Welcome Thieves - Stories

Sean Beaudoin

Summary

Black humor mixed with pathos is the hallmark of the twelve stories in this adult debut collection from a master writer of comic and inventive YA novels. A young man spends a whole day lying naked on the floor of his apartment, conversing casually with his roommates, pondering the past, considering the lives being lived around him. In the odd and funny, sad yet somehow hopeful conceit of Sean Beaudoin’s story “Exposure,” are all the elements that make his debut collection, Welcome Thieves, a standout. In twelve virtuosic stories, Beaudoin trains his absurdist’s eye on the ridiculous perplexities of adult life. From muddling through after the apocalypse (“Base Omega Has Twelve Dictates”) to the knowing smirk of “You Too Can Graduate with a Degree in Contextual Semiotics,” Beaudoin’s stories are edgy and profane, bittersweet and angry, bemused and sardonic. Yet they’re always tinged with heart. Beaudoin’s novels have been praised for their playfulness and complexity, for the originality and beauty of their language. Those same qualities, and much more, are on full display in Welcome Thieves, a book that should find devout fans in readers who worship at the altar of George Saunders, Kurt Vonnegut, and Sam Lipsyte. “A deviously spellbinding collection of short stories in which strange and beautiful worlds, creations of Sean Beaudoin’s dark and sometimes brutal imagination, emerge as part of a tapestry so finely woven that we don’t see the thread. In the end, we can only stand in awe of Beaudoin’s immense talent.” —Garth Stein, author of A Sudden Light

Available since: 03/01/2016.

Other books that might interest you

The Magic City (Golden Deer...

Edith Nesbit

After Philip's older sister and sole family member Helen marries, he goes off to live with his new step sister Lucy. He has trouble adjusting at first, thrown into the world different from his previous life and abandoned by his sister while she is on her honeymoon. To entertain himself he builds a giant model city from things around the house: game pieces, books, blocks, bowls, etc.  
Then through some magic, he finds himself inside the city, and it is alive with the people he has populated it with. Some soldiers find him and tell him that two outsiders have been foretold to be coming: a Deliverer and a Destroyer. Mr. Noah, from a Noah's Ark playset, tells Philip that there are seven great deeds to be performed if he wants to prove himself the Deliverer. Lucy, too, has found her way into the city and joins Philip as a co-Deliverer, much to his chagrin.

Show book

The Secret of the Schwarztal

Francis Gribble

Francis Henry Gribble (1862 - 1946) was an English writer who spent much of his life travelling in Europe, which provided the setting for many of his novels and stories.The Secret of the Schwarztal is a mystery story. An English traveller had gone missing in the remote valley of Schwarztal in the Alps and was presumed dead. But three years later his brother arrived determined to solve the mystery of what happened to his brother - and what he discovered was very deeply disturbing.

Show book

Afsaneh - Short Stories by...

Kaveh Basmenji

Whether negotiating often-treacherous paths through political and religious upheavals or threading their way through dreams and fantasies, the characters in these stories are vivid and compelling enough to challenge and surprise anyone unfamiliar with Iranian life and literature. From the oppressive atmosphere before the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Simin Daneshvar's Whom Shall I Greet? to Shahrnoosh Parsipour's mesmerising story of women who blur distinctions between reality and dreams in Crystal Pendants, these tales brim with the inner lives, attitudes and outlooks of women in Iran. 'There is great talent in these stories as well as great courage.' -- Elaine Showalter, Literary Review

Show book

The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter

Ambrose Bierce

Originally written by Adolphe Danziger De Castro in 1889, but based on an earlier German tale, this story was submitted to Ambrose Bierce for revision. He insisted on reinstating the tragic ending which De Castro had altered in order to cater for the tastes of the day. In reverting to the original plot, the story regains its full importance as a work of great literature. The young monk, Ambrosius, falls in love with the village outcast, Benedicta, who is the daughter of the hangman. The story is the tale of his struggle with himself, as he strives for religious purity against worldly and carnal temptation. When he is sent out into the wilderness to contemplate and finds that Benedicta is living close by, his struggle reaches a head. But Benedicta is in love with the Saltmaster's dashing son, Rochus. Ambrosius has to contend with his own jealousy, confusion and uncertainty as to God's real purpose for him. As one tragic event follow another, the young monk begins to lose his grip on reality... leading to a dramatic denouement which sends the reader reeling in shock. One of the great classics of its age.

Show book

Lost In The Wilderness

Lilly Maytree

Just when things aboard the Dreadnaught have settled down to relative harmony among the crew, and the goal of finding a place to call home in Alaska seems within reach—the unthinkable happens. Now, Stella Madison and friends must discover if they have what it truly takes to survive in the wilderness, whatever that illusive quality may be. Oddly enough, it is found in the most unusual places. And while no one could have planned ahead for such a thing, it becomes perfectly clear that it will take more than just working together to get them out.

Show book

Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge

St. George Henry Rathborne

The Silver Fox Patrol is hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, at the invitation of Bob White.  They are enjoying their outing in a real wilderness, but trouble comes along from a local Moonshiner.Herbert Carter is one of many pseudonyms used by St George Rathborne.  (Ann Boulais)

Show book