The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

Author: Joyce Carol Oates

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 9780195092622

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume offers a survey of American short fiction in 59 tales that combine classic works with 'different, unexpected gems', which invite readers to explore a wealth of important pieces by women and minority writers. Authors include: Amy Tan, Alice Adams, David Leavitt and Tim O'Brien.


Knockemstiff

Knockemstiff

Author: Donald Ray Pollock

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2008-03-18

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0385525400

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"More engaging than any new fiction in years." —Chuck Palahniuk An unforgettable work of fiction that peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place. Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are irresistibly, undeniably real. A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.


Fresh Complaint

Fresh Complaint

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Publisher: Knopf Canada

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 030740191X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Proudly presenting the widely anticipated new work of fiction from the multi-award winning bestselling author of Middlesex--a #1 major bestseller in Canada--and The Marriage Plot--also an acclaimed national bestseller--and the beloved The Virgin Suicides. Featuring unseen stories from one of the most eclectic, dynamic fiction writers working today, Fresh Complaint brings together works both new and previously published--including the crème de la crème of Eugenides's beloved New Yorker stories, never before collected between two covers. Jeffrey Eugenides's bestselling novels have shown that he is an astute observer of the crises of adolescence, sexual identity, self-discovery, family love and what it means to be an American in our times. The stories in Fresh Complaint continue that tradition. Ranging from the reproductive antics of "Baster" to the wry, moving account of a young traveller's search for enlightenment in "Air Mail" (selected by Annie Proulx for The Best American Short Stories 1997), this collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national crises. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people's wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art collapse under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in "Bronze," a sexually confused college freshman whose encounter with a stranger on a train leads to a revelation about his past and his future. Narratively compelling, beautifully written and packed with a density of ideas that belie their fluid grace, Fresh Complaint proves Eugenides to be a master of the short form as well as the long. Showcasing stories from as far back as the 1980s and as recently as 2017, Fresh Complaint is the career-spanning collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.


New Irish Short Stories

New Irish Short Stories

Author: Various

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2011-03-17

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0571255280

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Edited by Joseph O'Connor (author of Star of the Sea and Ghost Light) New Irish Short Stories is a stunning collection from a fascinating variety of writers, both new and established. Featuring, among many others, William Trevor and Roddy Doyle, Rebecca Miller and Richard Ford, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Colm Toibin, it shows the short story to be a vibrant, thriving form and one that should continue to be celebrated and encouraged. This collection follows the two acclaimed editions David Marcus edited for Faber in 2004-5 and 2006-7.


Short!

Short!

Author: Kevin Crossley-Holland

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9780192781482

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The longest of the stories in this book is short, and the shortest is just one sentence long. Which means there are lots of stories : a whole bookful to make you think, laugh, Shiver, and think again.


Short Stories

Short Stories

Author: Irwin Shaw

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2000-12

Total Pages: 786

ISBN-13: 9780226751283

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Featuring sixty-three stories spanning five decades, this superb collection-including "Girls in Their Summer Dresses," "Sailor Off the Bremen," and "The Eighty-Yard Run"-clearly illustrates why Shaw is considered one of America's finest short-story writers.


The Classic Short Story, 1870-1925

The Classic Short Story, 1870-1925

Author: Florence Goyet

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Published: 2014-01-13

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1909254754

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The ability to construct a nuanced narrative or complex character in the constrained form of the short story has sometimes been seen as the ultimate test of an author's creativity. Yet during the time when the short story was at its most popular - the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - even the greatest writers followed strict generic conventions that were far from subtle. This expanded and updated translation of Florence Goyet's influential La Nouvelle, 1870-1925: Description d'un genre à son apogée (Paris, 1993) is the only study to focus exclusively on this classic period across different continents. Ranging through French, English, Italian, Russian and Japanese writing - particularly the stories of Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, Giovanni Verga, Anton Chekhov and Akutagawa Ry?nosuke - Goyet shows that these authors were able to create brilliant and successful short stories using the very simple 'tools of brevity' of that period. In this challenging and far-reaching study, Goyet looks at classic short stories in the context in which they were read at the time: cheap newspapers and higher-end periodicals. She demonstrates that, despite the apparent intention of these stories to question bourgeois ideals, they mostly affirmed the prejudices of their readers. In doing so, her book forces us to re-think our preconceptions about this 'forgotten' genre.


The Bed Book of Short Stories

The Bed Book of Short Stories

Author: Lauri Kubuitsile

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1920397310

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The bed, dressed in hand sewn quilt or threadbare blanket, may in and of itself be memorable, but it is what happens in the bed - the sex and lovemaking, the dreams, the reading, the nightmares, the rest, giving birth and dying - which give 'bed' special meaning. Whether a bed is shared with a book, a child, a pet or a partner, whether lovers lie in ecstasy or indifference, whether 'bed' relates to intimacy or betrayal, it is memories and recollections of 'bed', in whatever form, which have triggered the writing of these thirty stories by women from southern Africa. Well known writers Joanne Fedler, Sarah Lotz, Arja Salafranca, Rosemund Handler and Liesl Jobson will delight, but you will discover here new writers from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia, each with a unique voice as they cast light on the intimate lives of women living in this part of the world and the possibilities that are both available to and denied them. The BED BOOK of short stories - some quirky and tender, others traumatic or macabre - is the perfect companion to take to bed with you, to keep you reading long into the night.


Best Short Stories

Best Short Stories

Author: Az Writers

Publisher:

Published: 2022-04-18

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9781732812130

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Large Print Edition of "Best Short Stories Book One" by AZ Writers contains over 40 captivating stories written by 37 different authors possessing an outstanding range of talent. Unlike many other Short Story collections, in this book, the reader will experience the writing voice and style of many authors. Whereas in most other collections the reader is confronted with a dozen or more stories written by one author who writes stories with the same voice, the same style, and with the same plot, which after a story or two, becomes quite boring. Or, as in many other collections, the reader will find stories written 100 years ago by authors who are no longer with us. In "Best Short Stories Book One" by AZ Writers, the reader will find a contemporary multi-genre collection of stories by dozens of authors who are still, as of this writing, on the green side of the grass. AZ Writers "Best Short Stories Book One" includes memoir stories, historical fiction, creative non-fiction, and many other well-written pieces that will amuse, intrigue, and captivate the reader. A few of these stories may make you laugh, and a few may bring a tear to your eye. In this collection, you will find well-crafted stories with irony, sarcasm, adventure, mystery, crime, and a couple of stories with a bit of romance.