History Main / MagicRealism

* ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'', a political thriller starring a man who can transform into seven different people, see and speak to the dead, and fight exploding monsters that possess human bodies.

* Square Enix's ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'', having been inspired by Twin Peaks, is clearly magical realist in tone.
* ''VideoGame/MaceTheDarkAge'' takes place in a similar Eurasian setting to the ''Soul Series'' except during the Dark Ages, and there is an sinister group of evil men that summoned a demon to engulf the world into darkness. The cast is made up from fighters from Europe, the Middle-East and the Far East, ranging from [[HiredGuns mercenaries]], [[HornyVikings vikings]], {{ninja}}s, {{samurai}}s, [[TheHashshashin assassins]] and [[BedlahBabe harem girls]], with TheDragon being an stone gargoyle and the aforementioned demon as the FinalBoss. And a mythical dwarf is among the secret characters.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' seems to take place in a fairly dull Californian city. Except for the fact that the protagonist purchases a functioning lightsaber on eBay and proceeds to off progressively more bizarre assassins. At one point [[spoiler:his mentor dies, but afterward the mentor's ghost continues his job working at the gym.]] No one seems to find any of this at all odd. And then there's ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', which has Travis Touchdown using dimension warps and fighting ghosts, among other things.
** ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'' manages to top both of the above by having Travis fight ''alien superheroes from outer space''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'' and ''VideoGame/Pathologic2''. The setting is realistic, the characters are very human, one of the playable characters has {{Lovecraftian Super Power}}s. There are a bunch of medicine men wrapped head to toe in bandages who sell herbs that grow from blood. There are loads of children walking around without parents, and occasionally wearing the dead heads of dogs as masks. Disease clouds attack you. They come in the form of horrendous, symbolic abominations. An impossibly-shaped tower created as a "factory of dreams and utopias" just to spite the laws of nature. The land and soil, which are alive. We haven't even discussed the rather meta theater themes...

* A recurring element in the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' series. Mojo and ghosts exist, and raising the dead nets you a life sentence in prison.

* Physically impossible {{Finishing Move}}s? Flaming {{Battle Aura}}s that look straight out of ''Manga/DragonBallZ''? Lightsabers, {{Morph Weapon}}s disguised as canes, haunted video tapes, and more cases of MadeOfIron than you can shake a metal pipe at? Just another day for Kamurocho's [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Neighborhood-Friendly]] (and not-so-friendly) VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}, though it's never made clear just how much of the wacky stuff Kiryu and pals pull off is in-universe and how much is just artistic licence for the fun of it.

* ''Literature/TheTinDrum'' is both a novel and a film about a boy who NeverGrewUp, [[NoInfantileAmnesia was perfectly aware while in the womb]], and can [[MakeMeWannaShout create destructive screams]]. While the book version of the character is [[UnreliableNarrator likely insane]], the movie plays it straight. It's a historical/political drama.

* ''Film/BigFish'' has the main character's father spice up his life story with small magic tidbits every now and then. The main character believes he's making it all up, until [[spoiler:the father's funeral, where many of the magical characters show up.]] He concludes the only way to tell his father's story is the exact manner his father told it.

** ''Series/HannahMontana'' had a ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' type plot with Hannah and her brother going back in time to when their parents met.

* ''Film/DaveMadeAMaze'', an indie comedy about a slacker artist who builds a fort/maze out of cardboard in his living room only for it to inexplicably grow BiggerInTheInside into a [[EldritchLocation sentient monstrosity]], complete with its own cardboard-head Minotaur.

* ''Film/DaveMadeAMaze'', an indie comedy about a slacker artist who builds a fort/maze out of cardboard in his living room only for it to inexplicably grow into a [[EldritchLocation sentient monstrosity]].

* ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' takes place in Vinyl City, an otherwise normal, bustling place where all musical artists appear to have magical powers (let alone the VirtualIdol, the robotic boy band and the DJ with an astral body for a head), and this isn't seen as strange.

