Divided and Other Stories
Divided: Amy Hale is fed up. She's "made it" according to everyone's standards but her own. As she prepares to exhibit thirteen of her paintings she is forced to confront her cynicism. Will she return to the life of an artist or is it too late for freedom and truth? The Price: Ashley, a former prostitute, and Price Milner, a National Book Award winning author, share one thing in common-fame. But this Pretty Woman story hasn't been a fairy tale. The happy ending wasn't happy. What can a person say when love has lost its voice? The Coyote and Death: Will has been sentenced to death. He has been moved from B House to D House-death row. Yet there, at Death's door, he learns a valuable lesson and makes an unexpected friend. There is still much he can accomplish, so long as he rejects the spirit of fear. The Products: In the vacant world of social media everyone has a product. From cookware to fashion accessories, one's product is symbolic of who one is. When Anita wakes from a nightmare to find that her friend/rival has ditched her product in the middle of the night she must make a decision. Will she wage a symbolic war? If so, will she win?
Wedding at the Graveyard
For four decades Rabbi Bonder was immersed in spirituality and sought out by people who needed comfort. He has now transformed some of these cases into fiction.A Romanian woman, resident of Copacabana, wants to marry her dead fianc矇. The discovery of a manuscript from the Inquisition, written to defame a woman, has the power to awaken lust and perversion in whomever reads it. A boy who scares his parents with paranormal powers prepares for his bar mitzvah. These are the subjects of Nilton Bonder's imagination in this collection of short stories. He writes in the tradition of the best of Isaac Bashevis Singer.Each story comes from a place bordering reality with the unusual and inexplicable, revealing the little that's required to transform the ordinary into extraordinary. With starting points from real situations (including the author himself as a young man, seriously bored in the house of Abraham Joshua Heschel), each story moves into another reality.Previously published in Portuguese.
A Memory of Flowers and Coconut
From the pen of a multiple award-winning author comes this collection of stories about love, loss, religion, murder, memory, and mystery.In "Midnight Shift", a pair of doctors seeking intimacy instead discover a dying patient eager to divulge an ancient crime.In "A Memory of Flowers and Coconut", we are cast back to 1940s South America to witness an unfolding rural tragedy.In "New", the mystery of a sick child reveals the fabric of Creation itself.In "The Emerald in the Diamond", a robbery in the Mongolian desert somehow makes its way to a baseball stadium in Missouri.These and eight other stories will entertain, evoke, and inspire. Raywat Deonandan' first collection of short stories, Sweet Like Saltwater, won the Guyana Prize for Literature (the national book award of Guyana) in the Best First Work category. Here are some samples of reviews of his fiction"The imagery is often quite wonderful, capturing sights, sounds, smell, touch, very well." -Linda Field, Arsenal Pulp Press"Through... brilliant characterization and dialogue, the reader is engaged in continuous storying." -Anne Forsythe-Moore, Canadian Author Magazine"Quirky and engaging." -Jim Bartley, The Globe and Mail"Deonandan celebrates the dignity of the common people." -Barbara Mujica, Americas Magazine
What Remains After a Fire
In eight unflinching and stunningly crafted stories, Kanza Javed unspools the lives of characters desperately trying to forge a path for themselves on the margins of society. An addict teaches his young son to shoot feral dogs on the streets of Lahore. A Christian nurse gets drawn into a plan to trap the ghost of her patient's former lover. A Pakistani student in a small Appalachian town grapples with a startling act of violence that shatters her illusions of safety and freedom. A lonely wife, trapped indoors by a harsh winter, becomes increasingly obsessed with a cloth worry doll left behind by a previous tenant.Written with keen psychological insight and remarkable empathy, these stories reach across divides of class, gender, and religion as Javed deftly examines questions of identity and agency, belonging and loss. What Remains After a Fire is a moving portrayal of fiercely resilient characters who desire more than what their circumstances can offer them--and what these desires ultimately cost them.
