Golden Dust
In this engaging collection of place-based tales, Igor Shchepetkin pushes storytelling into anew realm of the real. The author's mesmerizing prose crosses boundaries and conventions involving the geographical, literary, natural, and supernatural in order to capture the unexpected and unsettling experience of modern life. Drawing inspiration from writers such as Sasha Sokolov, Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov, and Edgar Allen Poe, Shchepetkin leads readers on ajourney through Soviet and post-Soviet history while exploring the haunted and unknown spaces of the human psyche. These stories remind us how the real is sometimes indistinguishable from the unreal, how politics and history are shot through with fairy tales and dreams, and how the living often share aworld with the dead. One character recalls amoment from the past when adesperate community gathers together, hoping to save achild from awatery death. Another narrator recalls youthful games played out among nearby gravestones. In these tales, the upheavals of 20th-century wars linger on, casting along shadow on characters who struggle with life, death, and meaning in the present era. We learn about the battle wounds of awise grandparent who managed to survive war with his imagination intact. In another story, aboy and his father go berry picking deep in the Russian forest where they unexpectedly encounter barbed wire left from an abandoned prison camp, signs of aworld whose devastations haven't ended. Later, afamily friend is reported to the police by his disgruntled ex-wife, setting off achain reaction that involves searches, confiscations, terminations, and dispersals.
Letter to Sarah and Other Stories
Letter to Sarah and Other Stories consists of five stories, three of which share a horsey theme, including the titular one. "Letter to Sarah" is also a romance, although the protagonist is not a part of that. A gutsy main character in "The Lucky Girl" proves having pluckiness can save you from the unwanted fate of sexual assault or worse, and she was in the unfortunate situation thanks to her love of horses and riding, of all things. In "No One Winner," a grandmother "tolerates" the county fair atmosphere, so she can watch her granddaughter compete on her horse, proving dedication to family can prevail, even for a snoot. Not only that, Grandma saves the day for her granddaughter. "Party Time- Not!" involves a mother who mistakenly believes she raised her daughter well, but she in fact raised a monster, in no small part thanks to the company the daughter keeps. The mother in "Mother Knows Best" feels burdened by having to raise her daughter single-handedly, despite being married. Following a shoplifting incident by her daughter, the mother realizes it's imperative to step up more as a mother, so both receive a reality check.
Doll Seed
Michele Tracey Berger crosses genre and style to create scary sci-fi horror stories largely based on the lives and experiences of black girls and women. Robust characters and magical storytelling make this collection stand out. -Ms. MagazineDoll Seed: Stories by Michele Tracy Berger is a dazzling debut collection of speculative short fiction. The stories span horror, fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism, but are always grounded in very real characters and beautifully rendered, distinctive communities. Often thematically centered on the lives of women and girls, especially women of color and their experiences of vulnerability and outsider status, these stories are often playful and always provocative.Fifteen stories invite you to get comfortable in the dark, to consider freedom and sacrifice, trust and betrayal, otherness, and safety. Marisol, an aspiring jewelry artist is haunted by a fast-food icon. Chevella, a self-aware doll, finds herself in 1950s America playing a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. Lindsay, a Black girl in 1970s America "wins" an extraterrestrial in a national contest only to find her family's life upended. Chelsea and Jessa, two sisters, fight about what a strange child means for their family. A meat grinder appears in a magical forest and chaos ensues. All this and more.
The Butterfly Disjunct
A scientist haunted by an impossible ghost. A cocky poet attempting to outrun peace. A grieving mother looking for life beneath Europa's icy surface. A ship AI desperate to rescue its beloved crew. An ongoing fight against the end of existence. Equal parts earnest and strange, Stewart C Baker's stories span the breadth of human emotion, space, and time. In this debut collection, gender and genre collide to celebrate relationships and empathy in all their forms.