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'' introduces the Kingdom of Khura'in, an entire country based around spirit channeling to the point where the royal family (or at least the women) are all expected to be spirit mediums, and a major part of the country's judicial system is a specialized channeling called a Divination Seance (performed by Princess Rayfa) that shows the deceased's last moments... and which is significantly less reliable than said court system would hope.[[spoiler: In fact, the BigBad is defeated by proving she's ''not'' a medium and thus unfit for the throne.]]

** Apollo's HyperAwareness through his bracelet, that leads to him becoming a LivingLieDetector, could be seen as another hint of magic realism at first, [[DoingInTheWizard but it has a perfectly scientific explanation]]. His entire family has a gene that allows them to subtly perceive other people's twitches and nervousness, and the tight bracelet allows Apollo to notice more easily when he's subconsciously perceiving it through body temperature increases and the like.

* ''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'' fits. Creator/YoshitoshiAbe is a huge fan of the genre. The show is heavily inspired by the "End Of The World" narrative in ''Literature/HardBoiledWonderlandAndTheEndOfTheWorld'' by Creator/HarukiMurakami.

* Several comics anthologies dabble in this, blending fantastical creatures and powers with mundane, slice-of-life type settings. ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}'' is one such example. Stories include a girl coping with angelic wings she's been growing since she was little, a family man who moonlights as a ninja for hire, TheBigBadWolf and Literature/LittleRedRidingHood as actors who [[MeanCharacterNiceActor have a father/daughter type relationship when it's not storytime]], and a pair of fisherwomen having a feud over who sells the best produce...which leads to both [[BodyHorror graphically, slowly mutating]] [[{{Animorphism}} into sea creatures.]]
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' have had some TimeTravel and there was even a series of ''Little Archie'' comics that had stuff like witches, a SeaMonster, and ''dragons''.
* Both Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez's work in ''ComicBook/LoveAndRockets'' has magic realist elements, although more frequently in Gilbert's. For example:

* In ''ComicBook/TheRabbisCat'', the title character, who is also the narrator, gains the ability to speak by eating a parrot (even though the parrot is never shown talking itself). [[spoiler: He later loses the ability by inappropriately invoking the name of God and then regains it after nearly dying from a scorpion sting]]. Also, there's a search for a lost city whose conclusion may or may not be real.
* ''ComicBook/SinCity'''s world is a CrapsackWorld full of FilmNoir elements, like cynical heroes and {{femme fatale}}s, revenge and prostitution, alcohol and drugs, {{dirty cop}}s and mobsters, drama and violence and romance and heartbreak, all narrated in [[PrivateEyeMonologue first-person dialogues]]. However, is also filled with fantastical things like [[ImAHumanitarian cannibals]] with sharp nails and silent skills, tough huge guys who [[MadeOfIron can survive explosions and blood loss and multiple gunshots]], grotesque people who look like they're made of clay and mud or outright monsters, [[BandOfBrothels prostitutes with warfare tactics]], supernatural {{ninja}} women with ancient training, deranged {{mad scientist}}s and more, all drawn and set in a [[DeliberatelyMonochrome high-contrast black-and-white world]] with occasional [[SplashOfColor splashes of color]]. None of this is explained, and when it ''is'' explained, it defies logic in many ways; in fact, a lot of the events depicted in the series are taken at face value, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday as if this is just how things work in this world every single day]].
* The ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics are usually grounded in the real world, with tales of crime and political intrigue. A few stories, however, have elements of science fiction (the Phosilite meteorite from "[[Recap/TintinTheShootingStar The Shooting Star]]", a moon voyage in "[[Recap/TintinDestinationMoon Destination Moon]]"/"[[Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon Explorers on the Moon]]", and an alien abduction in "[[Recap/TintinFlight714 Flight 714]]") and fantasy (a psychic vision in "[[Recap/TintinTheSevenCrystalBalls The Seven Crystal Balls]]", sympathetic magic being used to lay an Incan curse in "[[Recap/TintinPrisonersOfTheSun Prisoners of the Sun]]", and more psychic powers and a yeti in "[[Recap/TintinTintinInTibet Tintin in Tibet]]").

* ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' may only barely qualify, as most of the material revolves around talking animals, but most of the time they're talking about real-world stuff. Then, of course, there's the fact that the Monster in the Closet may actually be real.
* If ''Bloom County'' qualifies, ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' does too. For the most part, the setting is realistic, aside from the [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane ambiguous nature]] of Hobbes himself. But then there are also things like the Transmogrifier, the Duplicator, and an entire arc where Calvin goes to Mars. He also owns a bike that keeps trying to run him over and a baseball that tries to eat him. All of these things can only ''usually'' be explained away as products of an active imagination.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' is usually credible enough, allowing for a pretty serious undercurrent to the punchlines in Lemont's life. But every few months, he'll meet someone like a talking scarecrow, a ghost, or himself from the future.
* Used constantly in ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}''. Peter's status as a BigEater is impossible, seeing as how he can eat a whole plate of spaghetti in one thirteenth of a second and be ''disappointed'' by it. Roger can create a fire blast from a grill so destructive it destroys a ''Mars Rover''.

* The existence of guardian angels, sentient animals and plants and fairies (although they only showed up once) qualifies ''ComicStrip/RoseIsRose'' as this.
* In ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Phoebe having a unicorn]] is common knowledge, something even her parents take into account. Justified by the "Shield of Boringness," a spell that causes most humans to think it's nothing significant when they meet a supernatural creature.

* ''Film/CelineAndJulieGoBoating'', where MindScrew meets SliceOfLife comedy.

** "[[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1350 True story, or alcohol-induced fantasy? Either way, Steve's not tellin'.]]"
*** True story, as it turns out. The Russian chick with the scar turns up again in a later strip.
*** Her name is Tortura, and she is happy to meet you.

* In ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Phoebe having a unicorn]] is common knowledge, something even her parents take into account.

** While ''Series/AntFarm'' is, aside from the occasional flirtation with WeirdScience, realistic, the Halloween episodes feature an AlternateUniverse where Chyna is a GorgeousGorgon, Olivia is a big headed MadScientist, Angus is a zombie and Fletcher is a vampire. This became canon in the third season episode when the mutants crossed over into the regular universe via a dimensional portal.

* "Manga/KeepYourHandsOffEizouken" The anime seems to start off with a solid definition of what is or isn't fantasy in their world. But more and more fantastic elements ({{Kappa}} in particular) seem to creep in, and the final scene is either completely imaginary or a revelation that the world is very much this trope, depending on how you interpret it.

* "Manga/KeepYourHandsOffEizouken" The anime seems to start off with a solid definition of what is or isn't fantasy in their world. But more and more fantastic elements ([[Kappa kappa]] in particular) seem to creep in, and the final scene is either completely imaginary or a revelation that the world is very much this trope, depending on how you interpret it.

* In ''Manga/CoffeeAndCat'', on Kon's struggles to find a purpose after failing his university exams and feeling squeamish about going back to his EducationMama grandfather. His primary source of solace is his love for his cat M'Lady, whom he literally can't live without. He also has the unexplained ability to talk to cats and sees them as human beings.

Magical realism is a story that takes place in a realistic setting that is recognizable as the historical past or present. It overlaps with MundaneFantastic. It has a connection to {{surrealism}}, dream logic, and poetry. In Magic Realism, events just ''happen'', as in dreams. Tchotchkes telling the heroine what to do (''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'') or the ghost of your father showing up at odd intervals to offer personal and/or professional advice (''Series/DueSouth''). Or perhaps it's just a quirky vibe that infuses the environment (''Series/NorthernExposure'', ''Series/TwinPeaks'').

"Magical realism" is sometimes misused to explain why a favorite work is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_fiction literary fiction]] and thus [[SciFiGhetto somehow superior]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_fiction genre fiction]] like {{Fantasy}} and ScienceFiction. On the other hand, the inclusion of well-written magical realism into the canons of LitFic is historically well supported, as UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica's major 20th-century authors mostly wrote in this genre. The literary world outside of Latin America so closely associates the region with magical realism that the [=McOndo=] movement (for which see below) exists chiefly to prove that not everything literary that comes from Latin America involves magic and angels. Also, the way that religious and horror fiction are distinct enough to be distinguished from fantasy even when they fit its basic definition of containing unscientific elements, the same is true for magical realism.

''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'', ''Literature/MidnightsChildren'', and ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'' are defining examples of magical realism.