Burn the Plans
Open the page and feel the grip of the narratives as they deliver twists and turns so powerful you'll need to pause and catch your breath. Two young brothers are tasked with burying the family dog only to uncover terrible family secrets. A courtroom sketch artist who can draw the evil she cannot see, that no one dares believe. Grotesque government experiments, a remote viewer who blurs past and future, a crate that contains ancient evil, and bloodthirsty machines are all part of Tyler Jones's suspenseful imagination. Burn the Plans is a relentless journey into the dark places where we end up when all our plans go awry.
Hello
In two novellas and seven shorter stories, award-winning author David Carpenter addresses the theme of human frailties in his distinctively empathetic style.A disabled widower seeks comfort in memory by getting in touch with his younger self. An old drunk, assisted by his own delusions, lays his ghosts to rest. A young child escapes her oppressive family by ministering to the needs of a monster in distress. A social reject acquires a new look and becomes consumed with the need for revenge against his early tormentors. A former social worker encourages a friendship with a paroled criminal. A cleaning woman in strained circumstances, determined to support herself and her child, feels compelled to make extreme choices.Some of Carpenter's characters face the frailties that come with old age, loneliness chief among them. Others become vulnerable to their own compulsions and set in motion moral dilemmas. Many of these loners reach for their phones to send or receive a message that might deliver them from their isolation, but even though they hear "Hello" from the person they reach out to, there is no guarantee of deliverance.These are tales told by a master of language, an author who uses words with skill, sureness, and grace. While his characters may not find what they're looking for, readers of these compelling pieces of short fiction surely will.
Our Lives Are Fairy Tales
Once upon a time, it became common to say that "life isn't a fairy tale." But is that accurate? Romance, darkness, creativity, faith, revenge, miracles, satire-they're always there, embracing us like eager thorny roses. In this collection, explore ten short stories blending fairy tale, historical fiction, and psychological narrative with Christian themes. Encounter entities with past life memories, a Robber Bridegroom retelling, a curious stranger in the woods, a building that's more than it appears, an artistic residence program gone wrong, a natural disaster of sorts, and more. Enter and discover this place where our lives are fairy tales.
The Shadow of the Mammoth
A brilliant, unsettling collection of 18 stories about deception, translation, loneliness, and connection, from one of Mexico's greatest modern writers. Why is grass in airports so important? Can you be an extraordinary copyist without knowing how to read or write? Are there successful musicians who only play a single note in their life? Book after book, Fabio Mor獺bito's stories have become increasingly radical in their way of showing us that imagination is not a curious feature of the mind, but perhaps the only way to not feel excluded from the real world. With prose free of unnecessary explanation and descriptive embellishments, The Shadow of the Mammoth insists once again on the guiding principle of Mor獺bito's work: playing fair with the reader, who advances in reading these stories as he did when writing them, open to any direction they could take. For this reason, these stories are as unexpected as they are different from each other, all united by that pleasure of storytelling that has always been Mor獺bito's unmistakable hallmark.
The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe
Longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story CollectionFeatured on The Millions' Great Fall 2025 Book PreviewWinner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize, these lyrical, haunting stories invite us to question the stories we tell ourselves and to imagine other paths--joyful, whimsical, even absurd--through the world. A wife finds herself literally shrinking in her house, day by day; a mother recalls the surreal day when her infant daughter survives a close encounter with a bear; and, inside her lover's heart, a woman discovers a secret nightclub populated by all the women he's loved and left. In the worlds, Woods conjures, childhood memories ripple through adult lives, and characters test the limits of their self-created realities. The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe urges us to contemplate how we can escape loneliness and heartbreak and live on our own terms.
