Other books that might interest you

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  A Dream of Life

  D H Lawrence

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  'A Dream of Life', is unfinished but there is enough extant to let us know where Lawrence was going in this story. He begins by looking back and bemoaning what has become of his generation, under the thumb of women and lacking the spark of his father's mining friends. Then in a scene reminiscent of 'Pilgrim's Progress' he travels forward in time and sees his village in the distant future. The people are living in an idealised commune but do they have the spark of life?

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  Concrete Fields

  David Gaffney

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  The countryside – what is it for? A paradise on earth where you can relax and get creative? Or an outdoor wool factory where every other house is an Airbnb and there are fewer trees than Camden. In his new collection of short stories David Gaffney explores the theme of town versus country through a number of different lenses, including his own experience of being brought up in west Cumbria then moving to Manchester.
  A creative residency on the coast of Scotland becomes weirder and weirder in "The Retreat"; 'I've always had the feeling that the countryside has something against me and that one day it will take its revenge.' In "The Table", a recluse in Penrith uses mid-century furniture to lure city dwellers into a world of 'depressed farmers with shotguns and bottomless pits of slurry that will swallow you so hard you'll never be seen again. And in "The Garages" the pressure of city living forces a man to become oddly obsessed with empty spaces. Often funny, often haunting, often profound, Gaffney uses dark humour and surreal characters to demonstrate a deep understanding of how places, urban or rural, can shape, influence and sometimes distort our lives. 'People who like the countryside tend to believe in things that aren't really there,' says a character in "The Country Pub".
  These are indeed stories about things that aren't really there, and this is why they resonate with you long after you have stopped reading.

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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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  Wood's Bones - Action and...

  Steven Becker

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  When Mac Travis witnesses a poacher working lobster traps in the backcountry of the Florida Keys—too near his island home to ignore—he takes action. The traps belong to a friend who enlists Mac to search for the poachers—but along the way, Mac makes a discovery that changes everything. 
  A story that highlights the beauty of the Keys while exposing their undesirable underbelly, Wood’s Bones features the unique character of the island chain. Filled with boating, diving, and fishing, with plenty of action, unique characters, and stunning locations, escape on a tropical adventure in the latest in the bestselling Mac Travis Adventures.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Rudyard Kipling, D H Lawrence,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  The zenith of Empire is bookended by two catastrophic wars that slaughter vast swathes of humanity.  And yet authors manage to record and create fragile libraries of humanity, its talents, its dreams and increasingly its nightmares. 
   
  01 - The 20th Century - The English Men - An Introduction 
  02 - They by Rudyard Kipling 
  03 - The Rocking Horse Winner by D H Lawrence 
  04 - The Interlopers by Saki the pseudonym for H H Munro 
  05 - The Diary of a God by Barry Pain 
  06 - The Juryman by John Galsworthy 
  07 - The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood 
  08 - The Haunted Orchard by Richard Le Gallienne 
  09 - Carnacki, The Ghost Finder - No 1 - The Gateway of the Monster by William Hope Hodgson 
  10 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James 
  11 - August Heat by W F Harvey 
  12 - The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

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  Enjoy Your Stay at the Shamrock...

  Andrew Kaufman

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  Aesop meets Anaïs Nin in these absurdist stories of very unexpected redemption 
  Getting to the Shamrock Motel isn’t easy. It’s just off Concession #18, but you can’t get there through a sequence of lefts and rights. To find the Shamrock you have to be lost – not just on the map, but in your heart and soul. 
  The Shamrock Motel does not accept reservations. The only way to get a room is by walking into the office and asking Rosemary, the owner/operator for one. Try not to stare at her hair. 
  Fair warning: no one spends the night, or even an hour at the Shamrock without experiencing some form of transformation. Whether it’s accidentally sleeping with a bear, turning yourself into a river, or getting entirely too intimate with the sun, time spent at the Shamrock will make you wiser, stronger, sexier, and more yourself. Even if that’s the last thing you want. 
  These linked stories explore the intersection of personality and desire, love and lust, the joy and sadness of being alive and in love. Heated pool, cable TV, and a shot at redemption: the Shamrock Motel offers it all. Credit cards are accepted, but cash is preferred.

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