Blue are the Stars
A strange weed that has strangled society in its grasp; a mother and child somehow flourishing in a grey soulless world; an odd waif with a penchant for fire; a Professor on trial for his nonconformity in a totalitarian University; an Englishman bedeviled by the wiles of Tsarina Catherine the Great's Imperial Russia; Giants who give way to local lore; an ivory city ruined by vice; these are merely a few of the weird characters and strange settings populating the surreal pages of Blue are the Stars, a unique collection of stories from the pen of L.P. Hammond.
Dust, dancing
In Ian Gouge's eclectic new collection, Dust, dancing, many of the protagonists find themselves thwarted: by ambition, by love, by old age. Interlaced with occasional victories, they experience both avoidable and unavoidable setbacks: the man tattooing his life history on his back; the woman fantasising about a Hollywood star; the man fired from his job; the actress believing she is destined to be 'a Bond Girl'; the policewoman making a gruesome discovery. We share the pleasure and pain associated with their various journeys, the resonance of our own experience often adding a personal veneer to our reading.Gouge's work has been compared to Henry James, Sally Rooney, Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway. Dust, dancing is his fourth collection of short stories.
Good Night, Sleep Tight
"Perhaps tomorrow I will wake up another person. Perhaps tomorrow I will wake up not a person at all." From the "master of literary horror" (GQ) comes a collection of new stories tracing the limits and consequences of artificial intelligence and "post-human" relationships. Populated by twins stepping into worlds of absence, bears who lick their cubs into creation, and artificial beings haunted by their less-than-human nature, each page sketches a world where our all-too-real feelings of isolation and ecological dread take on an otherworldly tinge. In Good Night, Sleep Tight, Brian Evenson deftly weaves ethical dilemmas, maternal warmth, and echoes of apocalypse into his most tender, disquieting book yet.
Is It Just Me?
Do you..........Like poems in ode form? Like short stories? Like music? Like the visual arts? Like places with ambience? Like stories about relationships? Like light-hearted humour? Dislike today's politics? Dislike injustice and the unaccountable face of power? Answered "Yes" to any of the above? If so, Is it just me....... who thinks this book's for you?
In the Gathering Woods
2000 Drue Heinz Literature Prize WinnerSelected by Frank ConroyIn the Gathering Woods contains a cast of characters who hail from the same Italian ancestors, but whose stories come at us unbounded by time and space. The book opens early in the twentieth century, with a narrator\u2019s boyhood recollections of gathering mushrooms with his grandfather--a narrator who seems still haunted by a terrifying local legend that tormented him as a boy. We skip backward to a young shepherd-artist in the Apennine mountains in the 1500s, who yearns to be discovered, as Giotto was. Later, a preverbal baby accumulates bits of the conversation carried on by adults at the table above her head; a neurologist from Chicago returns to the Apennines to deposit shards of glass at a grave.Whether they speak in the lost dialect of an immigrant, of infancy, or of an adolescent girl\u2019s school lessons, these stories call up fragments of language in a struggle to understand and attempt to console through the act of reassembling. The language of these stories is both lyrical and comic, providing insight through the details of Bernardi\u2019s writing.
An Alphabet of Short Stories
An Alphabet of Short Stories is a collection of stories that spans the spectrum of literary genres. It is the product of accepting the challenge to write a story for each letter of the alphabet. But don't assume you'll know where that letter will take you.
A Cairndhu Nightingale & Other Tales
In his latest collection of short stories and poems, Jim Shields yet again portrays his versatility, sensitivity, sense of place, and keen humour.Within the stories you will find a son confronting his incapacity to love his mother; A grandmother offering words of encouragement to lift her grandson out of impoverishment; An innocent game of hide-and-seek that has unforeseen circumstances; A gentleman carer discovering the true meaning of love and the truth that loss oftentimes forces new beginnings. Whilst in the title story, "A Cairndhu Nightingale" Billy, leaning on his bicycle, allows his inquisitive eyes to meander over the vista before him. Everything around is quiet. The birds fall silent. Every nerve in his body is alert. A voice from behind offers to accompany him to the hospital, and together, they walk into a world of wonder. These are the moments of saltiness and sweetness in everyone's everyday life. The characters, authentically honest and raw, share their moments without glamour.
