Short stories
Small Beer Press The Adventurists: and Other Stories
Book Synopsis"Flawless. . . . Readers of John Crowley, Ray Bradbury, and Sally Rooney alike will find a home."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Remember the girl you once knew, the theater kid? Now she’s become the Queen, and you might need to rescue her. There’s the historic house, where someone once saw a ghost and you almost fell in love. An ornithopter hangs in the lobby of your corporate workplace: your co-worker thinks he might be able to operate it. Once you found a tunnel under your old high school, and couldn’t resist going to see where it led.Sometimes a door will open into a new world, sometimes into the past. Putting on a costume might be the restart you are half hoping for. There are things buried here. You might want to save them. You might want to get out of the way.Butner’s allusive and elusive stories reach into the uncanny corners of life—where there are no job losses, just HCAPs (Head Count Allocation Procedures), where a tree might talk to just one person, where Death’s Fool is not to be ignored.Trade Review“Consistently one of my favorite short story writers.” — Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble "Landscapes and memories alter, gentrify, and crumble in Butner’s flawless debut collection, which wends ghosts, virtual futures, and the intricacies of friendship into 16 breathtaking, intimate stories. . . . Readers of John Crowley, Ray Bradbury, and Sally Rooney alike will find a home in this beautiful, grounded exploration of pasts and futures—and the people suspended between them."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The collection opens with ‘Adventure,’ with a long-overdue visit to an old friend and a tale told about a stranger, which may be just fantasy, but, setting the tone for the collection, the reality is not entirely clear-cut. . . . All in all, a worthwhile collection.” — Booklist “A resemblance to George Saunders’ and Carmen Maria Machado’s work, though Butner has his own thematic obsessions. . . . In his best stories, Butner effectively merges the strange setups with a bracing mix of humor and dread.” — Kirkus Reviews “Grounded by concrete pop culture details, each strange narrative makes what’s familiar seem eerie.” — Foreword Reviews (starred review)“At last, one of the contemporary masters of the uncanny and darkly humorous, Richard Butner, has his stories in one place where we can get at them. With a toe (just a toe) in the literary pool, and the rest of him splashing happily in the spec fic/sci-fi/surreal swimming hole, Butner’s tales deal in the deadly habits of nostalgia, and the surprises waiting for the wistful and the obsessive whose march forward obliges a look backward. Linkean, Barthelmean, Saundersean . . . hm, okay, these guys do NOT lend themselves to sonorous adjectivization but, nonetheless, they’ll have to welcome a new storyteller beside them on the shelf.”—Wilton Barnhardt, author of Emma Who Saved My Life and Lookaway, Lookaway “A Richard Butner story is an invitation to discovery alongside his characters. It’s a left turn off of reality’s highway and into its old business district: defiantly shabby, casually weird, and occasionally surreal, perfect in every grounding detail. Every story zigs when you expect it to zag. You only think you know where they are going, but it turns out you are on the same adventure as the protagonist, discovering as you go that the world is stranger than it was the minute before, and the minute before that. Well worth the journey.”—Sarah Pinsker, author of We Are Satellites "Richard Butner's stories are funny, scary, personal, dispassionate, satirical, and heartfelt, if those incompatible adjectives can be assembled to describe the same work. He writes about the subtle losses we suffer (often without noticing) as we get older, about love and loyalty, about how the past is never completely past and can come sweeping back over you at the slightest opportunity like a tidal wave, so you'd better be ready lest you drown."—John Kessel, author of Pride and Prometheus Reviews of Richard Butner's stories “Captivating and gripping.”