I Got a Story to Tell, Tale, Tail
Welcome to "I Got A Story to Tell, Tale, Tail (What's Your Story)" by A. Lee-a unique exploration into the art of storytelling where every individual's narrative is celebrated. This book is not just a collection of stories on a page; it is a source of inspiration designed to ignite your imagination, coax out your truths, and weave them into compelling tales.In a world overflowing with stories waiting to be told, this book invites you to delve into the depths of your experiences, whether rooted in reality, fantasy, or the spaces in between. It serves as a canvas for you to paint with the colors of your imagination, drawing from real-life events, whimsical fantasies, profound beliefs, or even crafting stories from the perspectives of others. Dive in and discover the power of your own story.
Keeping it Cool
Every good mum knows how to keep her daughter safe. But how will Izzy's mum cope on a visit to a perilous ice rink? Josh thinks Elise's boyfriend wish list is rather unusual. Can he tick all the boxes? Mario knows that his name is as common in Italy as John Smith. But why are his friends sending him funeral wreaths?Stefania Hartley's brand-new collection is filled with relatable characters and real-life scenarios. Ten humorous and uplifting stories, perfect for your coffee break.Also available in ebook and Large Print paperback. "I loved these stories that I could read on my bus journey to work and arrive in a good mood. I recognised myself in a lot of them, and giggled at the predicaments the characters faced. I found myself nodding at the end of the stories, acknowledging the life lesson described in such a heart-warming way. I highly recommend this entertaining collection."-Sandy Salisbury
Thin Slices
Welcome to Thin Slices, the debut collection from Melody E. McIntyre, writer of short, dark fiction. With over 90 stories, all less than 1000 words apiece, this little book is bursting with scares. Melody drew her inspiration from history, mythology, science fiction, monsters, ghosts, and secret places only accessible by night.These stories may be tiny, but the terrors they invoke are anything but.
A History of Hand Thrown Walls
A History of Hand Thrown Walls by Adele Evershed is a captivating novella-in-flash, blending interconnected flash fiction pieces with the timeless presence of hand-built walls scattered across Connecticut. Each story stands alone with its own beginning, middle, and end, yet together they weave a narrative tapestry deeply rooted in Connecticut's landscape and history.The collection takes diverse forms, including letters, pamphlets, poems, and traditional flash fiction, offering readers a rich and varied reading experience. Spanning centuries, the novella begins with tales from pre-colonial times, journeys through pivotal moments in history, and culminates in a dystopian future.Recognized for its innovation and depth, A History of Hand Thrown Walls was shortlisted for The Reflex Novella Awards, making it to the final eight out of 145 submissions. This is a work where past, present, and imagination converge through the lens of storytelling.
That Very Place
The characters in THAT VERY PLACE find themselves in settings-whether mundane or bizarre-that they'd rather avoid. Each is chasing or fleeing from a bond too deep to sever: an unwanted child, an unloving parent. Long-ignored troubles erupt into chaos, forcing them to confront the damage they've caused and the pain they can't outrun.In a nursing home's bleak room, a woman with advancing dementia confesses to her unsuspecting niece that she's actually her mother. But is it too late for the truth to matter?At a wedding held in a garishly decorated Laundromat in Queens, a young woman hesitates to give up her child for adoption, torn between her own instincts and the certainty that the child's father will leave if she doesn't.On the verge of crossing 7th Avenue, a directionless college student catches sight of a homeless woman who might be his estranged mother-and glimpses a potential doorway into a new life.In the blistering heat of a baseball field parking lot, a girl grappling with her grandmother's worsening dementia and devastating loss finds clarity after a chaotic encounter with a wildly incoherent homeless woman.In THAT VERY PLACE, the ordinary is infused with the extraordinary-things that simply shouldn't be happening. As these characters navigate their unraveling lives, they are confronted with choices and truths they've long ignored. What waits on the other side may finally illuminate what they've been missing all along.
The Vanishing Point
From the bestselling novelist, travel writer, and "master of the short story" (NPR) comes a brilliant new collection.The stories in Paul Theroux's fascinating new collection are both exotic and domestic, their settings ranging from Hawaii to Africa and New England. Each focuses on life's vanishing points--a moment when seemingly all lines running through one's life converge, and one can see no farther, yet must deal with the implications. With the insight, subtlety, and empathy that has long characterized his work, Theroux has written deeply moving stories about memory, longing, and the passing of time, reclaiming his status, once again, as a master of the form.