Selected Stories 3
Twenty of my favorite original short stories, with the variety genres of mystery, romance, science fiction, adventure, crime, horror, westerns, and the paranormal.
Speed-Walk and Other Stories
The characters in Speed-Walk and Other Stories often find themselves dislocated, living in places that do not resemble or feel like home. Their lives have somehow been turned on their axes, and often they cannot comprehend why. The stories in this stunning debut collection are united by their protagonists' common quest to make sense of the world, to bring it into focus, to set it right, to adapt.In selecting Suzanne Greenberg's fiction for the 2003 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Rick Moody wrote, "A charge sometimes leveled against contemporary fiction these days is that it has abrogated its responsibility to depict civilization as it actually exists. . . . Speed-Walk replies forcefully to this aesthetic error by locating its protagonists in completely recognizable environments. . . . [They] are ever engaged by the routines of American life: walking the dog, eating at the sushi bar, doing the laundry." Tightly written yet realistically spare, these stories provide a blueprint for survival when the unexpected is thrust into an ordinary life.
Short Stories
The short stories in my collection cover a wide range of subjects. There are a few which are related, thus listed as Parts I, II, and III. These are continuations of the characters and/or subjects. Some stories are just for fun, comedy. I have long been an admirer of O'Henry's use of irony or a "twist" at the end, so some of these stories follow that style. Reading a short story is like watching a television program, either a half hour or an hour. "Where's Jenny?" is a modern take on the play OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder, set in the 1960's.
Strange
Get comfortable, dear Reader. Settle in tight. The Narrator's here with some stories tonight. Will we have magic, or just coincidence? Will our character learn, or are they too dense? Will you trust a scientist, who grows strange plants? Faced with a monkey's paw, do you take a chance? These stories will cover a weirdly wide range. One thing's for sure: they'll all be ... strange.
Campfire Tales and Other Stuff
Short stories, a couple of novellas, and even a hint of poetry. Historically true and some fiction, you decide where the embellishment exists. A good read with a West Virginia mountain flare. Bernie McMellon, a disabled WWII veteran. Born in West Virginia where many of his family were coal miners. Bernie left West Virginia in 1944, but West Virginia never left him. In 1947, he returned to West Virginia to claim a bride, Dixie, who stuck with him for sixty years. During those busy years, about ten of them, Bernie worked in the medical field as an x-ray specialist. In 1958 he formed his business as a manufacturer's representative with an office in Huntsville, Alabama. From this, he became a world traveler, representing companies in several countries. For the next twenty years, he traveled and worked in all of the lower 48 states, and several countries. but his heart never left west Virginia. West Virginia, Short Stories, Fiction, Campfire, Tales, Mountain
Camera Lake
Fleeing her family, a woman finds unexpected solace in an empty hotel. Following a shattering professional failure, a therapist becomes convinced someone is watching his every move. A coach's disciplinary tactic doesn't so much backfire as it implodes his players' lives. Inhabiting a (mostly) midwestern landscape, Alex Pickett's characters specialize in breaking rules. Believing themselves to be good people, they try to bend their situations to fit their needs or fulfill their desires. The results are rarely completely disastrous or successful, but are tinged with a humor that rides comfortably alongside embarrassment, regret, and longing-and in the process remind us that it is achingly hard to live up to expectations.