—Bookotron “In the face of even the most absurd scenario, Butner’s writing remains cool and understated; he treats the bizarre as if it were commonplace, eventually convincing the reader that nothing is too far from the real. Indeed, many of the stories’ most bizarre moments are simply exaggerations of the inanities of our world, thrust into the forefront of the plot as a sort of social criticism. . . . Butner picks up the absurdities of high-speed America and throws them back in its face, reveling in the wild, wonderful mess he creates.”—New Pages Review "A powerful story of obsession.”—Lois Tilton, Locus “The saddest ghost story you’ll read this year.”—Charlie Jane Anders, Gizmodo "Haunting and heartbreaking.”—iHorror.com “Wry, caustic, calculated, impulsive…. Gems of gorgeous weirdness.”—Asimovs “Finely wrought fiction that earns its effects. Evocative and passionate, meaningful and filled with wonders.”— SF Site“Butner’s meticulous prose lays a cool surface over some twisty terrain. Understated and profound, deft and smooth, these stories sneak up on you and then don’t let go. Boxes within boxes, wheels within wheels.”—Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves“In the work of writers who have truly burrowed in, often I’ve a sense of there being not many stories but one continuous, ongoing story, ever growing, ever increasing, turning this way and that in shifting light—which is how I feel about Richard Butner’s.”—James Sallis, author of Sarah Jane “Richard Butner writes gorgeous, heartfelt stories that are completely his own, each propelled by an inner logic that may or may not match consensus reality, each ringing utterly true. He is unafraid of tough questions and even tougher answers. His characters sweat, grieve, exult, and struggle for understanding, and even when they terrify, they never fail to touch me.”—Lewis Shiner, author of Outside the Gates of EdenTable of ContentsAdventure Holderhaven Scenes from the Renaissance Ash City Stomp Horses Blow Up Dog City The Master Key Circa At the Fair Pete and Earl The Ornithopter Stronghold Delta Function Give Up Chemistry Set Under Green Sunnyside
£12.34
Bibliotech Press Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
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£18.86
Interlink Publishing Group, Inc Master Of The Eclipse
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£13.49
Strategic Book Publishing Homage: Stories
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£13.80
Loyola College/Apprentice House Falling from Trees
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£17.99
Booklocker.com Impolite Stories: Sex, Religion & Politics
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£12.95
Red Hen Press Stories from the Edge of the Sea
Book SynopsisAUTHOR OF THE PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD WINNER, PERFUME DREAMS: REFLECTIONS ON THE VIETNAMESE DIASPORA AUTHOR OF BIRDS OF PARADISE LOST, the widely taught and anthologized debut short story collection Andrew Lam returns with a literary exploration of love, lust, and loss among Vietnamese immigrants in America. Universal and personal.Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior Will be read and studied for years to come.Noël Alumit, author of Music Heard in Hi-Fi Maps the moveable feast of the Vietnamese diaspora.Scott Lankford, author of Tahoe Beneath the Surface Lam's most lyrical and wide-ranging collection yet.Matthew Spangler, playwright For anyone who has loved and lost a lover, a landscape, a home.Fenton Johnson, author of At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life Taste the desires of comedians, soldiers, tomboys, friends, queers, mothers, and refugees.Long Bui, author of Returns of War: South VietnamAt times humorous and ecstatic, other times poetic and elegiac, the fourteen pieces in Stories from the Edge of the Sea explore love and loss, lust and grief, longing and heartbreaks through the lives of Vietnamese immigrants and their children in California. A younger dancer is haunted by memories of almost dying on a boat when they escaped from Vietnam, a widow processes her husband's death through frantic Facebook postings, a writer enters an old lover's home and sees a ghost at twilight. If the human heart is a vast, open-ended terrain, then Andrew Lam's short stories are its mountains, valleys, and lakes. Together they seek to chart barely explored country.