Consecration Pond
Consecration Pond is a collection of eleven linked short stories that all take place along the shores of the same pond in Maine. Together, they offer a meditation on the nature of wisdom, the risks and gifts of allowing ourselves to be seen, and the challenge of creating meaning in the wake of loss. Consecration Pond is about the experience of being human. It's about people who are haunted by guilt or regret or unresolved grief. People who love deeply, but can't act on their love. People who carry a darkness so deep that it breaks them. And people who, while overcome with gratitude for their life, acquiesce to their death. It's about you and me and everyone. And it's about dragonflies and frogs and stars and the pond above which they fly and leap and shine.In many of the stories, some aspect of the natural world serves as metaphor for the character's situation or challenge, or the story's theme. For instance, in "Wild Geese," the narrator, Gus, encounters both the stiff body of a dead cat and a huge and raucous flock of wild geese. These creatures, one solitary and the other communal, reflect both the costs of our individualistic culture and a path forward. In a few stories, an incident in the natural world actually shifts the narrator's consciousness. This happens, for example, when Evelyn in "Paper Lanterns" sees a falling star. Most importantly, some of these stories reveal the natural world as teacher. Howard Nemerov's poem "The Pond" was an important influence on the book, especially the story "Spring Ice." The poem's speaker tells of a pond that appeared at the end of a meadow after one rainy October, and of a boy named Christopher who went skating there that winter and drowned. The following summer, the narrator sees a dragonfly, a "winged animal of light," that had once, as a nymph, been a "killer" on the floor of the pond, and his recognition of this duality, this casting off of one identity for another, brings the speaker not consolation, he says, but acquiescence. That message of acquiescence to loss and change runs through many of the stories, probably most strongly through the title story.
Apothecary of Curiosities
It isn't easy being the Grim Reaper.For millennia, Death watched over the fleeting lives of mortals, claiming their souls as is her duty. Each year, the story was the same. Humans wasted the gifts they were given, allowing the precious sands of time to slip through their grasp. But, who did they blame? Not themselves, of course, but the horseman who came to collect her due.Such an existence grew tiresome for the creature. Bored of humanity's antics, the reaper opened a quiet apothecary and began peddling her curious wares. Her little shop became an escape from their ire, a distraction to pass the decades.Over time, the mortals let down their guards, but the horseman never did. Now and then, she changed the rules of the game, reminding humans of one very important thing...Death is inevitable. There is no escape. For in the end, there is no way out of the graves they've dug for themselves. When the tides turn, no plea or bargain will change their fates.Author's Note: This compilation of short stories contains five previously published tales in the Apothecary of Curiosities series, as well as an exclusive bonus story not available anywhere else: "Death's Nell," "Kiss of Death," "Deadly Delicacies," "Everything Dies," "Death Waits For No One" (Exclusive), and "Death Warmed Over." Each has its own content warnings. To view them, please visit the author's website, www.samanthamoran.net.
The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant
A collection of over thirty short stories by one of the greatest fiction writers in American history, now available in a single volume for the first time ever. Mavis Gallant's extraordinary mastery of the short story remains insufficiently recognized. She may be the best writer of stories since the early-1950s prime of John Cheever, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor, and even in such august company, her work is sui generis. Gallant's short fiction refines the art of the story even as it expands the boundaries of what a story can be. Above and beyond that, however, it constitutes a striking, almost avant-garde reduction. To read her is to discover something about the very nature of story: how for better or worse life is caught up in it, and how on the page that common predicament can come to life. The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant includes more than thirty stories never before gathered into one volume, including "The Accident" and "His Mother" and "An Autobiography" and "Dédé." With the publication of this book, finally all of this modern master's fiction will be in print.
