Verlag: Salt
'Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This new series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere.'
Adeline Virginia Woolf was born on the 25th January 1882 in South Kensington in London. Although lauded as a founder of modernist writing with such classics as ‘Orlando’, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘To the Lighthouse’ and, of course, many classic short stories, her background is filled with elements of tragedy that she somehow overcame to become such a revered writer. Her mother died when she was 13, her half-sister Stella two years later and with it her first of several nervous breakdowns. Appallingly it was later found that three of her half-brothers had sexually abused her so darkness must have seemed ever present. She began writing professionally at age 20 but her father’s death two years later brought a complete mental collapse and she was briefly institutionalised. Somehow she found within herself a literary career and with it great innovations in writing; she was a pioneer of “stream of consciousness”. Her tight circle of friends were the founders of the Bloomsbury Group, a movement whose legacy still influences across the arts and society in many way to this day. Whilst the dark periods continued to interrupt her emotional state her rate of work never ceased. Until, on 28th March 1941, Woolf put on her overcoat, filled up its pockets with stones, and walked into the River Ouse, in Lewes, East Sussex and drowned herself. Her body was not recovered until the 18th April. She was 59. She left behind a note which read in part “Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do”.Zum Buch
In James Joyce's poignant story, the narrative unfolds against a New Year's Eve gathering in Dublin, painting a vivid and enchanting scene that ultimately leads the protagonist's wife to disclose a startling revelation to her husband. This culminates in an emotionally charged epiphany that is widely regarded as one of the most powerful in modern literature.Zum Buch
Beck has grown up in the city of Silvo, bullied and alienated by others for years. He's struggled to fit in and maintain a respectable air. But Beck’s had enough after he was fired from his clerk job for getting in a fight. Beck wants to leave Silvo and start over, running away like his father did. But he needs money to do that. Years ago, his father Cedric buried a treasure trove of gold coins in a dead man’s coffin, claiming the coins were cursed. Beck decides to dig up the coffin to get the gold coins. Tarn was hired as a graveyard guard, despite his dark, checkered, and mysterious past. There have been a rash of grave robberies and he finds Beck robbing a grave. Then they're attacked by a Vampiric monster. Tarn and Beck fight off the Vampiric monster as Tarn recognizes the gold coins. Tarn now has to save Beck as bandits and more chase after the cursed gold coins. Author's Note: This involves a M/M romance for readers 18+, please be advised.Zum Buch
R. Austin Freeman's famous forensic investigator, Dr. John Thorndyke, is asked by a former student to help on his first murder case. A prostitute has been murdered and it seems a woman has done the heinous deed. Dr. Thorndyke helps find the actual murderer with the evidence available.Zum Buch
In this collection of curious and delightful short stories, you never know who you’re going to meet or where you’re going to end up. You can be certain, however, that you’ll always find yourself smack dab in the middle of some befuddling predicament of existence. Using humor and horror, satire and allegory, fabulism and realism, Tales From the Liminal takes you for an extraordinary ride, submerging you in spaces where anything is possible, especially transformation.Zum Buch
“A keen sociological eye for class and ideology; an understanding of the contradictory impulses of the human heart; an ability to conjure a place, a mood and a time through seemingly matter-of-fact descriptions.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York TimesShocking, intimate, often uncomfortably honest, Adore reaffirms Doris Lessing’s unrivaled ability to capture the truth of the human condition.Roz and Lil have been best friends since childhood. But their bond stretches beyond familiar bounds when these middle-aged mothers fall in love with each other's teenage sons—taboo-shattering passions that last for years, until the women end them, vowing to have a respectable old age.Zum Buch
