Book picks similar to
Dancing by the River by Marlin Barton


fiction
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short-story-collection

Chasing Nirvana


Rafaa Dalvi - 2021
    The heady mix of human depravity, humour, satire, tragedy, revenge and drama makes these stories an essential cocktail of emotions.Review:“Breezy, Flippant, Poignant... Tales of pleasurable wickedness.”-Salil Desai, author of Inspector Saralkar Mystery Series“Although not all sugar and sunshine, Dalvi's voice is an important one, because he chooses to tell stories that others would normally shy away from. There's a serene resignation in his tales, one that is completely devoid of both hope as well as regret. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories.”-Bhaskar Chattopadhyay, author of Patang, Penumbra, Here Falls the Shadow, The Disappearance of Sally Sequeira and Best Served Cold“Gripping short-stories by Rafaa Dalvi. I am both intrigued and scared by his plot-twists. Thrilled to have read this book.”-Sanhita Baruah, author of The Art of Letting Go and The Art of Healing“Some of the best stories I have read so far. Rafaa has a gift of telling complex stories in a very intuitive and straightforward and are easy to read. This book is the best thing that has come out during these current circumstances.”-S. G. Kabe, author of Everything is Normal“Rafaa Dalvi is a flash fiction expert.”-T.F. Carthick, author of Carthick’s Unfairy Tales and More Unfairy Tales“Taut, propulsive and riveting, Rafaa’s mesmerising stories pack a big punch. Chasing Nirvana has been carefully crafted for maximum impact. A highly compelling read.”-Vivek Banerjee, author of ‘The Long Road’ and ‘The Other Side’

Pure Slaughter Value: Stories


Robert Bingham - 1997
    Bingham's strange sense of morbid fancy collides with a gutsy realism; the result is splendid wreckage: a young man is seduced by his first cousin (or maybe it's the other way around) at her brother's wake ("The Other Family"); a bored couple plot to kill a man during their ski-resort honeymoon ("Marriage Is Murder"); a yuppie banker risks his whole perfect life for an affair with a junkie ("The Fixers"); an insurance-company bounty hunter tracks down walk-aways from drug and alcohol rehab ("Preexisting Condition"); and in the title story, an eleven-year-old boy is caught at the exquisitely uneasy intersection of the safety of childhood play and the pain of grown-up love and longing.These lean, potent stories are utterly original, and yet by turns recall Salinger, in their intellectual acuity, emotional depth, and wicked, dark humor; Fitzgerald, in their vivid chronicling of a new, restless social elite; and the work of "transgressive" writers, in their pervasive sense of the imminent possibility of danger and violence, even in the most civilized surroundings. Above all, the stories in Pure Slaughter Value mark the debut of a striking new literary voice--unsparing, bold, ironic, and true--that will haunt us for a long time to come.

HMS Aphrodite (Sea Command Book 1)


Richard Testrake - 2015
    Further political machinations have secured a command for this new officer. It is now up to the new Lieutenant Charles Mullins to make a success of his new command on his own.

The Monster Hunter Diaries (Book 1): First Quest (An Unofficial Minecraft Book for Kids Ages 9 - 12 (Preteen)


Mark Mulle - 2016
    Now that he's thirteen, he thinks that he can finally go out and do things on his own. But he can’t look for dangerous mobs on his own, though. He’ll need some help from an expert crew...or a group of teenagers that also want to get out of the village. With the help of Blair, a monster hunter; Fontaine, a guy looking for revenge on mobs that hurt his family; Emily, a girl who wants to get over her fears; and Chunky, Emily's pet ocelot, Dean will be able to accomplish his goals. What is Dean’s goal exactly? He wants to fight some of the most dangerous mobs out there and find out the truth of the world. Are Ghasts really real? What makes a Blaze tick? What does it take to defeat an Enderman? Dean only really wants one thing--experience. He wants to be able to say that he’s done all of these great and exciting things, but he needs to get out and do it first. Will Dean be able to adventure and live to tell the tale? What will he need to risk to get what he wants? Find out in his diary, The Monster Hunter Diaries. Other books in The Monster Hunter Diaries Book 2: Building the Herobrine Totem, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BU3VT64/Book 3: Stopping Herobrine, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C8SC09K/Author’s Note: This short story is for your reading pleasure. The characters in this "Minecraft Adventure Series" such as Steve, Endermen or Herobrine...etc are based on the Minecraft Game coming from Minecraft ®/TM & © 2009-2013 Mojang / Notch

Ol' Son (Clay Brentwood Book 7)


Jared McVay - 2018
    Clay stays determined and navigates many obstacles as he follows their trail. Along the way, he picks up a mongrel dog he calls Ol' Son. It has been said that a dog is a man's best friend and Clay will need one before his encounter with the Marlowe Brothers and their friends is done!

Daisy & Bobby


John Locke - 2017
    On the way, he stopped at a diner and witnessed a bus load of pilgrims crowding around a partially-eaten Moon Pie that looked “exactly like” John the Baptist. Recognizing divine commercial opportunity, Bobby purchased the Moon Pie and drove to the Congregation of Celestial Worship, where he bribed a sketchy priest to register it as an authentic religious artifact. Now Bobby charges True Believers to view his Moon Pie, and supplements his income by allowing medical students to poke and prod his naked body. His existence—such as it is—changes the morning he meets the mysterious Daisy Pepper, who looks “exactly like” Emma Roberts. PRELIMINARY REVIEWS: “Locke’s Daisy & Bobby made me laugh out loud a dozen times and held my interest throughout. Start it early in the day, or you’ll be up all night.” “If you like the Fargo TV shows you’ll love Daisy & Bobby. This is a funny, quirky novel with outrageous characters.” “You know those politically correct “Book Club” books that take 50 pages before anything happens? This is NOT like that! John Locke literally had me hooked after the very first sentence! (Who else in the world has the guts to start books like this?)”