Patchwork Dolls
In this debut story collection, Ysabelle Cheung weaves an eerie fabulism with tales that cross continents, technology, and time.Set in Hong Kong and America--between the present day and an uncannily altered future--this story collection warps the familiar rules of our world to ask: what does it mean to be Asian and a woman--living under the specter of state and technological surveillance--or trying to break free from it?In the title story, a young woman of color realizes she can make her fortune by surgically selling her facial features to whiter, wealthier clients. In "Please, Get Out and Dance," a group of rebels escapes a city that is literally disappearing around them--building by building, person by person--to migrate to a new home beneath the ocean, defying their government's mandate. "Herbs" follows an elderly widow who, when the clones of her dead husband start to appear uninvited in her home, must grapple with her memories.In each of these stories, Cheung tilts the world just slightly off its axis to bring together a haunting meditation on what it means to survive within our increasingly digitized and mechanized world.
When the Stars Were All I Had
When the Stars Were All I Had is a collection of poignant stories that explore the beauty found in life's most fleeting moments. From quiet acts of kindness to decisions that reshape futures, each tale reminds us of the connections, memories, and small, powerful moments that linger long after they've passed.In these pages, a boy searches for a missing shoe and discovers resilience. A woman's split-second choice to rescue a stranded seagull rekindles a forgotten dream. An unlikely friendship between a group of children and a reclusive neighbor brings warmth to winter's coldest days. And, beneath the stars, two people separated by war find that hope can be the light that carries them through the darkest of nights.Perfect for fans of deeply moving and intimate storytelling, When the Stars Were All I Had invites readers to pause, reflect, and cherish the transient beauty of life's most meaningful moments.
Second Wind
48 stories to chill and burnBrace yourself. A new batch of deviously original stories from Terry F. Torrey is blowing in, with strange characters and surprising plots.Scratch your head at the tales in Strange Days, where the "Storm Trees" react to a summer squall, everyone goes crazy for "The Red Balloon," and a regular guy gets railroaded into "Suspicious Behavior." Feel a chill at the stories in Nervous Nights, where a motorcyclist is trapped in a dark "Cycle," and the "Ghost Runner" haunts the highways. In Men and Women, feel the glow of the "Hot Summer Night," the tender saltiness "On The Beach," and the jaw-dropping shock of "World of White." In Life and Death, mourn "The Death of Karma," relish the unanswered questions in "Above The Field Of Buttercups," and feel the chill of "A Dark And Stormy Night." Get ready to laugh at Silly People, where the subversive "Enemies Of The Library" operate in the shadows, where Idea Man goes unappreciated, and where Larry Harrison suffers an ordinary night shift.These and many more stories are churning in, and the forecast is for a dark and stormy night of fiction. This is the mighty Second Wind.
Midnight and Other Short Stories
Midnight and Other Short Stories is a captivating collection of fourteen short stories and flash fiction tales of folklore reimagined, including: The Time Between: Xanthe, a grieving woman, receives a mysterious invitation to a grand ball where time has no meaning. Here, in a place called The Time Between, she encounters others also seeking solace and a chance to reunite with lost loved ones. However, the true nature of this enchanting place may be more sinister.The Green Man's Toast: A disillusioned man named Ed finds himself drawn to the ancient stones of Stonehenge on the night of the summer solstice. There, he meets a mysterious stranger who offers him a toast to life renewed, and a chance to see the world with new eyes.Midnight: A black cat and familiar to a powerful witch, overhears a plan to cast The Night Spell, which will destroy everything non-magical in the world. He must rally the other magical creatures of the city, including Athena the owl and Kitsune the shape-shifting fox, to stop the coven before it's too late.Melusine: Sarah, a young woman, encounters Melusine a mythical water spirit who claims to be her mother. She warns Sarah of the dangers of love and betrayal, but Sarah, filled with the hope of her own newfound love, refuses to believe her mother's tale.Silicon Princess: A man obsessed with a brilliant tech CEO who sets him an impossible task to win her favor.The Falls: Haruki, a young man on a journey to connect with his Japanese heritage, finds himself lost in the forest near the Jōren Waterfalls. There, he encounters a beautiful woman named Emiko who offers him solace and companionship. But her true nature may be more monstrous than he can comprehend.These are just a few of the stories in this collection. Each tale is a unique exploration of the power of myth and legend, weaving together elements of dark fantasy, speculative fiction, and European and Japanese folklore.
