Half a Degree Off

By Phạm Thành Long

Half a Degree Off is a collection of seven miniature novels, each built from an ordinary moment tilted just half a degree off-center - enough for reality to reveal what it usually hides.
Chapter 1 dismantles the idea of "spiritual powers" the real miracle is perception, not magic. Chapter 2 examines responsibility as something imposed, traded, and feared more than chosen. Chapter 3 revisits a "lightning-struck" childhood where trouble becomes curriculum. Chapter 4 explores the miracle fruit and the illusions of sweetness - how people get drunk on what tastes "easy." Chapter 5 follows a woman who has spent her life turning right, until the fear of turning left finally loosens. Chapter 6 reflects on maternal love through a mother cat: love is the willingness to swallow the filth so the young can sleep in something called "clean." Chapter 7 walks through Hanoi after a flood: filthy streets, exhausted people, murky water - yet a strangely pure poem rises from the mud.
The book teaches nothing.
It simply offers a small tilt,
a half-degree shift in angle -
just enough for the familiar world
to appear entirely, unsettlingly new.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G58SWBNY
• ISBN13: 9798277538999
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"