From another perspective, it is possible to interpret many non-fantasy [[TheMusical musicals]] by definition as magical realism, since spontaneously breaking into song with invisible accompaniment gets taken as a perfectly normal thing, although there are a few exceptions where the incongruity is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], such as in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}''. (See MusicalWorldHypotheses for other interpretations.) Or the singing could be taken as just a symbolic representation of the characters thoughts and speeches and not at face value over what they actually said. If the unnatural events happen in only a couple of episodes in an otherwise grounded series, like say a DomCom, they can lead viewers to exclaiming HowUnscientific.

* ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'' is for the most part a brutal, grounded story of [[WarIsHell surviving war and genocide]] (supposedly inspired by the Rwandan genocide in South Africa), albeit one set in a Post-Apocalyptic Earth where TimeTravel/Dimension hopping technology is used to transport the protagonists to this world. One of the main characters is an ageless immortal with [[MakingASplash water manipulation]] abilities who is all but stated to be a goddess, and both sides of the war fight to use her to their advantage. Oh, and unfortunately for everyone, the BigBad has a flying fortress that he gets operational in the penultimate episodes, complete with {{MiniMecha}}s and giant energy cannons.

* ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}'', where the main characters' souls are represented by penguins only they can see, aphrodisiac potions brewed from frogs really work, and key scenes take place on a strange, alternate version of the Tokyo subway all pass without much comment. For extra credit, the show makes several references to other examples of Magical Realism, such as ''Anime/NightOnTheGalacticRailroad'' and {{Creator/Haruki Murakami}}'s works.

* There are several elements of magical realism in ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'', one of these being the personification of the North Wind as the force driving Vianne and Anouk to [[FlyingDutchman wander the world]].

* ''Film/LAStory'', written by Steve Martin, applies many of the tropes of Magical Realism. What else can you call a story where a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_message_sign variable-message sign]] on the highway offers a character advice on his love life?

* Creator/DavidLynch's films have it both ways. Some of them really do fit the definition of magical realism and fit comfortably within the genre, while others are ''clearly'' supernatural but are lumped in with magical realism because it's an easy way out of the SciFiGhetto. It doesn't help that the only Lynch film they really can't weasel their way out of acknowledging as what it is, ''Film/Dune1984'', really ''was'' bad.

** ''Film/InlandEmpire'' straddles the line of this and Absurdism, but ''Film/MulhollandDrive'' IS magical realism.

* The revenge western ''Film/SeraphimFalls'' verges into magical realism in the third act, when a MagicalNativeAmerican and a snake oil saleswoman appear out of nowhere to each of the two main characters and engineer a final confrontation between the nemeses. The Native American is named Charon in the credits and the saleswoman's name is revealed to be [[LouisCypher Louise C. Fair]].

* Creator/ItaloCalvino is a famous Italian writer whose works skirted Magical Realism. His book ''Literature/InvisibleCities'' consisted entirely of Creator/MarcoPolo describing to Kublai Khan various cities he had visited which become less and less real as the book continues. His novellas ''Literature/TheBaronInTheTrees'' likewise has a Baron spend [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin his entire life in the trees and never come down]], and titles like ''Literature/TheNonExistentKnight'' are intended to be taken literally.

** Magical cooking is a popular concept for magical realism and "straight" fantasy both within and without Latin America. See also ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'', for instance.

* It's sketchy, but ''Series/{{Lost}}'' fits the definition of Magical Realism better than it does any other type of SpeculativeFiction. When you boil it down, ''Lost'' is the story of some [[AbusiveParent seriously]] [[TheWoobie dysfunctional]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast people]] who get stuck together, forge some real connections, figure out how to survive in a hostile environment, [[CharacterDevelopment become better people]] and eventually let go of their issues. This story just happens to take place on [[LostWorld an island]] that's been known to move through space and time, can heal people, and is home to ghosts and people with immortality (among other things).[[note]]And just so you lot are clear, there was absolutely nothing magical or supernatural about [[MisplacedWildlife the polar bear]].[[/note]]

* Later seasons of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' toyed with magical realism, such as a nightclub that turns into a meat-packing plant by day, or Elaine meeting a group of people who are physically similar but emotionally the exact opposites of Jerry, George and Kramer. Also, a woman who seemingly changed from beautiful to hideous on the spot, and Kramer owned a dummy that apparently came to life at the end of the episode. Also the [[EldritchAbomination stink]] in Jerry's car.

