About the Author\nMike Fiorito is currently an Associate Editor for Mad Swirl Magazine and a regular contributor to the Red Hook Star Revue. THE HATED ONES (Bordighera Press, 2021) is his fifth book. His other books include Falling from Trees, Call Me Guido, Freud's Haberdashery Habits and Hallucinating Huxley. Mike lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two boys.\nFiction. Italian American Studies. Mike Fiorito shoots the brief documentary tales of THE HATED ONES in a vivid black and white, bringing to life a "Basketball Diaries"-like world of ne'er-do-wells growing up on the wrong side of whatever tracks separate the silver spoons from the rest of us with our wayward fathers, disappointed mothers, and ill-defined dreams of being somebody.

The Hated Ones (VIA Folios)

Literature & Fiction

Fiorito, Mike

United States

Bordighera Press

Falling from Trees

Falling from Trees is a collection of tales in the tradition of Italo Calvino,Jorges Borges, Stanislaw Lem and even Philip K. Dick.\nAnd while coming from the speculative tale tradition Falling fromTrees strikes out new territory in exploring consciousness, identity,and the human condition. More than just embodying ideas, these stories arewritten with heart and longing. And humor.\nThe stories are at once playful and deeply serious. There is delight in readingthem.\n"Falling from Trees is a collection of otherworldly tales fromFiorito. This set of loosely connected stories touches on a wide range oftimely and universal topics via science-fictional elements...readers willlargely find it entertaining. The stories run the gamut from fully realizedworks to quick, slice-of-life glimpses of characters...an often engaging shortstory cycle." 
-Kirkus Reviews"Fiorito's prose is magical, evocative, mesmerizing."-New York Journal of Books 
Fiorito's Falling from Trees is a collection of short storiesthat revolve around one theme - the relationship with the other, with what's 'different ' and troubles our balance. But it is precisely this 'diversity' thatsaves us because what apparently separates us is what unites us. The importantthing is to know, as one of the protagonists says, that ′′ everything isrelative ", even the distance between Earth and other planets. Fioritouses a surreal and dream style to outline his characters, children who drawalone and see ′′ the immortality of yellow", or aliens that bring specialgifts to humanity: first and foremost, the meaning of life. And so, thanks totheir gifts, all of us finally ′′ have a purpose ′′ and discover ′′ that theuniverse is made of music." 
-Maria Rosa Cutrufelli, Author of The Woman Outlaw\n"There is something magical about a well-written short story.Past masters of the genre such as Jorge Borges, Italo Calvino, Lafcadio Hearneand Henry James manage, in a few short pages, to instill in the reader a senseof wonderment, intrigue and mystery. The really great stories do not alwaysneed a twist ending to make their impact. Creating a sense of unease orplanting an idea that makes the reader look at the normal and mundane in adifferent way is sufficient.\nIn his anthology Falling from Trees Mike Fiorito achievesall of these things. In many of his stories he places his protagonists inlocations of total normality; a man waking up late at night and deciding to gofor a walk, a chance meeting with an old teacher at a religious shrine orfalling in love with a work associate. But all of these situations containwithin them, lurking just below the surface, a magical world of highstrangeness just waiting to erupt. In others he starts the narrative from alocation of high strangeness and has the mundane and the predictable break through.He then has a third variety, a series of vaguely linked stories involving themysterious entity known simply as "Smith". We never really discoverwho, or what Smith is, but our own imagination is allowed to fill in thedetails.\nI thoroughly enjoyed these stories. So much so that as soon as Ihad finished them, I read them again. I suspect I will be returning to thisshort volume of gems many times in the future, and each time they will shineever brighter.' 
-Anthony Peake, Author of The Hidden Universe\n"Fiorito is an accomplished writer, and in this collection of short stories hecreates a series of intriguing vignettes, which together make up far more thanthe sum of their parts. The atmospheres conjured up stay with you long afterreading, by turns wistful, illogical, and deeply human. A diverting book with aunique flavor." 
-Nikki Wyrd, Editor of the Psychedelic Press Journal

Short Stories & Anthologies

Loyola College/Apprentice House

Falling from Trees is a collection of tales in the tradition of Italo Calvino, Jorges Borges, Stanislaw Lem and even Philip K. Dick. &#65279;And while coming from the speculative tale tradition Falling from Trees strikes out new territory in exploring consciousness, identity and the human condition. More than just embodying ideas, these stories are written with heart and longing. And humor. Some of the tales may have an apocalyptic feel, but hang in there, Falling from Trees, will delight you and restore your hope.

For All We Know: A UFO Manifesto

Apprentice House

“Freud’s Haberdashery” is a collection of pseudo-historical narratives that poke fun at intellectual topics but focus on satire and humor: Jung and Freud sharing haberdashery secrets; Kant obsession with order and eating cheese; Filippo Brunelleschi consorting with a nose oracles to win the Santa Maria Del Fiore cupola commission and other stories.

Freud's Haberdashery Habit: & other stories

Buddha, Alien

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Mike Fiorito’s Call Me Guido, is a poignant, sometimes painful, often hilarious collection of stories about growing up Italian in Queens, New York. It’s filled with rich dialogue and recollections of family interactions that carry us below the surface, and surprises we can’t help but love, like his tale “Because of You”, about his odd Uncle Tutti, who turns out to be the superstar Tony Bennett, or his hard working mother, “ a tribe, a history of her family”, and of course his father, a gambler, opinionated, historian, and a complex mix that makes a relationship of father and son seem totally impossible to characterize, and yet Michael does, captivating us all along the way. I love this book!-- Louisa Calio, author of Journey to the Heart Waters

Call Me Guido

Ovunque Siamo

Hallucinating Huxley

Independently published

Mike Fiorito’s Sleeping with Fishes is the essence of Italianità, but you don’t have to be Italian to appreciate the stories in this funny and touching collection. 
Fiorito shows us how authentic cannoli are made but also how to bridge the yawning gap between the Italian he learned at school and the Sicilian dialect of his grandparents. We learn about the history of southern Italian immigration, but here through Fiorito’s comic perspective. 
We encounter good fellows and godfathers who make you laugh until you cry. 
Sleeping with Fishes is a unique and delightful read.

Sleeping with Fishes

Idea Graphics LLC

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fiorito, Mike. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Fiorito, Mike

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fiorito, Mike. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Hated Ones (VIA Folios)

Falling from Trees

Falling from Trees

For All We Know: A UFO Manifesto

For All We Know: A UFO Manifesto

Freud's Haberdashery Habit: & other stories

Call Me Guido

Hallucinating Huxley

Sleeping with Fishes