£14.36
Global Summit House Maps: Mystery, Adventure, Poetry, Suspense
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£14.99
Permuted Press My Italian Guestbook: Delicious Stories of Love,
Book SynopsisA collection of short stories reflecting on humor, hijinks, and love connections, based on those who’ve attended creative retreats and workshops in Italy.Stories of life-changing experiences, difficult guests, crazy parties, and great food—all set in the Italian countryside—come alive in the new book from Annette Joseph, author of Italy Is My Boyfriend. In this collection of short stories, Annette paints a hilarious picture of what it’s like to host people from all walks of life. Based on true stories, this book explores love affairs, stories of personal growth, and incredible characters who leave the host incredibly touched, and at times, reeling in the aftermath. A tale of hosting strangers in the Italian countryside, you won’t be able to put this book down.Trade Review"My Italian Guestbook is an upbeat collection of stories about Annette Joseph's revival of a twelfth-century fortress in the Lunigiana countryside. From the unexpected challenges of La Fortezza's first photo-styling workshop to a romantic liaison between a local butcher and an American vegetarian, the colorful characters and entertaining anecdotes in this galloping read are bound to make you crave a Tuscan adventure or three." -- Helen Farrell, Editor-in-Chief, The Florentine"Cross Martha Stewart with Sophia Loren, then add a dollop of Lucille Ball, and you'll get Annette Joseph, the irrepressible author of the wildly entertaining My Italian Guestbook. In the hills of northern Tuscany, Joseph invites guests to the 12th century fortress she restored with style and the force of her own will. From her cooking and serving prowess to her lust for life, Joseph's laugh-out-loud book shows why anyone who enters her orbit is a very lucky guest indeed." -- Ingrid Abramovitch, Executive Editor, Elle Decor Magazine"The consummate hostess, Annette's lively descriptions and deep love for Lunigiana make every sentence shine. I laughed my way through the book—beyond entertaining!" -- Rachael McKeon, Editor-in-Chief, SUITCASE Magazine"There are many who dream about life in Italy and Annette Joseph has long been the gospel of tackling real-life situations in il bel paese with her witty way of telling stories. In My Italian Guestbook, she shares her personal experience of setting up creative workshops in her renovated fortress in Tuscany's Lunigiana and all of the trials and tribulations that come with it. From 'breadgate' to unexpected romantic liaisons and a wild boar cornering a guest, anyone would delight in Annette's adventures and likely want to become a guest themselves." -- Georgette Jupe, Creator of the wildly popular blog, Girl in Florence, Editor at Italy Magazine"This book is NOT Under the Tuscan Sun. Annette Joseph takes us on a nonstop adventure in real time. What is it like in the Italian countryside when one buys an old fortress, renovates it little by little, then turns it into artistic retreats? It becomes a place of wild fun stories, and crazy interesting guests, divine food, and lots of laughs. Sign me up!" -- Debi Mazar, Actress
£11.69
Penguin Random House Group The Words of Dr. L
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£21.24
Counterpoint How It Went: Thirteen More Stories of the Port
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£14.39
Penguin Random House Group The Body Farm
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£22.09
Penguin Random House Group The Body Farm
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£15.29
Metaphorosis Magazine Metaphorosis April 2021
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£7.50
Hemelein Publications A Dragon and Her Girl
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£11.89
Indoeuropeanpublishing.com The Three Impostors or The Transmutations
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£22.75
Deep Vellum Publishing Jack Ruby and the Origins of the Avant-Garde in
Book SynopsisWhat really (might have) happened when Jack Ruby, nightclub owner, brass knuckle-slinger, and inveterate fan of Corbusier, decided to kill the killer of JFK? In this first-ever trade publication of Bob Trammell’s work, Jack Ruby mythos loops between fact, fiction, and spectacle to satirize Dallas’ place on the world stage. Jack Ruby & The Origins of the Avant-Garde in Dallas caricaturizes everyone from Bob Thornton to Joseph Beuys; fodder for JFK conspiracy theorists, innuendo-readers, ingenious speculators, and pursuers of The Truth About Dallas At Large. With an introduction by Ben Fountain and afterword by David Searcy, this volume also includes Trammell’s “Quiet Man” story cycle from over the course of his long, countercultural writing career, lamenting a generation that lost much by embarking on a search for themselves in a city—and world—unwilling to support its brightest artists.Trade Review"Robert Trammell is an essential American writer, and Jack Ruby & the Origins of the Avant-Garde in Dallas is his essential book. Trammell puts words to an unspeakable event, and brings us as close as we're ever likely to get to understanding an unknowable American tragedy." — Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and Beautiful Country Burn Again
£11.90
Catapult Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America
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£14.39
Notion Press Media Pvt Ltd Mehbub Gulley: Short Stories from India
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£14.24
Bibliotech Press Kai Lung's Golden Hours
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£18.36
Michelle Love Evergreen: An Alpha Billionaire Romance
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£19.49
Microcosm Publishing TransGalactic Bike Ride 2nd Ed.
