DescriptionThis is unbelievable. This is unreal. What is going on here? First I get a toilet seat stuck around my face and now this little parrot is following me around. Unseen events like... the dead coming back to life... escaping a man-eating ghost... growing spare fingers... cheating the fate that awaits you... stories from the one and only Paul Jennings.
DescriptionIn 14 sublime stories, Edward P. Jones turns an unflinching eye to the ordinary citizens of Washington, DC: men, women, and children caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations that await them in the city. With the legacy of slavery just…
DescriptionFrom the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency comes a medley of perverse couplings, casual dates and romantic encounters: hilarious tales that will sadden, inspire, and surprise. McCall Smith, a master of the unexpected and a seamless storyteller, revels in offering us the quirky complications inherent in the entanglements that human beings engineer for themselves - entanglements that can be shocking, unedifying, complex, and sometimes completely disastrous.
DescriptionSince Descent of Man appeared in 1979, T.C. Boyle has transformed the nature of short fiction in our time; in a review of his most recent collection, After the Plague, The New York Times hailed him as "a writer who can take you anywhe…
DescriptionFive great American short story writers, dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, are represented here. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they nevertheless caught the mood and concerns of the day in a way that was distinctly American. Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge leaves echoes in the imagination; the stories by Crane and London recall the themes of the Civil War and the Klondike for which they are well known. Twain's humor is to the fore in The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and O. Henry's sharp observation make his neat tales a joy to listen to. An attractive and accessible collection!
DescriptionFew authors in America write with such sheer love of story, language, and imagination as T.C. Boyle, and nowhere is that passion more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and widely praised short stories. In After the Plague, Boyle speaks of contemporary social issues in a range of emotional keys. The 16 stories gathered here address everything from air rage to abortion doctors to first love and its consequences. The collection ends with the brilliant title story, a whimsical and imaginative vision of a disease-ravaged Earth. Presented with characteristic wit and intelligence, these stories will delight readers in search of the latest news of the chaotic, disturbing, and achingly beautiful world in which we live.
DescriptionIn this haunting, bracing new collection, Dan Chaon shares stories of men, women, and children who live far outside the American Dream, while wondering which decision, which path, or which accident brought them to this place. Chaon imagines today's family…
