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  The Fire

  Geo Mihalache

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  From the series 'Stories for Vlad': 
  Great joker, the fire in the stove plays arrogantly with the grandparents' tomcats, sprinkling them from the stove with flames and sparks and finally learning a hard lesson - even the strongest find their end - under the ashes in the stove in his case;

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  Fallen Out - A Jesse McDermitt...

  Wayne Stinnett

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  When Jesse McDermitt leaves the Marine Corps, he has no idea what he will do for the rest of his life. He only knows he doesn't want to spend the coming winter anywhere cold. His greatest skill is killing people from up to a mile away and he knows there aren't many job opportunities in the civilian world for that. 
  Jesse also knows his way around boats and has an old friend living free and easy in the Florida Keys. Being an experienced diver and angler, he immediately heads south toward Key West and the end of the road. 
  With a single comment, a waitress in a waterfront restaurant in north Key Largo shakes loose a long dormant dream and Jesse runs with it. With the help of friends, new and old, he buys just the right boat to live on and soon starts a part time charter business. Everything is going smoothly, until a Carolina girl and a hurricane hit him at the same time. 
  Danger lurks in the sleepy little town of Marathon, in the middle of the Florida Keys, as well as in the swamps of the Everglades. But danger doesn't expect to run into a man like Jesse. A man who will not only respond swiftly in facing it, but with a vengeance unexpected.

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  Mary Elizabeth Braddon - A Short...

  Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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  Mary Elizabeth Braddon – A Short Story Collection – An Introduction 
   
  Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in London on the 4th October 1835. 
   
  At age 5 her parents separated but her ambition to succeed was not daunted.  After being privately educated she took to acting, and the minor roles she obtained where enough to support both her and her mother.  This potential career waned as soon as she began writing and secured an income from it. 
   
  In 1860, she met John Maxwell, a publisher of periodicals, and moved in with him the following year.  At the time Maxwell was already married with five children but his wife was confined to an Irish mental asylum.  On her death they married and she had six children by him. 
   
  Braddon was prolific and wrote over 80 novels, perhaps the most famous is ‘Lady Audley's Secret’ (1862), which won her both sales and a fortune as a bestseller.  She also wrote a number of historical fiction novels which again increased her reputation. 
   
  She was equally prolific as a short story writer, primarily supernatural and ghost stories, all of which continue to be anthologized to this day, such is the high regard they are kept in. 
   
  Braddon founded Belgravia magazine in 1866, its fare being serialised sensation novels, poems, travel narratives and biographies, along with essays on fashion, history and science, all lavishly illustrated.  She also edited Temple Bar magazine. 
   
  Mary Elizabeth Braddon died on 4th February 1915 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery. 
   
  1 - Mary Elizabeth Braddon - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - Colonel Benyon's Entanglement by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
  3 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
  4 - The Face in the Glass by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
  5 - Eveline's Visitant by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
  6 - The Higher Life by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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  Ben Pitcher's Elly - Mann delves...

  Mary E Mann

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  Mary Rackham was born in Norwich on 14th August 1848 to a merchant family.  Little is known of her early life and her biography only re-appears in September 1871 with marriage to Fairman Joseph Mann, a farmer with 800 acres.   
   
  Mary moved to Shropham, Norfolk and became involved with the workhouse, visiting the sick and other unfortunates of the parish, her observations and experiences a valuable source for her later stories.  
   
  She took up writing, partly to offset the dreary village life of her surroundings, in the 1880s and published her first novel, ‘The Parish of Hilby’ (1883) at her own expense. It was well received by the critics.  
   
  Thus began a career that spanning three decades provided thirty-three novels, hundreds of short stories, and fourteen plays.  Her work was largely focused on rural life in Norfolk and centered on the fictional town of Dulditch, with grim but authentic accounts of poverty and deprivation.  
   
  Her marriage produced one boy and three girls. With her husband's death in 1913, she moved to Sheringham.  
   
  She is regarded as a major contributor to East Anglian literature with particular praise given to her short stories. 
   
  Mary E Mann died on 19th May 1929.  She was 80.  Her grave-marker is a carved open book with the epitaph ‘We bring our years to an end, as if it were a tale that is told’. 
   
  Life in ‘Ben Pitcher's Elly’ is degrading, awful and unvarnished.  The chances of this young girl having a happy life are remote but her story must be heard.

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  Ryūnosuke Akutagawa - A Short...

  Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

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  Ryūnosuke Niihara was born in Kyōbashi, Tokyo in Japan on the 1st March 1892.  Sadly, his mother suffered severe mental illness after his birth and so, at only eight months old, he was sent to be raised by his maternal uncle and aunt, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name.  
   
  He was fascinated by classical Chinese literature from his early years and began writing after entering what was then the Tokyo Imperial University in 1913 to study English Literature.   
   
  The following year Akutagawa and his friends revived the literary journal ‘New Currents of Thought’ which published their own works and translations of such icons as W B Yeats and Anatole France. 
   
  Akutagawa published "Rashōmon" in 1915 and whilst it was disliked by his friends everyone else knew better.  As other short stories followed so did his growing literary reputation as the father of the Japanese short story. 
   
  Much of his work reinterpreted former classical works and incidents and this, melded with his strong dislike of naturalism, produced a writer of rare and genuine quality.  His character palette featured strong and domineering women, mainly based on his mother and the aunt who helped raise him. 
   
  In 1921, he spent four months in China as a reporter.  Whilst there his health was compromised by several illnesses and both his physical and mental health spiralled downwards.  He began to suffer from hallucinations and dreaded that he might have inherited his mother’s mental disorders.  
   
  Although he survived one suicide attempt Ryūnosuke Akutagawa died on the 24th July 1927 in Tokyo from an overdose of Veronal, a barbiturate.  He was 35. 
   
  1 - Ryunosuke Akutagawa - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - In A Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa 
  3 - Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa 
  4 - The Cold by Ryunosuke Akutagawa 
  5 - The Mine Cart by Ryunosuke Akutagawa 
  6 - The Socialist by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

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  Watching Women & Girls

  Danielle Pender

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  Chosen as one of the ‘best new book releases’ by COSMOPOLITAN 
  A ‘best summer read’ by ELLE MAGAZINE 
  When you look at a woman, who do you see? 
  “Every aspect of her body or personality was up for inspection: too big, too small, too available, too hidden, too much, not enough.” 
  A wedding day brings back memories of sisterhood and betrayals; a motorway service station is the site of explosive violence, but also strange bonds; a trip home forces a reminder of a life-changing, lost friendship; a woman confronts her own infidelity; an artist celebrates a life spent in observation. 
  This debut collection movingly explores how women and girls are looked at, look at one another, and look at themselves, and how living as an object can shape their passions, fears, and joys. With a clear eye and dark humour, Danielle Pender considers sex, parenting, grief and class as lenses for the ways in which the world watches women — and how women are always watching back. 
  In Watching Women & Girls, Danielle Pender masterfully weaves together a collection of short stories that delve into the complexities of marriage, divorce, and family dynamics. The book, a top pick in fiction, offers a unique perspective on romance, showcasing the author's ability to capture the essence of human relationships. 
  For fans of Huma Qureshi (Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love), Ottessa Moshfegh (My Year of Rest and Relaxation), Mieko Kawakami (MONKEY New Writing From Japan Volume 2), Sam Bett (The Beggar Student), and Mona Awad (Bunny). 
  HarperCollins 2022

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