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£12.59
Sastrugi Press Blood, Water, Wind, and Stone (5-year
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£21.80
iUniverse Westward Bound: An Epic Adventure to the West
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£22.48
Xlibris Us Meet Me at the Barbershop
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£17.21
Authorhouse The Inbox: Prison Love Affairs
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£11.95
Archway Publishing məuˈzeiik, or Q
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£15.71
Xlibris Us The Saving Love Collection
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£24.65
Xlibris Us Murder, Fish, and Norway
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£19.90
Dixie W Publishing Corporation 冷夏:
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£15.99
Lulu.com Massive Violence
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£9.52
Helene Simkin Jara Turn Left at the Gorilla and go Down the Hall
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£15.28
Public Space Books The Sorrows of Others
Book Synopsis2024 WHITING AWARD WINNERA NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 5 UNDER 35REPUBLIC OF CONSCIOUSNESS PRIZE LONGLISTTHE STORY PRIZE LONGLISTSet in China and America, in the generations after the Cultural Revolution, The Sorrows of Others is a dazzling collection about people confronted with being outsiders—as immigrants, as revolutionaries, and even, often, within their own families."Writers with virtually perfect debuts are certainly rare; Zhang joins that short list with a magnificent ten-story collection filled with lost souls aching for connection on both sides of the world." —Booklist starred reviewIn New York City, an art student finds an unexpected subject when she moves in with a grandmother from Xi’an, and boundaries are put into question. When a newlywed couple moves to Arizona, adapting to unfamiliar customs keeps their marriage from falling apart. A woman grapples with what it means to care for another, and the limits of that care, when her dying husband returns from Beijing years after abandoning her. And during a rainy summer in Texas, a visitor exposes the unspoken but unburiable history that binds two families together. Ada Zhang writes with startling honesty and love about lives young and old, in a stunning debut that explores what happens when we leave home and what happens when we stay, and the selves we meet and shed in the process of becoming.
£12.34
Pnf Books Of Elegant Time: 22 Stories
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£21.00
Wordville Celine's Salon - The Anthology Vol 2: 2
Book SynopsisCeline's Salon is a literary cabaret famous in London since 2016. This collection of poetry, short stories and lyrics gathers work from 29 inspirational writers from Glasgow, Derry, Tenby and London. Sharing poetry with a strong sense of place and character, this anthology includes Welsh-language poetry, Glaswegian poetry as well as English verse and song lyrics. Representing the most interesting writers in each of these cultural melting pots, Celine's Salon - The Anthology Vol 2 is a literary road trip, hosted by writer and performer Celine Hispiche. With new writing from established poets as well as original new voices, this is the second in the series of Celine's Salon - The Anthology. With work from 29 individual contributors. Sit back and enjoy the show.Table of ContentsCONTENTS Curtain Raiser 1. Celine Hispiche 3 Part One: Glasgow 2. Lesley O'Brien 9 3. Jo D'arc 11 4. Frank Rafferty 15 5. Thomas McColl 17 6. Ashley Chapman 21 7. Katharine Macfarlane 23 8. Pinky 29 9. Mark McGhee 32 Part Two: Derry 10. Frank Rafferty 37 11. Michael Groce 40 12. Mel Bradley 42 13. Valerie Bryce 44 14. Keiran Goddard 47 15. Ronan Carr 48 16. PBJ 51 17. Niall O'Mianain 54 18. Juanita Rea 57 19. George Houston 59 20. James King & Ann McKay 62 Part Three: Tenby 21. Ros Moore 66 22. Celine Hispiche 71 23. Susie Wild 74 24. Heather Moulson 78 25. Kevin O'Dowd 81 26. Billy Parker 82 27. Anonymous 86 28. Siobhan Lancaster 87 29. Nerys Beattie 90 30. Bob Reeves 94 CURTAIN Acknowledgements 98
£10.06
Bag of Bones Press Annus Horribilis: An anthology of horror set in
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£7.50
Scratch Books The Poet and the Echo
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£8.99
Allen & Unwin Trajectory: A short story collection
Book SynopsisRTE Guide's Book of the Year, 2018Richard Russo's characters in these four expansive stories bear little similarity to the blue-collar citizens we're familiar with from many of his novels. In 'Horseman,' a professor confronts a young plagiarist as well as her own weaknesses as the Thanksgiving holiday looms closer and closer. In 'Intervention,' a real estate agent facing an ominous medical prognosis finds himself in his father's shadow while he presses forward - or not. In 'Voice,' a semi-retired academic is conned by his estranged brother into joining a group tour of the Venice Biennale, fleeing a mortifying incident with a traumatised student back in Massachusetts but encountering further complications in the maze of Venice. And in 'Milton and Marcus,' a lapsed novelist tries to rekindle his screenwriting career, only to be stymied by the pratfalls of that trade when he's called to an aging, iconic star's mountaintop retreat in Wyoming.Each of these stories is shot through with the humour, wisdom and surprise for which Richard Russo has long been acclaimed as Trajectory continues to extend the breadth of his achievements.Trade ReviewSo rich and flavoursome that the temptation is to devour it all at once. * Boston Globe *Thoughtful, soulful . . . It will abruptly break your heart. That's what Richard Russo does, without pretension or fuss, time and time again. * New York Times *Another of the author's peerless depictions of small-town life. * Wall Street Journal *Trajectory functions as a neat introduction to Russo's oeuvre and interests, exploring the constant friction between his thoughtful characters and the brashly confident people they rub up against. And the new story, Milton and Marcus, is worth the cover price alone, Russo finding a rare soulfulness in the life of a down-on-his luck Hollywood screenwriter. * Observer *Thoughtful and warmhearted, [Russo's] fiction has the engaging quality of tales told by a friend, over drinks, about a person we know in common. And so we lean forward, eager to hear what happened next. * New York Times Book Review *The four terrific stories in Trajectory tackle themes that are instantly familiar...but Russo's seemingly effortless prose transforms them into something freshly seen. * Daily Mail *Russo has fashioned tales compact enough to make an immediate impression (and to read in a single sitting), but rich [in] believable characters, graceful plotting and pointed dialogue. * Columbus Dispatch *Beautifully accomplished * Glasgow Herald *[Russo] casts a warm eye on life in all its knottiness in a masterly work that hits the bullseye. * RTE *
£8.54
Ginninderra Press The Holy Babble
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£14.25
Inanna Publications and Education Inc. A Diary in the Age of Water
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£999.99
Guernica Editions,Canada Dead Voices
Book SynopsisDead Voices is a collection of stories that are both seriously realistic and comically whimsical. They have everything from superheroes who get sick on words, to the appearance of dead playwrights, to the visit of saints and sinners from the past, to a hot stove discussion on hockey and love. They?re about the modern mind-set and its technological marvels and the older attention to character and virtue.
£16.46
MX Publishing The Sensible Necktie and Other Stories of
Book SynopsisFrom the author of The Cotswolds Werewolf comes a new collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches in the vein of Conan Doyle, revealing for the first time the secrets behind the theft of the hobnailed boots, the mysterious madness of the Right Honourable Wilfred Crabb, the case of the haunted public house, the curious and seemingly supernatural events surrounding a remote hotel on the east coast, and the truth behind the strange disappearance of Cyrus Thicknesse, the man in the sensible necktie. "I must say, Holmes, I am a bit surprised to see you taking an interest in something based on sympathy." "You do not think me sympathetic?" "Of course I do. But you have said yourself that it is the rational challenge and not the human aspect that draws you to your cases. Humans are mere factors in a problem, I think were your words." "Did I really say that? Hm, well, I am an odd sort, am I not?"