Lines That Do Not Cross
Lines That Do Not Cross is a collection of James Casper's stories depicting the sometimes painful truth that certain problems people confront in their everyday lives cannot be solved or resolved. This collection asserts that quick fixes, pop psychology, and the support of family and friends will eventually come to the end of a road where lines do not and never will cross. Part tragic, part comic, part depressing, and also inspiring and uplifting, Casper, in these stories, has laid his fingers upon the pulse of the human condition in a world beset by conundrums and weather that cannot be predicted. The reader is invited to enjoy these stories by paging through the collection, considering the titles, and picking and choosing what to read and what not to read at their leisure as all of us alike in our own lives encounter personal lines that do not cross.
The Adventure of Harwood Squirrel
The Adventure of Harwood Squirrel Harwood is a baby squirrel who lives with his brother Garwood and the other squirrels in a small woods. Their life is easy because a little lady who lives in a small house near the woods feeds seeds and nuts to the birds and to the squirrels. But one day the little moves out of her house. What happened to Harwood when he went looking for the seeds and nuts and found a big yellow truck and a big brown dog is the start of his adventure. What is the adventure? Will his life ever be easy again? Will his life ever be good again?
The Last Cabin
The Last Cabin represents Mike Lein's sixth book and the fifth book in his award winning "Cabin Life" series. It chronicles Mike and his family's life and adventures at their Northwoods lake cabin and a few other even more wild places. In his easy-going, often humorous style he relates the things that happen, the people that are met and all the adventures and misadventures that happen along the way.Like his other books, The Last Cabin is meant to read on a deck while enjoying the summer sunshine, in front of a fireplace on a dark and stormy winter's night, or any other quiet place when the reader needs a break from the hectic pace of modern life.
Chapter One, An Anthology
Chapter One is as innovative and provocative a concept as the name implies. The first section introduces the eight authors of the book to readers by means of an excerpt in the form of the first chapter of one novel written by each of those authors. The book then delivers an anthology of short fiction containing stories as diversified and engaging as its writers. The reader delves into stories that range from the life and death tension of battlefield action in Vietnam and World War II Europe to laugh out loud, outrageous, modern day satire. A poignant scene depicting a suicide phone intervention at a crisis center brings the reader to the edge of his seat and a piece of historical non-fiction takes him back into medieval times. There are tongue-in-cheek peeks at crime family escapades, eye-opening revelations of foster care atrocities and inspiring hero's journeys. Throughout, the stories are well crafted examples of the fiction writer's art. The broad scope of tales is balanced to hold interest and capture attention. Readers will constantly encounter an array of talent to make them laugh, cry, reminisce, or shake their heads in disbelief, but each turn of the page they will spark the craving for more. This is a book that is hard to put down, a book to make you want to read on and on into the wee hours. Authors: Diane Barker, Beverly E. Kotch, Dennis T. Kotch, Greg Lane, Stephen Loomis, R."Duke" Liddell, Joan Vullo Obergh, James D. Robertson Keywords: Anthology, Short Stories, Fiction, Long Island NY, Writers, Romance, Crime, Mystery, Viet Nam, Humor
Christian Combinations
"Christian Combinations" are a series of books created by Christian author, Melanie Schatzel, M.Ed. to offer her beloved readers an alternative option to her books originally published as EBooks. In "Christian Combinations: Short Stories; An Old Violin & The Courage of One" there is a central theme of finding courage to accept one's responsibilities as a Christian and to live life in accordance to one's faith. In "An Old Violin" a teenage boy reflects on some very important conversations with his mom, to a congregation gathered for her funeral. Being asked to speak, he contemplates the last few weeks of conversations wither her about who he is, what is expected of him, and his responsibility to rely on asking the Lord for guidance in his life as to His role and His will for him. In the story, he shares seemingly unrelated conversations he recently had with his mom, in an effort to share with others who she was to him, and how she will be remembered. Additionally, he willingly confesses how she tried to encourage him to be more responsible for his relationship with the Lord. And how on the morning of her death, he seemed to understand that the Lord provided her to encourage him to begin His path. In "The Courage of One," the time is the future, but not too future, and the world is enraged and suffering from endless wars between nations, countries, and even the hearts of man, woman, and child alike. But the introduction boldly states how the time, and the world, in which the protagonist is born into, was a precursor to its own end by catering to the desires and thoughts of carnal man, while showing an utter disrespect for the morals, values, and teachings recorded in the holy scriptures. It follows a giant, gentle soldier, a captain, as he faithfully turns repeatedly to the Lord in prayer to ask His will in his every action. As he obeys the Holy Spirit's promptings, he is lead to another faithful brother whom he has missed since the wars began. And together they embark on an altered quest. But immediately after their reunion, the brother notices how the captain of none, is on God's mission to gather His soldiers. He observes him pray, listen, close his eyes, and reach for the extended hand of one of God's messengers--unseen. Then watches as he navigates through dangerous terrain to safely be led to another. And learns a humbling, enlightening lesson that he soon must employ himself. Powerful stories for the brave at heart!