Silent Sam and Other Stories
In Silent Sam, an unassuming young man who witnesses a shooting in a small Western town sets out to right what wrongs he can and reaps a surprising reward. Potter's Tales continues the story of Gresham Potter Kranz III after he becomes the town's sheriff and dispenses justice for crimes from cattle rustling to murder. Revel in the rich variety of Alan Arkema's imagination as it ranges from reminisces of a hot-headed teenager to the adventures of a lively squirrel. From a counselor who saves a marriage to a sturdy Dutchman who saves a community church, these stories explore the depths of human resilience, integrity, and absurdity. Rounding out the collection are poems that explore the full range of human emotion, from radiant joy and deep grief to, at last, quiet discovery. Marvelous in its range and diversity, Silent Sam and Other Stories offers an unrivaled adventure into a rich and surprising world where justice prevails and rebirth is possible even after the longest of journeys.
Letters From Prague
In a world where cultural divides often seem insurmountable,"Letters from Prague" tells the powerful story of two souls from opposite ends of the spectrum who are brought together by fate. Their journey is one of self-discovery, love, and the ultimate test of selflessness-a story of breaking societal norms in the search for true companionship.
April Showers
Six stories written during April of 2020, April Showers draws together the fantastic made ordinary, and the fantastic in the ordinary. These rainy-day stories celebrate moments of peace amid chaos, the value of family, and the extraordinary adaptability of the human spirit.
Radar Road
Radar Road is a selection of short stories from the On Impulse series. In four collections that move from raw to refined, the On Impulse series invites the reader to contemplate how we use language now: online, in full-length books, and with each other. Morgan Kiger arranged this fifth book to stand on its own while showcasing the series's original exploratory trajectory from catharsis to craft.
Bartelby and Benito Cereno
"I would prefer not to." - Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener" Herman Melville is considered to be among the best of American writers not only for his powerful novels, but also for his short stories and stirring novellas. Two of these are the most renowned of his shorter works, Bartleby: The Scrivener, and Benito Cereno. They first appeared as magazine pieces and were then published in 1856 as part of a collection of short stories, The Piazza Tales. In Bartleby, also known as Bartleby and the Scrivener, a Wall Street lawyer hires a new clere, Bartleby, to copy legal documents by hand. At first Bartleby proves to be a very productive worker but one day when asked to proofread a document he replies "I would prefer not to", an answer he begins repeating perpetually in regards to all the tasks asked of him. What follows for Bartleby is a tragic decline into apathy. It is an intriguing moral allegory set in the business world of New York in the mid 19th-century in which Bartleby forces his employer to come to grips with the most basic questions of human responsibility and it haunts his conscience even after Bartleby is fired. Benito Cereno, is considered to be one of Melville's best short stories and a masterpiece of short fiction. The story is about Don Benito Cereno, the captain of a Spanish slave ship, and the bloody revolt that happens aboard his ship. It is an interesting parable of man's struggle against the forces of evil, and the carefully developed plot builds to a dramatic climax as it reveals the depravity and horror of which man is capable. Both of these Melville tales are sterling examples of a literary giant at his story-telling best and are widely regarded as two of Melville's finest compositions which belong on every bookshelf.
