But despite its masterly control, this startlingly modern tale is also a simmering, rebel cri de coeur unleashed by a writer who was herself unappreciated in her own time. The combination of these attributes make this edgy novella a moving and suspenseful homage to the power of literature itself.The Art of The Novella SeriesToo short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

    The character development is very strong and realistic, and the dialogue of the novel is very powerful.

    The smoke-spewing, banshee-wailing, fearsome black thing hisses like a thousand cobras... and the villagers declare that this Thing is an Iron Demon—a yakada yaka.The Burghers who drive these Iron Demons have a penchant for challenging authority and courting trouble, sometimes just to liven things up in the railway outposts... and so it is that Sonnaboy and Meerwald chase a large group of villagers all across Anuradhapura, mother-naked but not much bothered by it, Ben Godlieb conjures up a corpse in his cowcatcher, Dickie Byrd single-handedly demolishes a Pentecostal Mission and is hailed as the messiah of the Railway fraternity, and Basil Van der Smaght filches a human heart and feeds it to the Nawalapitiya railway staff ...and to cap it all, Sonnaboy takes French Leave to act in The Bridge on the River Kwai!

    Poor body image and low self-esteem lead to the resurgence of Brenda’s eating disorder and a collapse in the structure of her life. Ghosts, water spirits and wraiths all appear in this tale where there are no easy answers—only opportunities to live and fight another day.“The Wishing Well” was first published by Axolotl Press, 1993. Copyright (c) 1993 by Charles de Lint.Cover art by Kel Flowers (www.kelfae.com)I can never recapture the feeling of first arriving in Newford and meeting the people and seeing the sights as a newcomer. However, part of the beauty of Newford is the sense that it has always been there, that de Lint is a reporter who occasionally files stories from a reality stranger and more beautiful than ours. De Lint also manages to keep each new Newford story fresh and captivating because he is so generous and loving in his depiction of the characters. Yes, there are a group of core characters whose stories recur most often, but a city like Newford has so many intriguing people in it, so many diverse stories to tell, so much pain and triumph to chronicle.— Challenging DestinyCharles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.— Alice HoffmanCharles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best.— Holly BlackDe Lint is probably the finest contemporary author of fantasy– Booklist, American Library AssociationUnlike most fantasy writers who deal with battles between ultimate good and evil, de Lint concentrates on smaller, very personal conflicts. Perhaps this is what makes him accessible to the non-fantasy audience as well as the hard-core fans. Perhaps it’s just damned fine writing.– Quill & QuireDe Lint’s evocative images, both ordinary and fantastic, jolt the imagination.– Publishers WeeklyIt is hard to imagine urban fantasy done with greater skill– Booklist, American Library Association

    

    Timeless classics like ‘Time Stops at Shamli’, ‘Bus Stop, Pipalnagar’, and ‘The Night Train at Deoli’ rub shoulders with brilliant new stories that have never been published before like ‘Strychnine in the Cognac’, ‘The Horseshoe’ and ‘When the Clock Strikes Thirteen’. Vibrant, poignant, beautiful and tragic, these stories show a master storyteller at the height of his powers.

    But then again, there aren't many writers with such irrepressible genius as John Fante.The John Fante Reader is the important next step in the reintroduction of this influential author to modern audiences. Combining excerpts from his novels and stories, as well as his never-before-published letters, this collection is the perfect primer on the work of a writer -- underappreciated in his time -- who is finally taking his place in the pantheon of twentieth-century American writers.

    A sparkling short story from the bestselling author of The Oyster Catcher, available exclusively in ebook.

    It includes character studies and summaries of the plot with discussions of the major themes, as well as a background to John Steinbeck.

    Join the O'Reilly family once again as they meet around the Jack O'Lantern on Halloween night and share ghost stories that will make you shiver and have you looking over your shoulder to see if there is "a little something extra" wandering through your home tonight.

    In this book, Nikhil continues taking his readers along for a journey which try to solve the riddles of basic human existence - riddles of love, of childhood's lost and found, of relationships and of our day to day trials.His characters vary from a gangster who chooses love over looting, a couple trying to steal their first kiss in a right-wing nightmare, children playing one-tip one-hand cricket to an early jobber trying to rise above his mundane job to an old man contemplating the purpose of life after getting replaced by technology.Nikhil's characters are immensely relatable and his stories are his voice speaking out your own stories. This book reminds you of the smell of summer sunshine hitting garden leaves and takes you to back to a kinder gentler and simpler time.

    Only a select few have ever had access to the truth about what became known as Area 51.But what happened to the remnants of that crash is shrouded in even greater mystery. What began in the high desert of New Mexico ended at Wright-Patterson, an ultra top-secret Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio. The physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitation was buried deep within this nuclear stronghold.How tragic that such seismic news should be kept from the people of the world...pieces of history, now quickly dwindling into oblivion as the last of the secret-keepers passes on.In spite of its rich history of military service to our nation, Wright-Patterson also stands as the secret tomb of one of the greatest occurrences in recorded history. But be prepared...the real Area 51--Wright-Patterson's vault--is about to be opened.