Delinquents and Other Escape Attempts
When you're trapped in a Rust Belt town, time passes or it doesn't. The people of Westinghouse, Ohio know this better than most. In Delinquents, their personal worlds expand and collapse in on themselves as they battle addictions, build scrap-metal rocket ships, and tether themselves to plans that will either get them out of dodge or blow up in their faces.A former Deadhead seeks sobriety in his hometown, though his decades-old childhood trauma has been exhumed and now awaits him. A sometimes-recovering addict asks his younger sister to put him up as he repairs cars in their yard and she scrabbles to keep her own sanity. A woman intending to follow her boyfriend out of town wonders why a newcomer in Westinghouse has captured her latent interest.Nick Rees Gardner's linked stories portray people as they are: alternately hilarious, desperate, resilient, broken. For the characters contained in Delinquents, the crux is determining which they'll be when the music stops.
The Bliss of Your Attention
A powerful story collection that celebrates those who strive and fail and strive again.If Joseph Campbell's dictum--"follow your bliss"--has become inspiration and goad, accusation and clich矇, then the characters in David Borofka's The Bliss of Your Attention are all the more puzzled by what their futures portend. Their bliss is never clear nor independent of others, for the characters in these stories are ever in search of connection, understanding, and validation, even if the latter--unlike reality and cynicism--is in short supply.As the narrator of "Live with It" tells her would-be novelist husband, "Learn to live with your disappointments." "I mean," she thinks, "I could give him the party line, you know, follow your bliss, etc., etc., but that's where the disappointments come from, don't they? I mean that's where bliss leads if you're no good at the thing that you think makes you happy." Borofka, whose collection A Longing for Impossible Things was selected by the American Book Fest as the 2021 winner of the American Fiction Award for the Short Story, masterfully charts the spectrum of human emotion and the difficulty of connection in these pages.Hapless and bumbling though they may be, the characters in The Bliss of Your Attention continue to move forward despite all evidence to the contrary. As novelist Peter Manseau noted, "The comedy of seeking is rarely so sympathetically portrayed as in Borofka's hands; he captures perfectly the poignancy of dopey mortals dreaming and scheming to reach the divine."
Finding Magic
Magic isn't just shimmering swirls of pixie dust in a fairy tale. Magic is in all the little things that make our lives special, and we don't even stop to pay attention to them. The first spring flowers (some people say they're weeds), a brand new coffee mug, or a fresh snowfall . . . it's the beauty of the ordinary things that puts magic into the world. I hope that as you read this collection of stories and poems, you'll be able to find a little bit of that magic in them.
Atchafalaya Darling
In Shome Dasgupta's latest collection, the dream-like world of South Louisiana shimmers through one of its most original voices. Atchafalaya Darling contains local music scenes, crumbling homes, and creature comforts amid the convergence of wild hopes and rural spaces. Each story navigates the nature of memory, lost or found, sprinkled like spice into the red of the crawfish. While this collection often portrays immense grief-- whether from hurricane winds or splintered dreams-- ?each character clings to a love for place and the people who make it home. Atchafalaya Darling is an homage to Cajun culture, providing ten glimpses into this region like a series of faded Polaroid pictures held under the sun.
