken slowly, with time in between to savor each story.” —Asymptote

“Stylistic deftness and unpredictability [continue] throughout this collection. Bakić is after answers to questions that defy explanation.” —Words Without Borders

“Brilliant, unsettling explorations of gender, sexuality and genre.” —Shelf Awareness

"Bosnian writer Bakic’s debut teems with the oddball narratives of George Saunders, the eerie atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe, and the feminist intellect of Marge Piercy. . . . Told in a straightforward manner that transports speculative fiction into almost realist territory, Bakic’s collection imaginatively and strikingly examines sci-fi tropes from not only the point of view of women, but also from the voice of an effortlessly gifted writer whose future is much brighter than that of those depicted in her stories." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Bakic’s stories are perfectly of the American short-fiction zeitgeist—dark, sometimes indeterminate, sidestepping realism—but as the afterword points out, there are few writers from the Balkans that make use of the speculative or the dystopian in their work, which makes this collection all the more darkly alluring.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Mars showcases Asja Bakić’s strong and unique voice. These are sly, uncommon stories—a rare mix of the witty and the visceral, with no small hint of the decadent and transgressive. A major talent.” —Jeff VanderMeer, author of Borne

“Mars is a compelling collection of finely nuanced stories that are equally playful, haunting, erotic, willfully mischievous, profoundly melancholy, and more than a touch perverse. Jennifer Zoble’s masterful translation of Asja Bakić’s youthfully elastic genre-blending prose is a stunning achievement, and these stories are an absolute pleasure to read.” —Donald Breckenridge, author of You Are Here

“Asja Bakić’s debut will transport you to another world, one that is as ethereal as it is cryptic. A visceral, imaginative, and deeply satisfying work.” —Cristina Rodriguez, Deep Vellum Books

“Unsettling in unsettling ways, Bakić’s mix of realism with science fiction and fabulism occupies the uncanny valley between the recognizable and the unrecognizable, unsheathing the weirdness of daily life.” —Josh Cook, Porter Square Books

Asja Bakić (b. 1982) is a Bosnian author of poetry and prose, as well as a translator. She was selected as one of Literary Europe Live’s New Voices from Europe 2017, and her writing has been translated into seven languages. Her debut, Mars, was published in English by Feminist Press in 2019. She currently lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia.

Jennifer Zoble translates Balkan literature into English. Recent books include Call Me Esteban, her translation of Zovite me Esteban by Lejla Kalamujić, and her translation of Mars by Asja Bakić, which was named one of the “Best Fiction Books of 2019” by Publishers Weekly. Zoble is on the faculty of Liberal Studies at NYU, where she teaches writing and translation.

Ellen Elias-Bursać has been translating fiction and nonfiction by Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian writers since the 1980s, including novels and short stories by David Albahari, Dubravka Ugrešić, Daša Drndić, and Karim Zaimovič. She is co-author of a textbook for the study of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian with Ronelle Alexander and author of Translating Evidence and Interpreting Testimony at a War Crimes Tribunal: Working in a Tug-of-War, awarded the Mary Zirin Prize in 2015. She has taught at the Harvard Slavic Department, Tufts University, ASU and the New England Friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Table of Contents

Day Trip to Durmitor (pg. 3)

Buried Treasure (pg. 17)

The Talus of Madame Liken (pg. 30)

Abby (pg. 38)

Asja 5.0 (pg. 52)

Carnivore (pg. 63)

Passions (pg. 71)

The Guest (pg. 87)

Heading West (pg. 108)

The Underworld (pg. 119)