Chance to Fade & Other Stories

by Josh Rank

This collection explores the lives of individuals pushed to the brink of what they think is possible, blending literary and magical realist styles. A man wins the lottery but becomes obsessed with the notion that hitting improbable odds could also work against him. An orphan found in a field screams for a month until the sky bursts into flames. Two strangers find themselves surrounded by disasters every time they meet. These characters find love, navigate grief, and fight against their impulses to avoid repeating past mistakes. In Chance to Fade, a man struggles to distinguish hallucinations from his surroundings, while his young neighbor tries to convince her parents that reality might not be as rigid as they believe. Drawings come to life, snow falls in the middle of summer, and the dead refuse to stay dead.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Lee Collier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josh has a way with words that is truly special. It is not easy to write short stories, or at least that is my belief as a non writer...but what I can tell you is that it is not easy as a reader to read a short story (maybe as short as 3 pages) and feel moved by the material.

Josh landed in my favorite reads of 2024 with The Present Is Past and I was so thankful to have the opportunity to read Chance to Fade before release this year. I can confidently tell you that he nailed it again and although it will be hard for a short story collection to tip into my top 5 of the year...the titular story included which is over 100 pages is so damn good I may make an exception for 2025.

This is a collection of stories that deal with fate (and chance). There are stories in here that will make you laugh, cry, and scratch your head but ultimately this is a group of stories that all center around the human condition and the inevitable outcomes of simply being human with a touch of magical realism that feels just right.

I will read anything Josh writes and I think you should too.

[Cody Shrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josh Rank’s Chance to Fade and Other Stories is a breathtaking exploration of the ways luck and chance affect our lives. “Good luck and back luck are the exact same thing,” says the narrator of “Lucky.” The characters in these stories are real and broken and searching for answers in an unforgiving world in which they’re also looking for agency, control. On the flipside of that equation, Rank has complete control of his craft in this collection. There aren’t two stories here that function the same way. Each piece presents unique perspectives, structures, voices, and most importantly, ways to punch the reader in the gut. Sprinkled with beautifully speculative weirdness in all the right ways, Chance to Fade is at once familiar and surprising, and I had to force myself to savor Rank’s language, lest I blaze through the collection in one sitting.

[Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josh really has a way of delving into many aspects of the human psyche.

If it’s 2 pages or 100, he really taps into what makes us human.

Chance to Fade is a 100ish page novella with a bunch of short stories, and I highly recommend them.

The Novella: Chance to Fade, is a haunting story that really struck my heart.

Second book I’ve read from Josh, and I’ve loved them both.

Yes he gave me this as an ARC, but that came off the back of me reading his first story and begging for more.

[H.H. Rune · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story collection made for an easy escape from the everyday.

Rank has a gift of being able to dump you into a stranger's life and even though that character is nothing like you or anyone you know or would maybe want to know, you suddenly get them and what they are about. Everyone has something going on.

The attributes that the people in his stories show are out of the box, the moments, the challenges that they run into are curious- sometimes making you tilt your head like a quizzical dog when the next sentence comes. How did this person get here, and how will they get out of this? Or maybe they will forever stay stuck?

The last short, Chance to Fade had me questioning what storytelling "needs" to be. There is a freedom that real writers have to let go of the traditional and just go nuts with unreal possibilities. Then they act like nothing happened. Anyway- I liked it. I will continue to pick up his books.

[Melon · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** I was given a free Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review. ***

Okay, first things first, this is a solid 3.5 for sure. But since that isn't an option, I've rounded up. This is a good collection of stories. I enjoyed it. Some of them were great. Like the eponymous Chance to Fade that's the full last half of the book? Great! Hopi, pretty good, the Lottery Ticket, pretty good... (I don't have my copy right here so I may be getting the names wrong, but if you have the book you'll know what I mean). The last story was the one that pushed it up to a four, though. The magical realism (real magicalism?) was done exceptionally well, and it felt like it was done from necessity, not just for the sake of using it.

[Danny Mcmillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“He knew you were paying for the hope and not the prize, so he liked to drag it out and keep that hope alive just a bit longer.”

Luckily with Josh’s short story you don’t have to drag out the hope of it being good because these stories just rip from the start. The fantastical realism in the titular novella “Chance to Fade” is truly remarkable and a joy to read.

[Josh Rank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good!

[Stephanie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much! The short stories were perfect for my attention span and led me through the best rollercoaster of emotions. The main story is so layered and wonderful. You’ll love it!