Harrigan's Price and Other Stories
Christian Bauer's short stories range from out-of-control Thanksgiving turkeys to a fighter pilot's fateful flight and take the reader from a pizza delivery joint to a homemade backyard rocket ship. Machines have minds of their own with a love for pranks (or even more deadly plans). Sometimes, if you just wait, serendipity solves the problem.This collection highlights some of Bauer's most loved previously-published short stories including "Fresh, Never Frozen" and "Harrigan's Price," while introducing several never-before-published titles, created especially for this collection.
"Oh Threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise"
A book of five short stories1. "Oh threats of hell and hopes of paradise"2. "One thing at least is certain, this life flies"3. "One thing is certain and the rest is lies"4. "The flower that once has blown forever dies"5. "I sent my soul into the invisible some letter of the afterlife spell" My stories (five) are told in the first person and inspired by the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam, the twelfth century philosopher and Edgar Allen Poe. They tell of rape, murder, a philandering preacher, an engineer driven to the gates of insanity by his perfectionist ideals and a despondent professor attempting to leave his legacy by trying to prove Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. I have been writing on these stories for a few years as the spirit would move me to write. When someone asks me what they are about, or to summarize them, my brain sort of goes into neutral and I really don't know where to start. I generally try to change the subject since I can't summarize in 4000 characters or less what I had for breakfast this morning. If the inquisitive person is persistent I simply offer to let them read the book and then they change the subject. Actually, after meditating upon the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam and wallowing his quatrains around in my mind for a while, I generally end up writing a little. I think I'm much like Omar; still trying to deduce what this thing we call "life" is all about! My stories touch on things from the simple life of an Appalachian Mountains sharecropper, a dubious country preacher, rape, murder, an arduous and unnecessary flight from justice, snakebites and miraculous healings, the lynching of an innocent black man, and subsistence farm life to, the complicated motives of brainy engineers and chemists attempting to leave their legacy to science by proving knowledge can be transmitted genetically; thereby, proving Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious to be valid. John Fee Gibson was born and raised in the Appalachian foothills of Southeastern Kentucky. He moved to Ohio as a young man where he graduated from The Ohio State University. He was employed in the metals removal industry for several years as a tool and die maker, designer, and computer aided drafting and machining engineer. He received his teaching credentials later in life and held teaching positions with the Southern Ohio College, the Community College System of Kentucky, and the Public Schools of Ohio. Mr. Gibson presently resides in Fairfield, Ohio and is retired. keywords: Fiction, Short Stories, Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam, Carl Jung, Life, Murder, Rape, Preacher, Engineer
Dipping Toes In Literary Waters
There was no brief, no guidelines and no restrictions. The aim was to just get people to try their hand at writing - to Dip their toes in the literary waters if you will! This is the result; a collection of short stories and poems from first time authors. Read, enjoy and perhaps be inspired yourself to dip your toes...
