The Hell Rides Of Sindbad the Beatified

Gábor Szappanos

Summary

So after having consumed two large stuffed cabbages and six small semi-dry greenish white wine spritzers, his favorite, Sindbad leaned back comfortably on the davenport in the only guest room of the inn to die. He put his legs on the ledge and tucked soft pillows under his head. The pub was not accidentally named Deep Cellar because just now the guest room was under the water level of the Danube: on the other side of the carefully closed double window looking at the little court Sindbad saw curious small fries, carps, horn-fish, tench, burbot, common rudd gathering to the light that filtered through the window of Sindbad’s room. As he was observing the fish from beneath his tired eyelashes he had the river in mind and thought of how much it meant to him. It was this old lazy lecher that taught him to lie. The sailor was always favorably inclined to wooing on the bank of the river – once he was able to kiss even a woman philosopher with black teeth above the black water in a hot and motionless summer night in June in the false light of the yellow gas lamps because he did not want to let out anybody of his love that he felt towards the whole world, i.e. all the women. Lies resurged more easily from him by the river because the treacherous waves showed him a bad example: they came and went, unperceived, as if being absent but were really present all the time. Sindbad was also an old Danube, and his lies were like its tattle waves… He loved the river most when it was so silently, almost imperceptibly clacking under his feet as he was walking, absorbed in his thoughts, on the quayside in unmovable summer nights alone or with some ladyship arm in arm – respectively he took to the river when it became wild and ran over its banks; in such case Sindbad was simply so electrified by the fight for survival as by whirling storms or blizzards. In such case he felt as an unworthy bachelor, still heated by a lascivious flush, who got accidentally on Noah’s bark…

Available since: 03/24/2019.

Other books that might interest you

Stepping Stone & Love Machine -...

Walter Mosley

Stepping Stone: Truman Pope has spent his whole life watching the world go by. A gentle, unassuming soul, he has worked in the mailroom of a large corporation for decades without making waves, until the day he spots a mysterious woman in yellow. A woman nobody else can see. Soon Truman's quiet life begins to turn upside-down. Love Machine: The brainchild of an eccentric, possibly deranged scientist, the Love Machine can merge individual psyches and memories into a collective Co-Mind. Tricked into joining the Co-Mind, as part of a master plan to take over the world, Lois Kim struggles to adapt to her new reality and abilities. Is there any way back to the life that was stolen from her, or is she destined to lead humanity into a strange new era??

Show book

You Will Grow Into Them

Malcolm Devlin

'Set to become one of the decade's landmarks of English weird.'

– Nina Allan, author of Conquest
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ANGELA SLATTER

Malcolm Devlin's debut short-fiction collection, first published in 2017, announced the arrival of a major new talent in the worlds of weird fiction and literary horror.
In You Will Grow Into Them, change is the only constant. These ten stories tackle the unease of transformation, growth, and change in a world where the mundane is only a veneer hiding the darkness below. Childhood anxieties manifest as degraded doppelgängers; fungal blooms are harvested from the backs of dancers; and lycanthropes become the new social pariahs.

In You Will Grow Into Them, the demons we carry inside us are very real indeed.

Show book

A Quiver Full of Arrows - Stories

Jeffrey Archer

The bestselling author of Sons of Fortune, Jeffrey Archer once again astonishes, delights, and electrifies with this audio collection. Featuring bonus interviews with the author.  From London to China, and New York to Nigeria, Jeffrey Archer takes the listener on a tour of ancient heirlooms and modern romance, of cutthroat business and kindly strangers, of lives lived in the realms of power and lives freed from the gloom of oppression. Fortunes are made and squandered, honor betrayed and redeemed, and love lost and rediscovered. Embracing the passions that drive men and women to love and to hate, A Quiver Full of Arrows will captivate the hearts and souls of listeners everywhere.

Show book

Rambunctious - Nine Tales of...

Rick Wilber

From the award-winning author of Alien Morning, nine science fiction/fantasy stories of everyday people grappling extraordinary circumstances. Witness seemingly ordinary people as they confront their fears and embrace their challenges on a near-future Earth or an alternate-history past or even on a far distant alien world . . . - A single dad of a daughter with Down-syndrome considers what his life and career might have been as a parent and a pro football player in some alternate reality. - A young girl on an isolated Florida island discovers that her quirky grandparents are even stranger than she thought. - A high-school basketball player confronts the ghosts of her past. - A young woman struggles to make peace with the horrors of her forgotten childhood. - An elderly woman slides into dementia even as she finds some essential truths that were lost in the hazy mists of her memory. - A baseball player becomes a spy during an alternate-history version of World War II, where he plays a pivotal role in stopping the Nazi war machine. A powerful and poignant collection of memorable stories from an award-winning storyteller, Rambunctious: Nine Tales of Determination is charming, action-packed, frightening, and thoughtful by turn. Praise for Rambunctious“A major collection from what it's high past time to admit is one of our major writers. Wilber writes with literate flair, compassion, and a deep understanding of human psychology. Highly recommended!” —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of The Oppenheimer Alternative“Wilber draws you in through his compassion for his characters and his keen eye for the familiar, and then he slips you sideways into places startlingly new, beautiful, and true. You finish these stories entertained, to be sure, but moved as well, and with your perspective forever widened.” —Gregory Norman Bossert, World Fantasy Award–winning author “Wilber’s voice [has] a kind of authority and compassion that have helped him carve out a niche identifiably his own.” —Locus

Show book

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

Guy de Maupassant, Franz Kafka

Throughout his amazing career, Franz Kafka created some of the most haunting, timeless, and enduring images of the nightmare world of everyday life. First published in 1915, "The Metamorphosis" is one of Kafka's most famous works. The story begins when traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes from a series of disturbing dreams to discover that he has transformed overnight into a giant insect. Instead of arousing surprise or horror in his family, however, Gregor's condition is merely despised as an imposition, a burden.In addition to Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," this collection includes eight pieces by one of the fathers of the modern short story, Guy de Maupassant: "The Englishman," "The Piece of String," "The Necklace," "A Crisis," "The Will," "Love," "The Inn," and "Was It a Dream?"

Show book

Under the Cloak - A Victorian...

Rhoda Broughton

A female passenger travelling in a by rail is intrigued and increasingly frightened by one of her companions in the compartment. Entirely covered by a cloak, are their intentions nefarious, supernatural or entirely innocent?Under The Cloak is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies “Horror” series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known. With music by Benedict Edwards.

Show book