One More for Saddler Street


Harry Bowling - 1996
    Lana Johnson - young, intelligent and strikingly attractive - is getting serious with the local small-time villain, Ben Ferris. Next door to the Johnsons lives Lottie Curtis, a kind-hearted widow they have taken under their wing. For decades Lottie has been foster mother to children from broken homes. Only Jimmy Bailey has ever demonstrated in a practical way the debt he owed to Lottie. But it's 1946 and Lottie is facing her eightieth birthday alone. When Jimmy, now demobbed, teams up with Lana to organise a reunion of all the old lady's children as a birthday treat, there's more than one surprise in store...

My All Wasn't Enough: A Twisted Love Affair


Tynessa - 2016
    She is all about money, and does not care a bit about them going back home to their wives. After the heartache that her ex-husband left her with, she vows to never fall for another man. That is until she meets, Cainan Wallace, better known as Cain, a handsome 28-year-old businessman. His hood demeanor has Zoe ‘judging a book by its cover’ and not wanting to get to know him. When she does, he steals her heart in a matter of time. Yet, Cain has secrets of his own and demons that he’s trying to fight off. We’ll see if he’s able to keep his secrets and Zoe apart. Or will he have to sacrifice his reputation, all for the love of Zoe. Linda is Zoe’s sister, and the type who wants everyone to believe she has the picture perfect marriage. Behind closed doors, there are secrets, infidelities, and lines that have been crossed in more ways than one. Let’s just see if love is enough to keep this family as one.

The Giving Tree


Anya Fincham - 2016
    They say, every wish can be fulfilled. Kito is a little orphan, living in a village, who got to know about a magical tree, that can make his innermost desire true. But at the same time all the other villagers want their desires to be fulfilled as well...

The Golden Persuader


Michael Reisig - 2015
    The device had the power to make anyone that it was aimed at do the bidding of the holder. What sounded like a unique opportunity for Dax actually becomes more trouble than he bargains for as people around him keep coming after him and the device.

The Summer We Were Friends


Fiona O'Brien - 2021
    But as plans begin to unravel, tensions mount in the sleepy seaside town.Newcomer Dot joined the festival committee as a way of fitting in and as the first guests arrive to her newly renovatedbeachside B&B - TV star Molly Cusack and businessman Ryan Schindler - Dot becomes more determined than everthat her move be the fresh start she so desperately needs.Meanwhile heartbroken Merry has returned home to Derrybeggs and is back working at her parents' café. Everyone in town knows that her dream life in Florida tragically fell apart, but Merry is the only one who knows the whole story...When an intriguing American visitor turns up at The Seashell Café with no memory of who he is or why he is in Derrybeggs, Dot, Merry and the rest of the town's residents must come together to try to help him. But will they manage to do this while also saving the film festival?

Redemption at Two Rivers Station: A Two Rivers Station Western


Robert R. Peecher Jr. - 2018
    Jack Bell refused to take the oath from the Yankees at Bennett Place. Instead, he stole a Union Cavalry horse and made his way South, toward a home that didn’t feel like home.When the beautiful daughter of a former slave steals Jack’s heart, he thinks he might put down roots in South Carolina.But he soon learns that the grudges from the war did not die with Lee’s surrender.So the Confederate cavalry lieutenant known to his men as “Hell’s Bell” decides to set out to the one place where he thinks he can make a life for himself: his father’s North Texas farm at the junction of the Washita and Red River.But the ghosts that haunt Jack Bell at Two Rivers Station are more real, and more dangerous, than anything he might have faced back east. If Jack Bell can make peace with the past and secure a future for himself, he is going to have to do it behind a Henry rifle and a Yankee badge. If you love traditional old Westerns full of gunsmoke and horses, men with badges and the women who love them, outlaws with six-shooters and masks, all under a big Texas sky, then you’ll love REDEMPTION AT TWO RIVERS STATION. Get it now and fall in love again with the Old West!

Hunt-U.S. Marshal Vol. 53: Justice For Yampa (Hunt-U.S.Marshal)


W.L. Cox - 2021
    

A Very Unchristian Retreat


Giles Curtis - 2012
     Hugo has only himself to blame. The bookings in their holiday complex in France are few and Jan, his wife, is forced to organise a yoga week. She remains in Godalming, which leaves Hugo alone with the irresistible Suzanna, who gives off signals he has difficulty interpreting. Jan is talked into hiring a private detective to lure Hugo, but his problems have only just begun. Hugo meets Lenny and Doris who claim to run art parties, which turn out to be more of the swinging sort. Hugo's friend, Gary, books in his gay friends, who have a penchant for the feral. But wild is how Lenny and Doris like it. Hugo doesn't tell Jan, and an unpaid telephone bill means she can't tell him about the Christian Retreat group who are on their way. And then the chaos really begins.

Ocean of Regret


Mary E. Hanks - 2018
    And complicated. Paisley Grant arrives in her hometown of Basalt Bay, Oregon, with three goals in mind—face her past, make amends, and learn how to breathe again. Three years ago, she left her husband a Dear John letter, then secretly drove to Chicago where she’s been living ever since. That wasn’t fair to Judah—or to her dad, whom she hasn’t spoken with in all this time. Facing them will be hard, but even more difficult will be seeing certain townspeople whose hurtful remarks made her run in the first place. Like her father-in-law, Mayor Grant. It will take every ounce of courage she possesses to look that man in the eye again. As determined as Paisley is to make amends, her plans don’t include getting back together with Judah. It’s time to move on—alone and independent. But when hurricane winds and destructive waves hit the coastal town, and she must face her greatest fear, will she cling to her plans and live with regret, or let them go to find love again?