Men Who Walk in Dreams
A corporate worker abruptly quits his job to make the world's greatest mozzarella cheese; a widowed Bed and Breakfast owner dishes out advice along with spoonfuls of his deceased wife's last batch of jam to the suitor who buys a house sight unseen hoping the woman he loves will move in with him. There is the new mother who takes a lover right under her doting husband's nose, the young boy who flees one dangerous country to start a new life in another, and the transgendered son who discovers his mother's clairvoyance. The characters in these stories are not afraid to take tremendous risks. From El Salvador to Cape Cod to Antarctica, from a secluded Italian Snake Festival to a packed subway car to a World War II bomber, in this collection of stories men and women cling to ambitions, thwarted love, and misguided assumptions, as they dream to reinvent themselves, seek revenge, foresee the future, recapture that which has escaped their grasp, or merely survive. Fueled by passions and desires, they must choose between illusion and reality despite all repercussions.
2000 Deciduous Trees
2000 Deciduous Trees is an exploration of individual experience selected from Nath Jones's '90s zine, The Skirt. The writing resists losing its balance during a time when gasoline was cheap and no one drove slowly on the cusp of the new millennium. The voice yearns for change. But nothing can be done in a twenty-something world where one-night stands get forgotten with execution-style murders.
Love & Darts
Anderbo 2012 Self-Published Book Award Entry of Note and Honorable Mention at the 2012 Paris Book Festival. You'll be entranced by these twenty-four stories as Nath Jones finds her way into this fun and biting life. This is the third of her books of short stories. She conducts you from the kaleidoscopic moment when a toddler loses her innocence to the last breath an old man takes in a rowboat at sunrise.
The War is Language
Winner of the 2013 Eric Hoffer E-book Fiction Award The War is Language is a destruction of narrative, experimental as a short story book. These often humorous pieces exist at an amorphous limit of spoken word and deconstruction. This mosaic of cathartic, inflammatory language is quite disordered as a short story collection.
Acquainted with Squalor
Acquainted with Squalor delivers astonishing power of body-and-soul. Meteors fall, an old neighbor tosses an infrared Phoenix beacon into a cup of loose change, and a woman on the phone with a friend mentions nothing about her eviction notice. These nine stories nourish our sense of wonder and acknowledge our deepest despair. Who has the endearing audacity to call a lover "Governor General"? Who will sit down together on a hot day to eat frozen blueberries on a country lawn? Nath Jones captures what it means for us to be at home and still awash in the world.
Adventures, Barbarians, and Devil's Breath
Adventures, Barbarians, and Devil's Breath is the place where everyone should embark on a wild and whimsical journey. Follow the interconnected lives of eccentric characters who come into contact with the white-haired, blue-eyed, slightly pot-bellied Englishman with a pair of sturdy-looking legs who speaks little Spanish. His enigmatic nature and unexpected encounters will keep you turning the pages.In Part 1, Adventurous Tales from a Few Mountain Walks, a climate-change-induced earthquake shakes up the Andes Mountain Ridge, bringing together a diverse cast of colourful individuals, from a singing Nun to a street man with no memory, a thirsty Colibri, flying cows, a third-generation Kenworth truck driver, a bold senora on a quad bike, a satellite thinking kite, and a Chilean wine bottle longing for adventure, there's a character for everyone in this South American adventure.In Part 2, At last, the Barbarians are sleeping. The narratives continue in a bustling city where familiar faces from Part 1 mingle with a new array of characters, from a cat with two adventurous kittens and three generations of forgotten trains to a law-abiding Cannonball Tree, a couple of soaking-wet gnomes, a lucky young Policeman from the jungle, and a migrating regiment of honking geese to statues with tales to tell. Amidst storms, mudslides, and flooding, the Museo de Fenix becomes a sanctuary for thecity's older population, intertwining human and animal experiences against a backdrop of turmoil.In Part 3, Devil's Breath Claims New Victims, Conquistadors and Rebel Generals discover the true meaning of adventure and friendship as they venture through historical tales from Cartagena to Santa Marta, uncovering secrets of their past. The stories weave together elements of history, mystery, and bravery, transporting the reader to dramatic events from war-torn Berlin in WW2 to the Bermuda Triangle to South America today.