* Wrestling/LuchaUnderground is unique even in the inherently magi-realistic world of pro wrestling in that it fully embraces its use of magical realism. While many of the luchador participants fall into the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane category (everyone's pretty aware that Prince Puma is not actually a jungle cat or an Aztec warrior), there are a number that stretch reality to its limits. There is the duo of Mil Muertes and Catrina, a potentially-undead warrior who has been resurrected by a witch with necromancy powers (and every time he comes back, it's ''stronger'' and ''more evil''); Drago, an ''actual'' dragon who seems to take human form and return to draconic form at will; and Matanza, a monster kept chained in the temple by his brother Dario because he has the literal Aztec god of slaughter inside him.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. Real world setting, real guns, lots of talking about real-life politics and science, but also features walking robots, magical floating psychics, autotrophic snipers, bee men, and ghosts. The original ''Metal Gear Solid'' title featured a collection of CharlesAtlasSuperpower bosses, the EnsembleDarkHorse of which was a floating, fourth-wall breaking psychic. Later games would expand upon this with a steady increase of Magic Realism. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' dabbled with DoingInTheWizard, but official WordOfGod is that Vamp was still immortal in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and Ocelot [[spoiler: ''was'' possessed, but had the arm removed and started faking possession instead]].

** Apollo's HyperAwareness through his bracelet, that leads to him becoming a LivingLieDetector, could be seen as another hint of magical realism at first, [[DoingInTheWizard but it has a perfectly scientific explanation]]. His entire family has a gene that allows them to subtly perceive other people's twitches and nervousness, and the tight bracelet allows Apollo to notice more easily when he's subconsciously perceiving it through body temperature increases and the like.

* LampshadeHanging: Within the ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'' anything made in Mexico contains "Mexican magical realism." For example, a camera that takes pictures of what a person feels like, an RV that is always raining on the inside, and a helicopter that moves by causing the occupants legs to grow to several hundred feet and walking. Most recently, a Nagel serape that grants wishes [[spoiler:(actually only the "Hecho en Mexico" tag attached to it grants wishes)]].

* ''WebAnimation/ElainTheBountyHunter'' takes place in a world where many people have some form of supernatural power, ghosts are widely recognized and even celebrated by society, and "clown" is an ethnicity.

* While ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' is about anthropomorphic animals, there are still things that stand out as fantastic even for the world it's set in, [[spoiler: like Legoshi instantly growing all his fur back after after eating a moth in its larval form, then having a dream sequence in which the moth blesses him with it's strength. He later briefly turns into a glowing swarm of moths during his fight with Riz. There's also the ghost of his dead mother having a conversation with him while he's in a coma and having an "out-of-body experience", and his fur turning completely white from despair after he believes he's eaten Haru, who reacts to it not with shock, but amusement that they now have something in common (their fur color)]].

* There's a whole sub-genre of historical fiction that fits this. Generally the earlier the era and/or the more non-western the culture dealt with, the more likely this is. Common features are prophetic dreams/visions, an individual or group of individuals with mystic knowledge and something like the Australian Dream Time. Often features a clash with a more "advanced" nation that considers the more "primitive" peoples beliefs rank superstition and are usually the bad guys.
** Both ''The Spiral Dance'', set during the Great Northern Rebellion in Elizabethan England and ''American Woman'', and account of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the events leading up to it from the perspective of the white wife of a Cheyenne warrior by Rodrigo Garcia y Robertson. In fact most of Garcia y Robertson's stuff qualifies.

* J. M. Sidorova's ''The Age of Ice'' follows the protagonist from his conception in a palace constructed from ice, including the bed he was conceived in, over his lifespan which lasts over 250 years. He is also AnIcePerson who may be an incarnation of Old Man Frost.

