many of the characters in these stories are waiting for something to change their lives, many of them can't quite reach ultimate happiness, some of them are sick, some are abandoned, and most have trouble communicating. The unexpected can, and usual does, happen.Etgar Keret's stories are very short - and every word counts. They are quick, brief and precise, and they move us without hesitation. They are hilarious and off-the-wall, yet also dark, sometimes violent, and often intensely poignant. They are, in short, brilliant.

    Full-colour illustrations, for ages 6-10 years.

    Storylines include that of a woman who discovers grisly horror on a mountain road, a plastic love doll who becomes liberated, and a baby's diaper that is possessed by aliens.Contents:Mister Weed-Eater (1993)Steppin' Out, Summer, '68 (1991)Love Doll: A Fable (1991)Bubba Ho-Tep (1994)Man with Two Lives (1994)Pilots (1989)The Phone Woman (1990)The Diaper, or The Adventure of the Little Rounder (1990)Everybody Plays the Fool (1993)In the Cold, Dark Time (1990)Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (1991)By Bizzare Hands: The Play (1991)Godzilla's Twelve-Step Program (1994)Drive-In Date (1991)

    A first collection.Brian Evenson has added an O. Henry Award–winning short story, "Two Brothers," to this controversial book and a new afterword, in which he describes the troubling aftermath of the book's publication in 1994.

    Nobody in Preston could remember when the watertower was built, or who had built it, but there it stood on Shooter's Hill — its iron legs rusted, its egg-shaped tank warped and leaking — casting a long dark shadow across the valley, across Preston itself.

    Each painting is beautifully reproduced in full colour and in a size that enables the viewer to fully appreciate the stunningly meticulous detail which this modern master brings to his art.