I’m trying to put together a little reading list of fiction, magical realism I’m guessing, set in a world like ours but where wishes actually come true.
Rationale: I’ve got an idea for a story, but I don’t want to write it if it’s already been done to death. My story would be set after a period of time when wishes came true for people, and looks at how different people deal with the fallout of their choices.
Probably lots of other children’s stuff with the theme of “Be careful what you wish for.” But the one I’ll mention is Half Magic by Edward Eager, In it your wish comes true, but only half your wish, so you have to be careful how your wish is worded.
Also there is a classic short story, more on the adult side, by John Collier, called “The Chaser”. What really happens when that love potion works.
The idea I have in my head is that the story is set some period of time, probably a 5-10 years, after a relatively brief period of time, maybe a year or two, when wishes came true. Some people will have indulged mightily, some will have been cautious, some will have completely abstained. Anyone who made a wish got it, so if their wish was to, say, never be broke, they’d still never be broke, they just couldn’t wish for anything new. If someone wished for a new car, they got their new car, but it’s getting old now just like any other new car.
The story isn’t really about the wishing, though, that’s just sort of background to the story.
I recommend the “Dangerous Angels” series by Francesca Lia Block. In the first, Weetzie Bat, the title character makes three wishes, which come true. The rest of the books deal with what happens as a result of the wishes coming true.
Rusalka and sequels by C.J. Cherryh features wizards who’s powers work like that; they wish, and it comes true. This makes them unpopular, and dangerous even when they don’t want to be. They find it quite difficult to not manipulate people’s minds, for example, simply by an idle desire that someone agree with them or do something. They have to constantly watch their own thoughts, write down anything they wished for ( their version of a spell book ), keep out an eye for unintended consequences, and hope that they didn’t wish for something without realizing it.
There was “The Monkey’s Paw” segment of a “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons.”
The name of course was taken from the famous short story, but the Simpsons treatment seems closer to your concept in that several people were given the opportunity to make wishes, and some did better than others.
Michael Moorcock’s The Dancers At The End Of Time trilogy would seem to fit the bill: they’re not strictly “wishes”, but the surviving humans at the end of time essentially have the power to mould reality as they see fit: they essentially use this power to fuck around, throw parties, and have sex, building colossal and whimsical follies according to their current fancies/bodies/sexual orientation{s}/ongoing feuds.
I was going to suggest the original short story (full text), as well as H. G. Wells’ The Man Who Could Work Miracles, both of the ‘careful what you wish for’-variety, which might not be exactly what the OP had in mind, but are worth considering, since they highlight the dangers of ‘all wishes come true’-scenarios – just one wish either going wrong or going right with destructive intent could have extremely serious consequences.