Its Always Sunrise Somewhere and Other Stories is the authors second publication. This anticipated book will reveal more of his talent. Its a collection of short fictional stories that are imbued with Caribbean flare and with a wide range of topics (i.e. love and lost, the immigrant experience, sex, sexuality, oppression, nostalgia, racism, religion, spirituality, psychopathology, coming of age and poverty). However, humor, pathos, parody and most importantly hope and inspiration are a reoccurring theme permeating throughout all of the relatively interconnected stories. In "3.am at the Caf", disparate lives intersect with a prostitute, two closeted gay men, a cheating married man and a waitress whos seen it all. In "The Purloined Heart" the supernatural, in the form of Haitian Voodoo rendering a macabre dance of love & obsession ; the semi-auto biographical "A Candle for Lina" a young boy remembers his Nanny from childhood in Haiti; since all non-native Americans are descendants of immigrants here in the USA, you will most likely identify with the immigrant experience in "The Reason Why Crickets Chirp"; experience the pungent punch of racism in "The Whistler's Song" or a controversial re-imagining of a ubiquitous bible tale in "Nemesis"; a bildungsroman and coming out story in "Sultry Boy"; a tortured love story between a hefty middle aged island gal & a married white businessman in the midst of a midlife crisis in "Cri De Coeur/Cry of the Heart" and hope & inspiration rises on the horizon in the title piece "It's Always Sunrise Somewhere."
What this book is about is raising conscious awareness to our collective humanity and respective contributions to our country, with added focus on our multiculturalism and fundamentally our shared...constitutional ideology: that we are all created equal... In the midst of political and racial divisions in America, I heard a republican congressman speaking to the media, he said: “With open eyes, open ears, open mind and you walk away with some understanding...” while honoring our first amendment right to freedom of expression...through open minded and open hearted conversations... If you take one thing away from reading this book, I hope it’s that our numerous races, ethnicities, beliefs and values manifested through comparative historical and contextual exploration can serve as a miscible advantage or a harmonious mixture when added together ... a reconciliatory nod to our past and a meditative extrapolation, interjection and celebration of our ...United States or ‘US’. Enjoy!” Praise for Jacques Fleury’s “Chain Letter to America...” “A powerful strike on the doors of Justice. The courageous author painted his vision, and suggested understanding and consciousness of our historic and present social reality. Before anybody from any medical society in the Roman Empire, a descendant of a slave performed the first major open heart surgery in America. There is an axiom: ‘Know the cause of the illness, and you will be able to apply the proper medicine.’ I know this: When we understand that we are the Human Race, there will be no place on Earth for Eris and Ares. Please, keep fueling the wings of Your Quill, and let the world know that it soars safely ~ blown by winds of reality, and aesthetical light. In reverent appreciation...” —Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU --Poet, Translator “Quite a tirade of prose and poetry of the state of the United States in the early 21st century. I thought we would be beyond all that, but it has come back to haunt us. I was enthralled with every word. Jacques Fleury’s scholarship and writing ability are far above the average. Really worth paying attention to...a metaphor for refugees from all kinds of calamities trying to find a safe place, a calm place in their life where they can rest and think of the life around them... Inspiring words about the harshness and beauty... all around us ... Fleury really said a load in this broadly sweeping exposé of modern life awakening. It’s good to see his superlative writing again... Kudos!” —Ronald W. Hull, Ed.D, Author of Hanging by a Thread “I grew up in a black, white, and yellow world... Differences in color and nationality are what makes life interesting. I go to a very diverse church because I know that’s what Heaven is going to be like... as for color, I am not blind but I am so grateful the Lord made us diverse as it’s a blessing and not a curse. In His eyes, all of us matter. I Praise Him for giving me such wisdom.” — Dr. John M. Domino Author of Reflections from the Great Depression and WWII “Polarization and violence in our country make increasingly urgent a greater understanding of our history. No one can confidently predict that things will return to ‘normal’, or that non-racist forces will seamlessly replace President Trump after his one or two terms in office. So what lessons and what inspiration from our past can we draw upon to help us in our present circumstance?” —Neil Calendar, Adjunct Professor of English, Roxbury Community College
There is a deep yearning inside all of us to bring to light what makes us who we are! In this book, you will encounter literature replete with neurodivergent poetry—akin to 18th century English poet Christopher Smart notable for his visionary power and lyrical virtuosity. You will also discovery a collection of well researched writings, both new and previously published, that explore, debate, celebrate and reaffirm the human spirit and its often pathological and pernicious capacity for antiphonal ruminations and self-inflicted pain, a prismatic portrait of triumph over trauma. It is an articulation of metacognition or self-awareness, an attempt to explore the complexities of man’s inner struggle against the backdrop of Global disharmony mediated by our shared humanity. Ultimately a valiant effort in proffering a favorable outlook for an innovative, adaptive and idyllic prototype: unrestrained love, compassion, understanding and acceptance of our truest selves. From the Prologue of You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self: Why should you read this book when there are many other books with similar titles and subject matter in the saturated literary market place? Well first, I offer multidimensional, multicultural and multilingual perspectives. I put forth a Francophone, Haitian and American frame of mind, being that I am a trilingual speaker of French, Haitian Creole and American English. These cultural influences fused together to bring intriguing elements of reasoned judgments and multiple ways of understanding and expressing ideology. Second, the literature... is not your typical dusty purely academic dissertation on soul searching and self-reckoning. It is a manifestation of soul authenticity in action... a purposeful yet at times playful amalgamation of... poetry, stories, essays, book and theater reviews, and interviews with community leaders and literary figures from MIT and Harvard University...with a connecting theme of personal authenticity: that is being true to one’s self in all aspects of one’s life. It encompasses spirituality, identify, artistic expression, community, resiliency, advocacy, activism and ultimately acceptance of life as is rather than as you wish it to be. Because “The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering...” as...said by spiritual guru Ram Dass...
"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart’s finest book yet — and that’s saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree A 2020 ILA Teachers’ Choice A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner Winner of the 2019 CYBILS Award for Middle Grade Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019 A Junior Library Guild Selection Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it. Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys... Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.” This title has common core connections.
In this short story enhanced with beautiful illustrations, the bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Beartown delivers an insightful and poignant tale about finding out what is truly important in life. A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it. As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future. Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer. With humor and compassion, Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime reminds us that life is a fleeting gift, and our legacy rests in how we share that gift with others.
Dark, disturbing and oftentimes bizarre, these highly polished, widely disparate short stories tell the meta story of one man's descent into depression, madness, and suicide -- and hint at a golden beyond.
Taken from The Oxford Chekhov, the stories in this collection include "The Butterfly," "Ariadne," "A Dreary Story," "Neighbours," "An Anonymous Story," and "Doctor Startsev," as well as the title story.
Mary Austin's The Land of Little Rain (1903) and Lost Borders (1909), both set in the California desert, make intimate connections between animals, people, and the land they inhabit. For Austin, the two indispensable conditions of her fiction were that the region must enter the story "as another character, as the instigator of plot," and that the story must reflect "the essential qualities of the land." In The Land of Little Rain, Austin's attention to natural detail allows her to write prose that is geologically, biologically, and botanically accurate at the same time that it offers metaphorical insight into human emotional and spiritual experience. In Lost Borders, Austin focuses on both white and Indian women's experiences in the desert, looks for the sources of their deprivation, and finds them in the ways life betrays them, usually in the guise of men. She offers several portraits of strong women characters but ultimately identifies herself with the desert, which she personifies as a woman.
Singularity gathers award-winning writer Melanie Tem’s most important short fiction, highlighting her diversity and mastery of her art. The sixty stories collected here range from "Sitting with the Driver," a western with a dark woman at its center, to "Little Shit," a contemporary tale of a woman who uses her deceptive appearance and psychic power to trap those who prey on the helpless. The child in "Corn teeth" longs not only to become a part of an alien family, but also to become an alien. And in the title tale, a man studies singularities and strin theory to both understand and blind himself to the truth about the woman he loves. Although the story is not science fiction, its exploration of physics is as rigorous as that found in the best sf. Here you will find no triumphant warriors, no powerful and beautiful protagonists, no monsters from beyond the dark cold void or madmen bent on conquest. Tem's characters are mothers and siblings, orphans and lonely seniors. Her stories are often about family, and always about relationships. Even though Kelly is the only character in "Iced in," the bitter truth that lies at the story's heart is that she is doomed by her failure to maintain relationships. Melanie Tem's stories are often haunted by ghosts and monsters, ghosts and monsters revealed as all too human. In Singularity, she explores the love and terror that lie deep within all of us.
