What do you think?
Rate this book
The Museum of Future Mistakes
Gruesome scenarios take a tender turn; beautiful moments become sources of derision. Winner of the BOA Short Fiction Prize, The Museum of Future Mistakes is packed with inventive narrative choices and sharp lyricism, upending expectations on every page.
In “Brother and Not-Brother,” the residents of an entire city transform into perfect copies of the narrator’s deceased brother; these uncanny doppelgängers spark meditations on childhood scars, grief taking root within the body, and how painful memories can bloom into joy, laughter, and love. In “The Last Dinosaurs of Portland,” two anthropomorphic dinosaurs yearn for companionship and empathy while fighting for a meager existence under the weight of past traumas. In “Three-Month Autopsy,” a character visits ex-lovers and returns Ziploc baggies full of their body parts, exploring infatuation, jealousy, regret, and the contours of both giving and receiving within a relationship.
Through these and other fabulist and magical realist stories, James R. Gapinski considers our physical relationship with our own bodies, how we process love and loss, and the fragility of identity amid moments of personal crisis. With elements of the grotesque and the surreal, fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link will find much to admire in this award-winning collection.
In “Brother and Not-Brother,” the residents of an entire city transform into perfect copies of the narrator’s deceased brother; these uncanny doppelgängers spark meditations on childhood scars, grief taking root within the body, and how painful memories can bloom into joy, laughter, and love. In “The Last Dinosaurs of Portland,” two anthropomorphic dinosaurs yearn for companionship and empathy while fighting for a meager existence under the weight of past traumas. In “Three-Month Autopsy,” a character visits ex-lovers and returns Ziploc baggies full of their body parts, exploring infatuation, jealousy, regret, and the contours of both giving and receiving within a relationship.
Through these and other fabulist and magical realist stories, James R. Gapinski considers our physical relationship with our own bodies, how we process love and loss, and the fragility of identity amid moments of personal crisis. With elements of the grotesque and the surreal, fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link will find much to admire in this award-winning collection.
- GenresShort Stories
162 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2025
4 people are currently reading
2572 people want to read
About the author
James R. Gapinski
13 books58 followersJames R. Gapinski (they/them) is the author of The Museum of Future Mistakes (BOA Editions, 2025), winner of the BOA Short Fiction Prize. They are also the author of Edge of the Known Bus Line (Etchings Press; University of Indianapolis, 2018) and three chapbooks. Their short fiction has previously appeared in Heavy Feather Review, Monkeybicycle, SmokeLong Quarterly, Variant Lit, and other publications. James is managing editor of Conium Press, director of Portland Community College's TRIO SSS program, and an adjunct professor for Southern New Hampshire University's MFA program.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 5, 2025
The Museum of Future Mistakes by James R Gapinski is a fun and thought-provoking collection of short stories.
These stories all have some kind of unusual element (thus why it has been called magical realism) that is both pivotal to the story and to how a reader will understand it. Some even allow the reader to create their own ending after the end of the story. If one were to "clean" oneself, what, if anything, would be left? If everything is good in a part of your life but someone puts the thought in your mind that it will all go wrong, does that become a self-fulfilling prophecy or was it destined all along? And so many more.
Gapinski shares their own unique visions with the reader and walks us to a point where we can accept what is or we can continue the journey ourselves. In other words, these stories invite not just some sense of connection to the character but also asks us to think through how the 'unusual' aspect of the story might play out beyond the scenario(s) we see.
Highly recommended for readers who enjoy a little magic in their stories without completely leaving our world behind. As long as you're willing to inhabit each environment as it is presented, you will be both entertained and gain insight into your own world.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
These stories all have some kind of unusual element (thus why it has been called magical realism) that is both pivotal to the story and to how a reader will understand it. Some even allow the reader to create their own ending after the end of the story. If one were to "clean" oneself, what, if anything, would be left? If everything is good in a part of your life but someone puts the thought in your mind that it will all go wrong, does that become a self-fulfilling prophecy or was it destined all along? And so many more.
Gapinski shares their own unique visions with the reader and walks us to a point where we can accept what is or we can continue the journey ourselves. In other words, these stories invite not just some sense of connection to the character but also asks us to think through how the 'unusual' aspect of the story might play out beyond the scenario(s) we see.
Highly recommended for readers who enjoy a little magic in their stories without completely leaving our world behind. As long as you're willing to inhabit each environment as it is presented, you will be both entertained and gain insight into your own world.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
December 16, 2025
*** I received a free Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review ***
I enjoyed this collection of short stories. They are stories, but they're not the normal fare. More like surrealist fables, each with its own bizzare bent that is regarded as normal, for the most part, by the characters in the story. People who grow plants from their skin, astronauts who take off from earth and land on earth to explore earth, helpful elves with agendas who regularly appear in elevators. The writing is good, the stories mostly enjoyable, most with at least some sort of readily identifiable symbolism--or maybe I'm making it up. There are a few parts that are a little gross, so I wouldn't recommend it for the very squeamish. Also, if you're the sort to get bent out of shape by a bunch of LGBTQ mentions, pass on this one and save your negative review.
I enjoyed this collection of short stories. They are stories, but they're not the normal fare. More like surrealist fables, each with its own bizzare bent that is regarded as normal, for the most part, by the characters in the story. People who grow plants from their skin, astronauts who take off from earth and land on earth to explore earth, helpful elves with agendas who regularly appear in elevators. The writing is good, the stories mostly enjoyable, most with at least some sort of readily identifiable symbolism--or maybe I'm making it up. There are a few parts that are a little gross, so I wouldn't recommend it for the very squeamish. Also, if you're the sort to get bent out of shape by a bunch of LGBTQ mentions, pass on this one and save your negative review.
September 6, 2025
I received this book through the Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to James R. Gapinkski for the giveaway!
I really liked the short story format because it kept the reading and flow moving. Each story was bizarre and uncanny. Some of them left me feeling unsettled. I had to keep reading because I could not guess or predict what was going to happen next. I enjoyed reading this collection because it's not what I usually read (horror, fantasy, classics).
My favorite short stories were "The Last Dinosaurs of Portland" and "Three-Month Autopsy."
I really liked the short story format because it kept the reading and flow moving. Each story was bizarre and uncanny. Some of them left me feeling unsettled. I had to keep reading because I could not guess or predict what was going to happen next. I enjoyed reading this collection because it's not what I usually read (horror, fantasy, classics).
My favorite short stories were "The Last Dinosaurs of Portland" and "Three-Month Autopsy."
October 14, 2025
A wildly entertaining short story collection! Speculative, fabulist, and formally inventive stories with voicy rhythms, all textured with clever details. A real riot to read.
December 18, 2025
not my style for reading.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews