Publisher: Salt
'This new short story collection from Clare Fisher explores of feelings of failure around gender, sexuality, and work, that arise in a success-obsessed capitalist culture. Dazzling, playful, and experimental, it veers between the real, the surreal and the absurd.'
The complete collection of “nimble and often hilarious” short stories exploring the cosmos by the acclaimed author of Invisible Cities (Colin Dwyer, NPR). Italo Calvino’s beloved cosmicomics cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of a “cosmic know-it-all” with the unpronounceable name of Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Relating complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world, they are an indelible and delightful literary achievement. Originally published in Italian in three separate volumes—including the Asti d’Appello Prize-winning first volume, Cosmicomics—these thirty-four dazzling stories are collected here in one definitive English-language anthology.“Trying to describe such a diverse and entertaining mix, I have to admit, just as Calvino does so often, that my words fail here, too. There’s no way I—or anyone, really—can muster enough of them to quite capture the magic of these stories . . . Read this book, please.” —Colin Dwyer, NPRShow book
"Rosa, Gulla, their cousins, and uncles are going to make rotis with Amma. But can any of them get the correct shape? See if you can identify the shapes of their rotis. The Rosa Gulla series introduces early-learning concepts to children. With cheerful illustrations and relatable characters, this book introduces children to shapes."Show book
These are tales from the post-industrial scablands – stories of austerity, poverty, masochism and migration. The people here are sick, lonely, lost, half-living in the aftermath of upheaval or trauma. A teacher obsessively canes himself. A neurologist forgets where home is. A starving woman sells hugs in an abandoned kiosk. Yet sometimes, even in the twilit scablands, there's also beauty, music, laughter. Sometimes a town square is filled with bubbles. Sometimes sisters dream they can fly. Sometimes an old man plays Bach to an empty street, two ailing actors see animal shapes in clouds, a cancer survivor searches for a winning lottery ticket in her rundown flat. And sometimes Gustav Mahler lives just round the corner, hoarding rare records in a Stoke terrace.Show book
Here are three of the most wonderful Christmas stores ever written, presented for you on one disk along with two short pieces that just can't be left out of any Christmas collection worth it's salt."Dulce Domum," from The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth GrahameRat and Mole find Christmas in Mole's old home, and deepen their friendship along the way. Grahame's characters are sweet and sad, and happy in the end just in having what they have and being what they are. "Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus," from The New York Sun, by Francis P. ChurchAnother absolute classic; it's really about what happens when a cynical old newspaperman encounters the need for Christmas in the innocent question from a young girl's heart.Gift of the Magi, by O. HenryIt's one of the most famous Christmas stories ever, and rightly so. As O Henry himself put it, "I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest." "The Night Before Christmas," by Clement Clarke Moore."The Night Before Christmas"--which really isn't that; it's real title is "A Visit From St. Nicholas"--is another classic no Christmas anthology could do without. Mom and Dad wake up when they hear the reindeer coming, and can hardly believe their eyes!"Christmas Morning," from Little Women, by Louisa May AlcottAt Christmastime, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth learn to share their Christmas joys and fun with others, and along the way, have a wonderful time doing it.Show book
This new edition of Ted Chiang's masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories. Combining the precision and scientific curiosity of Kim Stanley Robinson with Lorrie Moore's cool, clear love of language and narrative intricacy, this award-winning collection offers listeners the dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar.Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection. A clever pastiche of news reports and interviews chronicles a college's initiative to "turn off" the human ability to recognize beauty in "Liking What You See: A Documentary." With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty and constant change, and also by beauty and wonder.Show book
Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves is a collection of half a dozen short stories. Tales of outsiders who discover they belong, a humorous slice of life yarn, heartwarming love stories and a tale of taming fear. The shadows are on the wall, in the heart and clouding a woman’s memories while tangible foes tramp through the physical landscape. The stories were previously printed individually in a variety of publications, including Ireland’s Own magazine, Dead Ink Books’ website, and the writing collections, Fermanagh Miscellany and Tuesdays At Charlie’s.Show book
