Before Wallace's most famous book "" was accepted for publication, he wrote five novels which were rejected by publishers. Since then, his books have been translated into 18 languages, while "Big Fish" was made into a film by Tim Burton. In a 2011 article for Pure Movies, he wrote about how absurd he found it that "Big Fish" was the book that was adapted into a film when all his others have clearer narrative structures. His other books include "Ray in Reverse", "The Watermelon King", and "Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician". While his short stories have been published in a number of anthologies and magazines, including "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror".