Publisher: JayDax
An unbelievable short story.If you were struck by lightning and survived unharmed would you voluntarily risk it again? You might if you were on a time travel mission.A short timetravel story.
John Griffith Chaney was born on January 12th, 1876 in San Francisco. His father, William Chaney, was living with Flora Wellman when she became pregnant. Chaney insisted she have an abortion. Flora's response was to turn a gun on herself. Although her wounds were not severe the trauma made her temporarily deranged. In late 1876 his mother married John London and the young child was brought to live with them as they moved around the Bay area, eventually settling in Oakland where now, calling himself Jack, he completed grade school. Jack worked hard at several jobs, sometimes 12-18 hours a day, but his dream was university. He studied hard and borrowed the money to enrol in the summer of 1896 at the University of California in Berkeley. In 1897, at 21, Jack searched out newspaper accounts of his mother's suicide attempt and for the name of his biological father. He wrote to Chaney, then living in Chicago, who claimed he could not be Jack’s father because he was impotent and casually asserted that London's mother had relations with other men. Jack, devastated by the response, quit Berkeley and went to the Klondike. Other accounts suggest that his dire finances presented Jack with the excuse he needed to leave. In the Klondike Jack began to gather material for his writing but also accumulated many health problems, including scurvy, which together with hip and leg problems he would carry for the rest of his life. During the late 1890's Jack was regularly publishing short stories and by the turn of the century full blown novels. By 1904 Jack had married, fathered two children and was now in the process of divorcing. A stint as a reporter on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was equal amounts trouble and experience. But that experience was always put to good use in a continuing and remarkable output of work. In 1905 he married Charmian Kittredge who at last was a soul and companion who brought him some semblance of peace despite his advancing alcoholism and his incurable wanderlust. Twelve years later Jack had amassed both wealth and a literary reputation through such classics as ‘The Call of the Wild’, ‘White Fang’ and many others. He had a reputation as a social activist and was a tireless friend of the workers. Jack London died suffering from dysentery, late-stage alcoholism and uremia, aged only 40, on November 22nd 1916 at his property in Glen Elen in California In ‘South of the Slot’ Jack London reveals yet another facet of his writing talents. In turn of the Century San Francisco, a Professor of Sociology explores the working-class neighbourhoods gradually revealing an alter-ego with his Union loving personality and name. The question is which is his real character.Show book
An uncanny and electric story collection from SJ Sindu, Lambda Literary finalist and Publishing Triangle Edmund White Debut Fiction Award–winning author of Blue-Skinned Gods In “Dark Academia and the Lesbian Masterdoc,” a millennial English professor finds viral fame on TikTok, but her newfound notoriety could wreck her already unstable life. In “Patriots’ Day,” a man having an affair finds himself caught up in larger currents of anti-Asian violence. Throughout the collection, an array of loners and artists—a young poet haunted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde, a home brewer and wife during lockdown, a boy with wings—struggle for connection and fulfillment in a world battered by the pandemic and reactionary politics. A daring writer with limitless range, SJ Sindu can depict shocking cruelty as readily as small moments of queer joy. The Goth House Experiment isa startling and very funny collection by one of America’s most exciting young voices.Show book
“Thought-provoking” short stories from the Man Booker Prize–winning author of How Late It Was, How Late and Kieron Smith, Boy (Scotsman). A trucker passes through a town he used to know and a local tries to sell him his sister; a couple put their children to bed and hear a loud scratching at the wall; a Principal and his associate examine the dead body before them; a man looks into a mirror and reflects on becoming more like his father. Sparky, touching, and brilliantly daring, these stories uncover human feeling in the ordinary and the everyday, and are a reminder of Kelman’s exceptional talent. Shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year · Longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. “Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can.” —Alan Warner, award-winning author of The Man Who Walks “The mixture of the precisely but surreally bureaucratic and the casually macabre is perfectly judged.” —The Times “Kelman is on another level to most of the living writers in the UK.” —The Guardian “Kelman has always been a true and honest writer; which is why he is one of the fairly few who really matter.” —Scotsman “Kelman’s language is immediately exciting; like a musician, he uses repetition and rhythm.” —The New YorkerShow book
A young Native American struggling with the two constants in his life—alcohol and art—in this prize-winning short story collection. Eddie Chuculate’s collection of linked short stories follows Jordan Coolwater from bored child to thoughtful teenager, struggling artist, escaped convict, and finally, father. Gritty, funny, and deeply perceptive, Cheyenne Madonna offers an unsentimental portrait of America, of its dispossessed, its outlaws, and its visionaries. The first story in this debut collection, “Galveston Bay, 1826,” won an O. Henry Prize, and the second, “Yo Yo,” received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention. Admirers of the short stories of Jim Harrison and Annie Proulx will appreciate Chuculate’s steady, confident prose rooted in American realism. “Every sentence is unexpected, yet infallible.” —Ursula K. LeGuin “Eddie Chuculate emerges as an important new talent in his generation of storytellers. He’s a kind of journalist of the soul as he investigates the broken-hearted nation of Indian men.” —Joy Harjo, United States Poet LaureateShow book
“Enthralling . . . Boyne’s novel can stand comparison with William Golding’s Rites of Passage . . . Mutiny is storytelling at its most accomplished.” —The Independent (UK) Internationally bestselling author John Boyne has been praised as “one of the best and original of the new generation of Irish writers” by the Irish Examiner. With Mutiny, he’s created an eye-opening story of life—and death—at sea. Fourteen-year-old pickpocket John Jacob Turnstile has just been caught red-handed and is on his way to prison when an offer is put to him—a ship has been refitted over the last few months and is about to set sail with an important mission. The boy who was expected to serve as the captain’s personal valet has been injured and a replacement must be found immediately. Given the choice of prison or a life at sea, John soon finds himself on board, meeting the captain, just as the ship sets sail. The ship is the Bounty, the captain is William Bligh, and their destination is Tahiti. Their journey, however, will become one of the most infamous in naval history. Mutiny is the first novel to explore all the events relating to the Bounty’s voyage, from the long passage across the ocean to their adventures on the island of Tahiti and the subsequent forty-eight-day expedition toward Timor. This vivid retelling of the notorious mutiny is packed with humor, violence, and historical detail, while presenting an intriguingly different portrait of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian than has ever been presented before. “The writing grows into a mesmerizing tour-de-force . . . this is a remarkable and compelling piece of storytelling.” —The Irish TimesShow book
Will Barrent awakes without memories just before being deposited on Omega, a planet for criminals where the average life expectancy is 3 years. He’s listed as a murderer and released into the illicit society as a “peon” the lowest class imaginable. A mysterious girl gives him a weapon that starts him on his path to status, a path that requires constant brutality. But it must be borne if our hero is to discover the reason for his imprisonment; A reason that pits him against himself, and involves the sardonically similar but devoutly different creeds of Omega and Earth. - The Status Civilization was first published as “Omega!” in the August and September 1960 issues of Amazing Science Fiction Stories Magazine. (Summary by Gregg Margarite)Show book