%%* ''And The Ass Saw the Angel'', by Music/NickCave, is either the paragon of MagicalRealism or [[UnreliableNarrator the narrator is even crazier than he seems]]. Or both.
* Sharyn [=McCrumb=]'s ''Ballad'' novels, slice of life/mysteries set in rural North Carolina featuring Nora Bonesteel, an old woman who has "The Sight". One book also features a ghost.

* Toni Morrison's classic ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'' has the resurrection of Sethe's unnamed daughter (whose tombstone simply read [[TitleDrop "Beloved"]]). How this happened, or why Beloved is as old as she would have been, is never discussed. The ghost in the opening sequence (implied to be the same character as Beloved) would also qualify.
** Toni Morrison's earlier novel ''Literature/SongOfSolomon'' is also a good example. Aside from being the fairly mundane story of a dysfunctional middle class African-American family in 1960s Michigan, there's a persistent folk tale about an ancestor of the protagonist who may or may not have discovered the power of flight, a woman who crawled out of her mother's womb as a baby and was inexplicably born without a navel, a few albino animals that mysteriously show up at weird intervals, and one secondhand story about an encounter with a ghost.
* Tananarive Due's ''The Between'' in which a man is haunted by the ghosts of his alternate selves who feel that he should have died in their place. Also her ''African Immortals'' series which is about a group of ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin given eternal life by the stolen blood of Jesus. There are also ghosts.

* Michael Bishop's ''Brittle Innings'' is a coming-of-age story about a mute teenager who plays on a minor-league baseball team in the Deep South during World War II, when all the 'real' ball players are fighting the war. It's almost an incidental detail that the team's slugging first baseman is [[spoiler:Frankenstein]].
* Creator/ItaloCalvino is a famous Italian writer whose works skirted Magical Realism. His book ''Literature/InvisibleCities'' consisted entirely of Creator/MarcoPolo describing to Kublai Khan various cities he had visited which become less and less real as the book continues. His novellas ''The Baron in the Trees'' likewise has a Baron spend [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin his entire life in the trees and never come down]], and titles like ''The Non-Existent Knight'' are intended to be taken literally.
* The works of Creator/AngelaCarter tend to fall into this genre:
** ''Literature/NightsAtTheCircus'' revolves around Sophie [[PunnyName Fevvers]], a Cockney virgin ''aerialiste'' who [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane may or may not]] have {{wing|edHumanoid}}s.
* Happens in two of Creator/JodiPicoult's books. In ''Change of Heart'', Shay Bourne is somehow able to cure one of his cellmates of AIDS and cause water to turn into wine. In fact, a priest specifically sees him as [[MessianicArchetype a Jesus-analogue]]. The main focus of the book, however, is on the ramifications of the death penalty. The trope is in fact double-subverted because some of his miraculous acts have mundane explanations, but then the little girl who he donated his heart to miraculously brings her dog back to life. In ''Harvesting the Heart'', Paige has the ability to draw pictures of people and weave some of their hidden memories or desires into the drawing. The focus of that book is mainly on Paige's problems with being a mother.

* Keith Hartman's two ''Drew Parke'' novels are gritty detective stories set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but the title character gets visions from a dead [[MagicalNativeAmerican Cherokee shaman]] and his sometime partner is a Wiccan who practices RitualMagic.

* Creator/CheriePriest's ''Four and Twenty Blackbirds'' mixes this with Southern Gothic in a story about a girl who sees ghosts dealing with the legacy of her great-great grandfather, an evil sorcerer.

* ''Grooves: A Kind of Mystery'' by Kevin Brockmeier has a pretty normal world, but audio messages are encoded in such unusual things as the ripples on rippled potato chips and the texture of blue jeans. The message? "He's stealing the light from our eyes," which is literally what "he" was doing.
** Kevin Brockmeier's books and stories are almost always this, with the fantastic elements used to illustrate and explore aspects of human nature. (For example, ''The Illumination'' deals with how the world would change if physical pain was suddenly manifested as visible light.)

* ''The Jehovah Contract'' by Victor Koman, in which the protagonist, a profession assassin with a sideline/cover identity as a private eye, is given a contract by Satan to kill God [[spoiler: and it actually turns out to be a XanatosGambit by the Triple Goddess to do in both God ''and'' the Devil]].

