Short stories

Book SynopsisOrphan sisters chase monsters of urban legend in Bloemfontein. At a busy taxi rank, a woman kills a man with her shoe. A genomicist is accused of playing God when she creates a fatherless child. Intruders is a collection that explores how it feels not to belong. These are stories of unremarkable people thrust into extraordinary situations by events beyond their control. With a unique and memorable touch, Mohale Mashigo explores the everyday ills we live with and wrestle constantly, all the while allowing hidden energies to emerge and play out their unforeseen consequences.Intruders is speculative fiction at its best.

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Book SynopsisSince the publication of his critically acclaimed debut collection The Secret Lives of People in Love, Simon Van Booy has been hailed as one of the most exciting and talented short-story writers in Anglo-American fiction. This magnificent collection brings together twenty-four stories by a writer of unparalleled lyricism, generosity and emotional power. Set in a range of locations, from Cornwall, Wales, and New York to Paris and Rome, these stark and beautiful stories are a perfect synthesis of intensity and atmosphere. Love, loss, isolation and the power of memory are Van Booy's themes, and in spare, economical prose he writes about the difficult choices we make in order to retain our humanity, and about the redemptive power of love in a violent world. Trade Review'Its combination of staccato sentences and tidy symbolism transforms the finest passages into little haikus of prose.' -- Daily Telegraph'Incurable romantics will savour Simon Van Booy’s tender, Maupassant-like fables.' -- New York Times'His stories are full of the most exquisite insights.' -- Patrick Cotter, Director of the Frank O’Connor Award'Breathtaking. . .chillingly beautiful, like postcards from Eden... Van Booy’s stories are somehow like paintings the characters walk out of, and keep walking.' -- Los Angeles Times'Van Booy is a master of the atmospheric scene written in lyrical prose.' -- The Short Review'A first-rate storyteller' -- Newsday'He shows an uncanny ability to create intense moods and emotions within the space of a few poetic paragraphs.' -- Booklist'Each of these stories has moments of sheer loveliness. -- Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis‘Her diamond prose sparkles so brightly and cuts so deeply’ Celeste Ng Shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Shortlisted for the John Leonard Prize Winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award for Fiction With nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories, Mia Alvar vividly gives voice to the exiles, emigrants and wanderers of the Filipino diaspora. From teachers to housemaids, from mothers to sons, her powerful debut collection explores the universal experiences of loss, displacement, and the longing to connect across borders both real and imagined. Deeply compassionate and richly felt, In the Country speaks to the heart of everyone who has ever searched for a place to call home, and marks the emergence of a formidable new writer.Trade Review‘Remarkable… Each of these nine stories is superb.’ * New York Times *'Powerful and engaging'. * Emerald Street *'It’s hard to believe that In the Country is Mia Alvar’s debut: her diamond prose sparkles so brightly and cuts so deeply.’ -- Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You‘A superb debut collection that reads like the work of a seasoned writer. Mia Alvar illuminates the lives of her characters with such penetrating insight, wisdom, and compassion that it’s impossible not to experience their struggles and aspirations as your own. Even as it satisfies, In the Country leaves the reader hungry for more from this gifted, sensitive storyteller.’ * Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend *‘A stunning debut – without ever getting overly sentimental, page after page of In the Country is laced with... revelatory, unflinching truth… Mia Alvar comes out swinging for the fences in her powerful first story collection... and doesn’t ever let up.’ * San Francisco Chronicle *‘So assured and so wise, these stories feel like classics already.’ * Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles *‘Summer’s standout debut is Mia Alvar’s peripatetic story collection, In the Country, which captures a global village of voices—a blue-eyed fashion model in Manila; a nanny in gilded Bahrain—with a ventriloquist’s ease.’ * Vogue.com, “Summer’s Best Beach Reads” *‘Smart and compelling.’ * Roxanne Gay, B&N Review *‘A writer with enchanting powers.’ * New York Times Book Review *‘With arresting imagery and characters that are intriguing beneath their seeming ordinariness, these are powerful tales that evoke a sense of place, while exploring identity and displacement’. * The Lady *‘Compulsively readable…thanks to Alvar's expansiveness and her gift for grounded, human-scale metaphors…Each of In the Country's nine stories about the Filipino diaspora has the satisfying heft of a little novel. In precise and patient prose, Alvar reveals the complex patterns of labour migration that structure and define her characters' most intimate relationships.’ * Chicago Tribune *‘Emotionally ambitious…Alvar hits the ground running…What will make readers want to remain in the tired and sad company of Alvar's workers and wanderers is her own gorgeous writing style. Each one of the nine stories in this collection riffs on the theme of exile; yet, every main character's situation is distinct, morally messy in a different way, and unpredictable. Alvar is the kind of writer whose imagination seems inexhaustible, and who stirs up an answering desire in her readers for more and more stories…Alvar is reportedly working on a novel…which is great news, because as a reader and a new fan, I want more and more and more.’ * Maureen Corrigan, “Fresh Air,” NPR *‘In the Country consists of nine stories, all told from the perspectives of men and women in the Filipino diaspora. Emigration and escape from a place, a secret, or reality itself is a common theme…Raveling around the world, what Alvar’s stories have in common is the boldness and sincerity of heart that lie in the center of all of them.’ * Nylon, “Summer Reading Guide” *‘In the Country is filled with graceful, carefully crafted stories—each one a world unto itself. I was so happy to see this collection, as I’ve been a fan of Mia Alvar’s from the start.’ * Nathan Englander, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank *‘Haunting and powerful…Extraordinarily adept and insightful…[Alvar] moves gracefully among Philippine cultural iconography and Tagalog, Bahraini class structure, American anachronisms, shifting gender and sexuality, and political histories…The title story, ‘In the Country,’ and the longish ‘Old Girl’ stand out as evidence of Alvar's sensitive gaze, literary talent and polycultural dexterity…Alvar is gifted; of that there is no doubt. And she has important things to say. She knows how to make the reader pause, and think deeply, feel. And hunger, as I am already, for more.’ * The Plain Dealer *‘Alvar’s rich debut provides a deep and textured look at Filipino culture at home and abroad from an array of vastly diverse vantage points…Through careful, delicate prose, Alvar reveals her characters’ pasts and desires, which range from saintly to shameful in this deeply religious culture…Alvar’s characters are engaging and memorable, and their homes swell with visceral smells and sounds as she places us gently, firmly, into their imperfect lives.’ * Entertainment Weekly *‘[An] accomplished debut of longing and redemption. In lush, sinuous sentences, Alvar probes the enduring stain of race, colonialism, and especially class, giving voice to all strata of Philippine society.’ * O, The Oprah Magazine *‘Profound, trenchant short stories…Alvar’s displaced characters are buffeted by change and loss yet never stop trying to connect.’ * People *‘Superbly affecting…Nine stories, all of them so smoothly and successfully realized that it seems incredible that this volume is [Alvar’s] fiction debut…[Her] speciality [is] the smart depiction of lives lived between two worlds…[Alvar has] a range that would be the envy of authors with 10 books under their belts.’ * Christian Science Monitor *‘Alvar’s debut story collection is so well-drawn and plot-rich that you almost wish it were a novel. But then Alvar wouldn’t have been able to cram in so many disparate voices and painful ironies: a New York pharmacist smuggling drugs on flights back home to palliate his dying father; a set of housewives in Bahrain who throw parties for their poorer landspeople; an office cleaner in the World Trade Centre in the summer of 2001.’ * New York Magazine, “7 Books You Need to Read This June” *‘Magnificent…Debut story collections don’t come much better than this. In the eight complex tales and one ambitious novella of In the Country, Filipina-American author Mia Alvar proves herself a tough, sophisticated writer with a canny empathy for the quandaries that confront her intricately layered characters.’ * Seattle Times *‘Perfect for anyone who thinks they can’t get down with short stories…While the subject matter is indeed fresh, the real appeal belongs to the lush sentences, rapid pacing, and morally conflicted characters. The last and title story is a novella-length tale that Alvar is reportedly using as fodder for a novel. We can only hope.’ * Miami New Times *‘It's difficult to reduce Alvar's stunning short story collection to just one idea…Alvar finds beauty in the unlikeliest of places, and that's what makes In the Country such an inspired, remarkable book. Her characters, even the lucky ones, are never far from affliction, and never really close to home, even when they've lived in the same place their whole lives. Alvar finds triumph in the torment and deliverance in the agony [an] impressive debut.’ * NPR.org *‘These are rich, meaty, fulfilling stories in which everyone’s hiding something—from extramarital affairs to murder…Alvar brings to light the individual experience, giving a human face to struggles large and small. Despite the darkness, Alvar’s prose satisfies. It’s the author’s narrative ability—her power to surprise and weave thoughtful, intricate stories—that keeps you reading. Her writing both memorializes and celebrates the lives of anyone who has ever suffered—that is to say, of us all.’ * The Rumpus *‘Alvar’s openings are so skillful that you can’t help wanting to know what comes next…You want to know who these people are, telling you their stories in seductive first-person voices…Alvar’s stories feel as richly imagined as any novel; like Alice Munro, she can convey an entire life in only a few pages, and she also sees the deep connections between people of difference classes and backgrounds. I can’t wait to see what she does next.’ Laurie Muchnick * Kirkus *‘Stunning…each story feels as rich, as deep, and as crafted as a novel. Equally impressive is the confident fluidity with which Alvar moves from Manila to Bahrain to Tokyo, from 1971 to 1986 to the 21st century…Throughout Alvar’s stories, the language is as elegant as it is durable, while the lines of class, race, gender, and history are both blurred and crystallized.’ * Publishers Weekly (starred) *‘Mia Alvar’s In the Country is a moving collection of stories about the men and women uprooted by the Filipino diaspora. Spanning multiple countries and time periods, Alvar’s illuminating, heartbreaking stories reveal just how universal loss and displacement can be.’ * BuzzFeed *‘Mia Alvar's graceful and gutsy stories are rich with an all-too-rare quality in fiction: a keen sense of the wider world and how the searching, indelible characters that populate this collection fit within it. In the Country is a spectacular debut from a vital new talent.’ * Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth and Find Me *‘With a lyrical grace similar to the stories [of] Jhumpa Lahiri and a psychological acuity we find in Yoko Ogawa’s novellas, here is a talented new voice named Mia Alvar. The stories she’s written are the kind that can make a difference, the kind that can hold a fist up to your heart without letting go of their hold on you: the kind with a light inside of them, whispering all the while, ‘This is life. This is my heart and mind in the world.’ An extremely promising debut.’ * Mario Alberto Zambrano, author of Loteria *‘In the Country is an absolutely beautiful book—generous and heartbreaking, empathetic and insightful. Mia Alvar is an incredible storyteller, patient, assured and in utter control—every one of the endings in this gorgeous debut knocked me flat. A truly extraordinary collection of stories—I loved it.’ * Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans *‘Few writers, even the most seasoned, can produce collections of evenly superb stories. Mia Alvar triumphs on her first try…Both intrepid readers and armchair tourists eager to explore debut narratives that straddle multiple countries and cultures—à la Violet Kupersmith’s The Frangipani Hotel or Rajesh Parameswaran’s I Am an Executioner—will be opulently rewarded here.’ * Library Journal (starred review) *‘Stunning…A triumphant, singular collection deserving of every accolade…In this dazzling debut collection, Filipino students, teachers, activists, maids, and chauffeurs negotiate their lives under martial law at home and seek fortune abroad in the Middle East and New York…Each of these nine revelatory stories delivers characters who are equal parts endearing and disturbing. . . . [Alvar’s] electric prose probes the tension between social classes.’ * Kirkus (starred) *‘Alvar delves into the multifaceted immigrant experience, one compassionately drawn perspective at a time.’ * Huffington Post, “18 Brilliant Books You Won't Want To Miss This Summer” *‘Through stories set all over the globe, newcomer Mia Alvar imagines the lives of the Filipino diaspora. Her sprawling collection digs into the Philippines’ complicated history during the ’70s and ’80s.’ * Refinery29, “The Ultimate Guide to Summer Reading” *‘Complex and irresistibly fascinating. . . . Not a single word is misplaced in these narratives, which are masterpieces of immersive classical storytelling, even as they surprise you and evade expectations. Whether you’re knowledgeable about the history of the Philippines or not, In the Country will give you a deep insight into the characters it follows, both imagined and taken from reality.’ * BuzzFeed, “5 Great Books To Read In July” *‘A rich and varied collection…[Alvar] capture[s] that peculiar blend of excitement and pain that comes with uprooting oneself from a specific place or idea…A vivid debut that deserves to catch the interest of prize committees.’ * Electric Literature *‘In the Country is like no book of stories I’ve ever read and I loved it deeply. There is not a single weak spot in this collection. Each story has characters with complex inner lives and at least one serious moral dilemma. . . . I loved it more than I loved many, many novels and I still can’t believe a collection of stories affected me so strongly. Alvar is an astounding writer.’ * Jessica Woodbury, “The Best Books of 2015 So Far,” BookRiot *‘[Alvar’s] prose is gorgeous and propulsive, always in forward motion as if the story cannot be rooted too long in a single place. In Mia’s work, as in her life, it seems, movement is only natural.’ * Matt Ortile, BuzzFeed *

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Book SynopsisNot the Tales You Were ToldOnce upon a time, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories—fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places—bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling’s writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism.In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different. Something that belongs to us all. Including stories by Adiwijaya Iskandar, Joseph Elliott-Coleman, Raymond Gates, Stewart Hotston, Zina Hutton, Georgina Kamsika, Cassandra Khaw, Paul Krueger, Tauriq Moosa, Jeannette Ng, Ali Nouraei, Wayne Santos, Zedeck Siew and Achala Upendran, with illustrations by Woodrow Phoenix and a foreword by Nikesh Shukla.Trade Review"There is a lot to enjoy here. A book whose time has come..." -- Suroor Alikhan * Talking About Books *"For any adult who was charmed by Kipling as a child." * Starburst Magazine *"Whether you love or can't stand Kipling, this is a terrific book." * The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog *“Funny, touching, and often profound.” * Tor.com *“Fantastical fables about why things are the way they are, like Just So Stories… but without all the British Colonialism.” -- Alex Wells, Bookriot -- Alex Wells * Book Riot *Table of Contents Foreword, Nikesh Shukla How the Spider Got Her Legs, Cassandra Khaw Queen, Joseph Elliott-Coleman Best Beloved, Wayne Santos The Man Who Played With the Crab, Adiwijaya Iskandar Saṃsāra, Georgina Kamsika Serpent, Crocodile, Tiger, Zedeck Siew How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic, Jeannette Ng How the Ants Got Their Queen, Stewart Hotston How the Snake Lost its Spine, Tauriq Moosa The Cat Who Walked by Herself, Achala Upendran Strays Like Us, Zina Hutton How the Simurgh Won Her Tail, Ali Nouraei There is Such Thing as a Whizzy-Gang, Raymond Gates How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off, Paul Krueger

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Book SynopsisPádraic Pearse, who played a prominent part in the 1916 rebellion, declared Ireland a Republic from the steps of the General Post Office in Dublin. He was executed, along with the other leaders, for his part in the Rising. But he was a gentle warrior at heart. These five stories show us that Pearse was a man of deep understanding with immense human awareness of the way of life of the average person. He analyses the sorrows and joys of the Irish people of his time, and writes of the tragedies of life and death from which they could never escape.

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Book SynopsisRenae Lucas-Hall is an Australian-born British novelist and writer. She has always had a passion for reading and writing stories and speaking foreign languages. She enjoys writing about Japan in particular, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. Renae graduated from university in Australia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese language and culture. She went on to live in Tokyo for two years where she taught English. Over the past twenty years, Renae has visited Japan many times for work or as a tourist. Renae lives in Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom with her husband.

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