£999.99
Poetry Wales Press Brief Lives
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£9.49
Poetry Wales Press Japan Stories
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£9.49
Modern Humanities Research Association 'For That Moment Only' and Other Prose Works, by
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£999.99
Pushkin Press Love and Youth: Essential Stories
Book SynopsisAn icon of Russian literature, Turgenev was able to contain the narrative sweep of a novel in a single short story. His protagonists experience the joy and painful turbulence of first love, the thrilling adventures of youth, and the layered reflections of maturity. His great skill is to make his readers feel alongside these characters, rendering their complex interiorities, whether nobility or serf, in these stories charged with a profound social conscience. This collection, in a lyrical new translation by Nicolas Slater, places Turgenev's great novella First Love alongside a selection of his classic stories. From the evocative rural scenes of 'Bezhin Meadow' and 'Rattling Wheels', to the pathos and humanity of 'The District Doctor' and 'Biryuk', these are stories to be lingered over.Trade Review • 'Turgenev's Russia is but a canvas on which the incomparable artist of humanity lays his colours and his forms in the great light and the free air of the world' - Joseph Conrad • 'He was the stuff of which glories are made' - Henry James • 'Turgenev's achievement lies in how he succeeded, in spite of himself, his country and his time, in exempting his work from public duty. This has given it that unnameable quality that makes every sentence true, every silence trustworthy' - Guardian • 'There are two masters of seeing in Russian literature: Tolstoy and Turgenev' - V. S. Pritchett
£11.40
Pushkin Press Where All Good Flappers Go: Essential Stories of
Book SynopsisFeaturing short stories from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anita Loos, Dorothy Parker, Zora Neale Hurston and more Edited and Introduced by David M. Earle Vivacious, charming, irreverent: a flapper is a girl who knows how to have a roaring good time. In this collection of short stories she's a partygoer, a socialite, a student, a shopgirl, and an acrobat. She bobs her hair, shortens her skirt, searches for a husband and scandalizes her husband. She's a glittering object of delight, and a woman embracing a newfound independence. Bringing together stories from widely adored writers and newly discovered gems, sourced from the magazines of the period, this collection celebrates the outrageous charm of an iconic figure of the Jazz Age.
£10.80
Salt Publishing Like Fado: And Other Stories
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Edge Hill PrizeLike Fado consists of thirteen individual stories that culminate in the extended novella-like story, ‘Whitethorn’. Each story takes us into the lived experience and psychological dilemmas of its characters, dissolving certitude in favour of richly ambivalent and suggestive endings as storylines merge and diverge, enriching each other through their narrative resonance. The natural world is brought to life in vivid detail in locations that range from the North-West of England to Europe and Africa, whilst the interior lives of characters form the dramatic locus of each piece, rendered in language that is precise, lyrical and evocative.Trade ReviewGraham Mort’s latest short story collection, Like Fado, is a wonderfully engaging read. The thirteen stories are standalones, but they share thematic and textual traits that bind them into a single whole. -- Paul Taylor-McCartney * Everybody's Reviewing *This is strong and emotive writing . . . fluid and impressive, conveying thoughts with honesty -- Jackie Law * Neverimitate *Set in all parts of the world, all of the stories have richly formed characters and there is enough detail of each of them for you to be able to grasp their backstory as they are thrust deep into the plot. They feel like real people too, not wildly implausible characters, doing real, mundane things and experiencing the joys and pains of life. -- Paul Cheney * Halfman, Halfbook *As I work my way through the pages, I find myself asking whether I am reading a life experience and if not, how on earth did the writer’s mind bring such imagery and paint them with words on the page ... Lockdown may well be releasing its hold on our lives but please do not give up on reading and buy yourself a copy. -- SuAndi * Black Arts Alliance Newsletter *
£9.49