All that Waits in the Night
13 WICKED TALES. 1 NIGHTMARE OF A STORY.A plane full of corpses. A curse that grows stronger with each flash of a camera. A bullied girl with a monstrous secret. Horror seeps into our world one drop of blood at a time, pooling into a sanguine reflection of the world we once knew and drawing us deep into the shadow-soaked corners of the imagination. J. Patrick Lemarr offers thirteen frightening stories, each featuring a different facet of evil, conjuring darkness and chills sure to grip your attention. In the end, these truths will remain: FEAR is becoming reality. HOPE has never seemed so far away."There is always more to the world around us than what our five senses can determine-a notion near and dear to my own heart. Lemarr plays with this idea brilliantly, yet it's ultimately just another color on his paintbrush... He has far deeper concerns, mostly about what a proud, deceitful thing the human heart can be." - Robin Parrish (Author of Nightmare, RobinParrish.com)
The Rise of Huang Zhou
A secret society is bent on establishing world peace, brotherhood, and equality-no matter how many people they have to kill. Are they right? Are they wrong? Judge for yourself.Behold the rise of Huang Zhou-the greatest mind in all of Asia. Thrown into the Opium War as a child, he survives and embraces the learning of the West-to use against them! Rather than vowing revenge, he strives to bring about an ancient prophecy-and the conquest of the world.To bring peace and solidarity to his own people, Huang Zhou incites a revolt against British rule at the same time in India. When a young and clever prince of India joins the insurrection, the British Empire is rocked to the core! What happens when they strike back?At the same time, Huang Zhou finds a young beauty eager for the admiration of the emperor-and his power. Using every means at his disposal, Huang Zhou maneuvers her ever higher, from concubine to the most powerful woman in the empire. And maybe the world.Huang Zhou pulls a thousand strings across the world stage. Is he the villain they claim he is... or the world's only salvation?
True and Less True Histories
A collection of original, literary fables in the Aesopian style. These stories include origin stories, myths, and legends. Some stories examine the same outcome, but from different viewpoints or possibilities and some stories interact with each other to mimic the way the world already acts upon itself.
Wandering Rocks
Jason, a seemingly unknown and mysterious character, must face a new and different challenge as he wanders from one story to another. Whether his struggle be to survive a room full of federal inmates, to survive an alien invasion, or to learn what kind of man he could become, with each challenge he learns something new about himself and the world in which he lives. Follow his journey in these cryptic, unusual, but connected stories.In this first ever publication, these short stories are Harry Fraser's entry into the literary world. Writing in his spare time, he created compelling and unique tales about India, the relationship between husband and wife, and the dangers of revenge. Readers will have access to such stories as "The Invitation," "The Walk," "The Resistance," and more - now in one collection. In a tribute to James Joyce, the title is taken from the Wandering Rocks episode from Ulysses. Readers will follow the protagonist Jason as he wanders from one story to another, exploring a different theme in each one.
Couch Potato Slices Two
Another book of short stories, musings and quotations.
Camellia Manor
When a painting of a Victorian manor house whispers to Louise from the walls of the Queen Moonfall Curio Shop, she insists on having it as an anniversary gift from her husband. But soon, she realizes the painting is not what it seems, and as she embarks on a fantastical journey, she also ignores the proprietors warning.
Assorted Curiosities
Through the years, I have seriously enjoyed writing these pieces. If that is a recommendation for you, please try a couple of them. If not, and we have merely brushed finger-tips on your way out the door, then vaya bien, amigo: go well.
All the Feels Volume 3
From pasta trucks to suspension bridges, quaint town marathons to dusty prairie errands, the third volume of All the Feels highlights characters with giant hearts and hefty doses of moxie.But, more importantly, this collection of short stories brings a tickle of hope and a dose of escape. So, sit back, cozy up, and get ready to immerse yourself in all the feels...Stories included in this edition: Optimists and Pasta MixesThe Smiley Face Fence on Brookdale DriveLeftoversHalf StaffFetchWouldn't You Like to be a Red-Winged Blackbird?
Stories from the Attic
From a celebrated master of the Southern Gothic comes a last collectionof hard-hitting short fiction, his final posthumous work Beloved for his novels Twilight, The Long Home, and The Lost Country, and his groundbreaking collection I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, William Gay returns with one final posthumous collection of short stories, adaptedfrom the archive found after his death in February 2012. In addition to previouslyunpublished short stories, Stories from the Attic includes fragmentsfrom two of the unpublished novels that were works in progress at the time ofhis death. Marked by his signature skill and bare-knuckled insight, this collection isa must-read for William Gay devotees and fans of Southern short fiction.
