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  The Collected Short Fiction of...

  Bruce Jay Friedman

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  An “irresistible” collection of short fiction by an author who “has been likened to everyone from J. D. Salinger to Woody Allen” (The New York Times Book Review).   Hailed by Newsweek as “a bona fide literary event,” The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman brings together dozens of the New York Times–bestselling author’s greatest stories, which originally appeared in Esquire, The New Yorker, and other magazines.   “Readers who feel short stories are too high-flown—too literary, arcane, and serious—will find counterbalance in Friedman, whose stories have uncomplicated structures, obvious gists, intelligible metaphors, and unambiguous endings and come wrapped in humor. This compilation of his output in the short story form between 1953 and 1995 has a thematic arrangement, with categories such as ‘Mother,’ ‘Crazed Youth,’ and ‘Sex.’ Some of the more outstanding pieces are ‘The Subversive,’ about the narrator’s air force buddy whom the narrator believed to be the most all-American guy he ever met until his friend commits a crazed act; ‘The Gent,’ concerning a man who succumbs to a seduction by his best friend’s daughter; and ‘The Night Boxing Ended,’ in which ringside heckling goes way out of bounds.” —Booklist   “From poignant bildungsroman to sly satire, from wicked comedy to surrealistic farce, this virtuosic collection covers more than four decades’ worth of short stories . . . Friedman explores themes such as loneliness, aging, fear, parenthood and ethnicity, spinning tales in an expertly modulated voice.” —Publishers Weekly   “Friedman [is] more interesting than most of Malamud, Roth, and Bellow . . . What makes him more important is that he writes out of the viscera instead of the cerebrum.”  —Nelson Algren, The Nation   “Pure delight.” —Newsday

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  The Thrill of the Grass

  W.P. Kinsella

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  From the author of Shoeless Joe—the basis for the film Field of Dreams—come baseball stories that capture the magic and wonder of the game.   No one can write about baseball with the same brilliant combination of mysticism and realism as W. P. Kinsella. Lovers of the game and lovers of fine writing will thrill at the range and depth of the eleven stories that make up this collection.   From the magical conspiracy of the title story, to the celestial prediction in “The Last Pennant Before Armageddon,” to the desolation of “The Baseball Spur,” Kinsella explores the world of baseball and makes it, miraculously, a microcosm of the human condition.  Praise for W. P. Kinsella’s The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories “[Kinsella] defines a world in which magic and reality combine to make us laugh and think about the perceptions we take for granted.” —The New York Times   “His short stories about baseball are wistful things of beauty which serve to remind us how the game should feel—the innate glory of a diamond etched in the minds of Americans.” —Calgary Sun   “[Kinsella] uses baseball . . . As a familiar starting place for exploring, with pinpoint control, the human psyche.” —Booklist   “Stories that read like lightning and tantalize the reader with fascinating scenarios.” —Publishers Weekly

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  The Background

  Saki Saki

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  When Henri Deplis comes into a small inheritance and celebrates his new found wealth by getting an elaborate tattoo, he little realizes what a series of catastrophic events will ensue. The tattoo is recognized as a masterpiece of modern art and given to the city of Bergamo. This is the start of a series of restrictions on Henri Deplis’ lifestyle which gradually but inevitably leads to his downfall.

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  The Leaden Ring

  Sabine Baring-Gould

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  Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) was a British writer, clergyman and member of the landed gentry, having inherited an estate of 3,000 acres. While a young curate, he met and fell in love with a beautiful 16-year-old mill worker. He paid for her education and married her, and they subsequently had 15 children. Their relationship formed the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which was turned into the musical My Fair Lady. 
  Baring-Gould's strangest and most enduring works are those which are based on fantastical medieval myths and folklore. "The Leaden Finger" is the tale of a young woman persistently and cruelly haunted by the sinister ghost of a previous admirer who committed suicide when she refused his marriage proposal.

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  Wine of Wizardry

  George Sterling

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  A dark and moody collection of poems, influenced by the author's experience of nature, rather than an idealized notion of it. "The uncrowned King of Bohemia," as his friends called him, published this work against much public criticism. Summary by Assaf Koss.Cast List for The Triumph of BohemiaNarrator: MaryAnnSpirit of Bohemia: Kristin GjerløwMammon: David LawrenceSpirit of Time: Ian KingSpirit of the North-Wind: Larry WilsonSpirit of the East-Wind, Second Tree Spirit: April WaltersSpirit of the West-Wind: Mary KaySpirit of Fire: Shakira SearleFirst Woodman: Beth ThomasSecond Woodman, Spirit of the South-Wind: James KossFirst Tree Spirit: ToddHWThird Tree Spirit: Lydia

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  Dubliners

  James Joyce

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  These vivid, tightly focused observations about the life of Dublin's poorer classes originally made publishers uneasy: the stories contain unconventional themes and coarse language, and they mention actual people and places. Today, however, the stories are admired. They are considered to be masterful representations of Dublin done with economy and grace-representations, as Joyce himself once explained, of a chapter in the moral history of Ireland that give the Irish a good look at themselves. Although written for the Irish specifically, these stories-from the opening tale The Sisters to the final masterpiece The Dead-focus on moments of revelation that are common to all people.

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