* ''The Last Resort'' by Jan Carson is a slice-of-life about miserable people in a Northern Irish caravan park. Which is home to ghosts, a sea monster, a drunken telekinetic, and a caravan which is BiggerOnTheInside.

* Louise Erdrich's ''Love Medicine'' and the prequel, ''Tracks'', take elements of this trope. In Tracks, natural disasters seem to happen whenever one of the main characters is wronged and throughout both novels the character Nanapush is hinted to be descended from the trickster God of the Ojibwe tribe.
** Her novel ''Literature/TheNightWatchman'' also contains some of this trope. For example, a ghost named Roderick is regarded casually by the characters who can see him, almost as if he were still alive.

* In the collaborative series ''The Mongoliad'' by, among others Creator/NealStephenson and Creator/GregBear, set in 1241 and revolving around a quest to assassinate the Great Khan of the invading Mongols at least one characters has a holy vision. Several others also have visions that are [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane more open to interpretation as hallucinations but may not be]].

* Creator/GabrielGarciaMarquez' book ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'' popularized the term and is often considered to be the master work of the genre, and one of the most important pieces of universal literature written in the 20th century. A few years of rain, a gypsy who keeps coming back to life, a man who just sits in the basement and doesn't speak, and a couple dozen civil wars are some of the more normal aspects of the book. Marquez' other works also tend to feature this to a greater or lesser degree, such as ''A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings'' (where an old man with huge wings is kept in a manor under the belief he is an angel before being released and flying away).

* In ''The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake'' by Aimee Bender, Rose has the ability to [[TheEmpath taste the emotions]] of whoever cooked her food. The book, however, mostly focuses on her relations with her family. Her brother Joseph is said to frequently vanish without a trace, and near the end of the book it's revealed that [[spoiler: he involuntarily turns into furniture at times. Her father also reveals that his father could smell peoples' characters and he himself is implied to be able to heal people.]]

* Delia Sherman's ''The Porcelain Dove'', about a cursed family of French aristocrats during the build up to the French Revolution. [[TheMagicGoesAway It's also hinted that once magic was both more common and more powerful]].

* ''Snow in August'' by Pete Hamill pulls out the magic realism card in the last few chapters. In order to punish the gang of antisemitic thugs that beat a Jewish store clerk into a coma, threatened Michael and his friends, beat him up later on, attempted to sexually assault his mother, beat up Rabbi Hirsch, and repeatedly vandalized the temple with swastikas, Michael [[spoiler: performs the Golem summoning ritual in the legend the Rabbi told him and actually succeeds. As part of the miracle, all of the gang's victims are also healed, and the Rabbi's wife who was killed by the Nazis is brought back to life.]]

* Karen Tei Yamashita's ''Tropic of Orange'' proudly parades its magic realism and Gabriel García Márquez influence. Seven main characters in modern-day Los Angeles and Mexico's lives interweave in strange and not-very-satisfying ways when an orange causes a gigantic traffic accident, then firestorm on a major freeway. Meanwhile, another orange that happened to grow on the Tropic of Cancer (which was fertilized somehow by the woman who works on the property) causes the geography to shift completely when... well, it still doesn't make much sense, except there were lots of [[AuthorTract Author Tracts.]]
** Similarly, her novel ''Through the Arc of the Rainforest''. The plot revolves around a massive field of [[GreenRocks plastic with seemingly magical properties]] being uncovered in the middle of UsefulNotes/TheAmazonRainforest, and the manner in which the main characters (including an American businessman with three arms, a Japanese railway conductor with a little ball floating in front of his face, and a Brazilian radio evangelist who thinks that the plastic is holy) interact with it.

* Creator/HonoreDeBalzac's ''The Wild Ass' Skin'' is an UnbuiltTrope. It is psychologically realistic story of a ByronicHero but has the animal skin as a magical talisman used as part of the plot.
* Creator/BruceSterling's ''Zeitgeist'', set in the midst of [[MillenniumBug [=Y2K=]]] hysteria and featuring one [[TheTrickster "Leggy" Starlitz]] and his [[MagicalGirl rather odd daughter]].