Joe Wilson And His Mates
"Joe Wilson And His Mates" by Henry Lawson epitomizes Australian literature, capturing the essence of bush life and outback existence through a collection of short stories. Lawson, a prominent figure in Australian literature, presents character sketches that vividly depict the rural Australia of his time, focusing on the working class and their struggles in the harsh frontier environment. Through Joe Wilson and his mates, Lawson delves into the complexities of Australian identity, showcasing the unique cultural heritage of the nation. Each tale serves as a poignant exploration of human struggles against the backdrop of the outback, highlighting themes of resilience, camaraderie, and perseverance. With social realism at its core, Lawson's stories offer a glimpse into the lives of everyday Australians, portraying their joys, sorrows, and challenges with authenticity and depth. From tales of hardship to moments of triumph, "Joe Wilson And His Mates" immerses readers in a world where the rugged beauty of rural Australia intertwines with the realities of working-class life, creating a timeless collection of frontier tales that resonate with readers across generations.
The Jew And Other Stories
"The Jew and Other Stories" by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is a captivating collection of short stories that epitomizes the essence of Russian literature. Turgenev, renowned for his mastery of literary realism, presents a diverse array of tales that delve into the complexities of human nature, society, and relationships. In this collection, Turgenev explores a myriad of themes, offering poignant social commentary on the intricacies of Russian society. Through rich characterizations and intricate plots, he delves into the depths of identity and conflict, providing readers with a profound exploration of the human psyche. Each story in "The Jew and Other Stories" is imbued with psychological depth, inviting readers to reflect on their own experiences and perceptions of the world. Turgenev's keen observations and astute insights into human behavior elevate the collection beyond mere storytelling, offering a profound examination of the human condition. As a master of the short story genre, Turgenev's work in this collection showcases his unparalleled ability to capture the essence of life in concise yet evocative prose. "The Jew and Other Stories" stands as a timeless testament to Turgenev's literary genius and remains a cornerstone of Russian literature.
Ladies and Gentlemen
"Ladies and Gentlemen" by Irvin S. Cobb is a delightful collection of humorous short stories that encapsulates the essence of Southern culture and everyday life. As a renowned Southern humorist, Cobb infuses his tales with wit and observational humor, offering readers a comedic glimpse into the quirks and idiosyncrasies of Southern life. Through character-driven narratives, Cobb masterfully navigates the complexities of social interactions, portraying gentlemen and ladies in various comedic situations. With keen satire and social commentary, he sheds light on the foibles of human nature, highlighting the absurdities of societal norms and expectations. Set against the backdrop of American literature, Cobb's stories provide a rich tapestry of Southern culture, filled with laughter and charm. From the gentlemanly charm to the genteel manners of Southern belles, each story captures the essence of Southern life with warmth and affection. With its blend of comedy, satire, and observational humor, "Ladies and Gentlemen" stands as a testament to Cobb's mastery of the short story form and his ability to entertain readers while offering keen insights into the human condition.
Love of the Blossoming Hills
Featuring colorful, exquisitely sculpted stories of many kinds-ranging from the comic to the tragic, the satirical to the serious, the lyrical to the macabre, and even the philosophical to the zany-Love of the Blossoming Hills presents a fascinating cavalcade of characters and incidents steeped in the regional tradition and history of northern New England. Here we find, among many others, tales of a wildly eccentric family whose interminable feuding over generations is tempered annually only by a glorious Christmas pie. You'll read about the brilliant lawyer whose early and inexplicable death is shrouded in the darkest mystery and about the Russian ballet master who sets up an international ballet school in an isolated farmhouse in the White Mountains.There's the story of a devoted Latin teacher who enthralls her students with the claim that she's a reincarnation of a girl who perished in the great volcanic catastrophe of Pompei, and of a young schoolgirl whose visit to the sinister domicile of a once renowned "poetess" turns initially into a nightmare and finally into a personal triumph.These stories, above all, are an expression of a love of life set off against the ever-astonishing natural and social landscape of northern New England.
