The Barnum Museum

"The Barnum Museum" is a combination waxworks, masked ball, and circus sideshow masquerading as a collection of stories. Within its pages, note such exhibits as: a study of the strategies used by the participants in the game of "Clue"; a dilettante who constructs an imaginary woman, and loses her to an imaginary man; and a legendary magician so skilled at sleight-of-hand that he is pursued by police for the crime of erasing the line between the real and the conjured. Ingeniously written, each exhibit in "The Barnum Museum"--including the story upon which the movie "The Illusionist" was based--will compel you to continue reading, luring you to the next. Originally published by Poseidon Press in 1990, Dalkey Archive Press in 2007, now available again.