"The book of Prague" by Ivana Myskova and Jan Zikmund (eds) (Comma Press, 2023)

In the introduction it's pointed out that Prague suffered little WWII damage because because the country surrendered to Germany (the Western allies wouldn't support Czechoslovakia if it fought), and that the Velvet Revolution in 1989 brought its share of problems. It's useful to know this history because the stories aren't all contemporary - one of the authors died in 1977.

• Everyone has their reasons (Simona Bohata) - old Kostya (a repeated pickpocket) is released early on parole from prison. The prison boss thinks he doesn't know he's dying from cancer, but he does. He gets the train to Prague to stay with his friend, Standa, who'd been imprisoned for being a capitalist in the olden days but is doing well now. Kostya explores. There are so many tourists, but passports/credit-cards aren't worth nicking nowadays. His old neighbourhood is almost unrecognisable in parts. He visits his card-playing neighbour from 50 years before. Kostya learns he has a son, Jiri, also in jail, and that the mother had recently died. He feels guilty. He realises he and his son had been in the same jail. He gets himself arrested so he can find Jiri and help him by telling him about helpful Standa. Liked the plot and the period detail.
• A memory (Jan Zabrana) - In 1952 a sacked University worker (ex theology student) is struggling to find work. After 2 weeks in an abattoir he's sacked. He walks almost penniless in the rain. The river tempts him, but he goes to the public baths instead, which revives his spirits. Interesting details, but not much of a story.
• Blue (Marie Stryova) - Her ex-boyfriend Rom knocks, asking for a walk. They go by the river, where they used to go. "In the air over the water there hung a bright, melancholy blue, the kind that evokes sadness or discontent, that whips up loneliness, and that kindles unbelievable dreams and desires". She's studying for exams. They've split up 3 times. She feels guilty because he's so sad. She kisses him, she walks apart from him. She sees a couple making love in the grass. If she and Rom made love it would be private and universal. Even at the end, half way across the bridge, she's unsure. I'm not convinced - the sky, river, lovers and bridge are too obvious symbols
• The Captain's Christmas Eve (Petr Borkovec) - The narrator as military service helped in an old people's home. Nobody was coming to collect "The Captain" for Xmas so on Xmas eve the narrator took him to his family. The house that the captain had the address for was boarded up. They tried some other houses and found one where a young woman knew him and welcomed him in. I don't get it
• A summer night (Michal Ajvas) - Walking by Prague cathedral, the narrator's attacked by an 8 ft high clam that continues laboriously to follow him even after he gets on a tram. He hears a voice offering him companionship and pearls. He escapes. A few days later he sees the clam on the motorway heading out of town. He worries if a squid will come for him next.
• The Liben (Bohumil Hrabal) - In the 1950s the narrator moved to Liben (outskirts of Prague). S/he fell in love with the streets, pub and people of the neighhood, and got married there. Going back years later somebody is still typing in their room. The area's overgrown. No.
• All's well in the end (Irena Douskova) - Zeb's father died 12 years ago. 6 months ago his mother died. She converted to Jewish when 66 (when her father died) though the only known Jew in her family tree was her father's father. She knows about the rules of Orthodoxy etc. She wanted her ashes buried in the cemetery under Zizkov tower (the 2nd oldest cemetery in Prague), illegally, at Easter. He tries to do this, drinking first for courage, but the fence is high, people are around, and he falls asleep drunk. At home he dreams of snakes, which his wife associates with sex and infidelity. He goes to a little 1890s overgrown cemetery out of town. After he buries the bones he realises a 15 year old oriental girl's been watching. He explains what he's done. She says she'll put flowers on the grave - she's christian.
• Realities (Marek Sindelka) - The narrator gets out of a taxi with Anna and crosses a bridge once famous for suicides. They stroll through the night past ads and screens - "Our century's love life is perhaps an even bleaker activity than tourism ... We could go over to my place right now, struggle into those ready-made costumes of male and female desire ... the rock'n'roll of the body has long since faded out, the lead singers have been shot and there are too many revival bands to count ... None of these stories offer an insight into the past - they offer an insight into Google ... We've coated it with another layer of reality which entertains us and makes us money. Now we just have to unlearn how to eat and breath .... We are alone, Anna, [] we've sent coded Mozart and a scanned Mona Lisa by radio waves and [] we expect to find someone as lonely as us somewhere in the clusters of galaxies. This intergalactic mating call ... we sing Mozart the way children sing to banish their fear of the dark. We show the Mona Lisa to the Milky Way the way we would show it to mummy". They end up at an all-day party then at night pile into a taxi with booze, tv, and new friends. (the book's longest, with the least about Prague.)
• Zizkovite (Patrik Banga) - The narrator, neither Roma or gadjo, enjoyed the community spirit of the area. He learnt music from the Romas, and computing from the gadjos. After 1990, shinheads and other Roma districts attacked the Zizkov Romas. The area become gentrified. The narrator found his way out, became a web designer and had a children. He lost contact with his childhood friends. Revisiting the area, he notices that so much has changed.(Sounds like autobiography)
• Waiting for Patrik (Veronika Bendova) - The narrator Veronika, 19, works in an antique shops. She's fed up with tourists and the heat. Her boyfriend Patrik left for England the day before. An ex asks her out for the evening. She walks home with her dog, happy. At the end she jumps forward 30 years - the shop closes, her ex suicides, she marries Patrik and has 5 kids, there'll be covid, but Prague will remain beautiful.