Michael's morning commute was made more bearable with the purchase of his new book - a collection of short stories that allowed the reader insights into the mind of the authors. But, as Michael read, the similarities between his life and the story became clearer. Lines blurred and where fact ended and fiction started was not so certain...narratorAUSTRALIA Volume Three is a collection of more than 210 poems and short stories from more than 90 emerging and established Australian writers which were published on the narratorAUSTRALIA blog during the period 1 May to 31 October 2013. Contributors are: Alexander Gardiner, Alexander Ryan-Jones, Alexandra Plummer, Alexandra Smithers, Andris Heks, Ann Pigott, Ariette Singer, Armin Boko, Athena Zaknic, Beau Porter, Ben McCaskill, Bob Edgar, Connie Howell, Craig Stanton, Crystal Lee, David Anderson, David Jenkins, David Keegan, David Newman, DavidVee , Deborah Stanbridge, Demelza, Douglas Radcliffe, Emma Hall, Emma-Lee Scott, Esther Campion, Fayroze Lutta, Felicity Lynch, Graham Sparks, Gregory Tome, Heather Jensen, Henry Johnston, Hettie Ashwin, Sammy , Irene Assumpter, Irina Dimitric, James Craib, Jane Russell, Jean Bundesen, Jennie Cumming, Jenny Kathopoulis, Jessica Soul, JH Mancy, JL Warren, Joanna Rain, Joemass, John Arvan, John Ross, Jordan Black, Judith Bruton, Judith La Porte, Julie Martin, Ken Ward, Kerry Karamaroudis, Kylie Abecca, Lauren David, Leonie Bingham, Fantail, Lynn Nickols, Marilyn Linn, Mark Fowler, Mark Govier, Mary Krone, Michele Fermanis-Winward, Mitchell Walker, Mubarak Hameed, Evelyn MD, Paul Humphreys, Peter Goodwin, Rachel Branscombe, RL, Robert Murphy, Robertas, Robyn Chaffey, Ruchi Khare, Ruth Withers, Sallie Ramsay, Sarah Baker, Sarah Clay, Shane Smithers, Shannon Todd, Shirley Burgess, Stephanie Adamopoulos, Subroto Pant, Susan Kay, Thomas Gibbs, Virginia Gow, Vita Monica, Wendy Vitols, Whitney McIntosh and Winsome Smith. Views: 438
Welcome to Calendar where life is sweet, but death is murder.Ally McKellar loves owning and running her own restaurant, Belle Rose. After working in a busy New York restaurant, managing her own kitchen is like a breath of fresh air. Even better, it's rapidly becoming the local favorite place to go in the quaint, mountain town of Calendar. But if people knew about Ally's recent past, her customers might not be so keen to sample her delicious dishes.When the local newspaper's food critic makes a reservation to try out her new menu, Ally knows she's got to nail every course to ensure good publicity. There's only one problem: the critic dies during the second course and everything points towards food poisoning. Suddenly, Ally's success as an entrepreneur is in jeopardy while her past is hastily dredged up, threatening to destroy the new life she has recently managed to create.With the help of Jack Harper, her handsome sous chef with a questionable past of his... Views: 438
From the prizewinning author of Half of a Yellow Sun (“A gorgeous, pitiless account of love, violence, and betrayal”—Time; “Instantly enthralling”—The New York Times) twelve dazzling stories—her most intimate work to date—in which she turns her penetrating eye on the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the United States.
In “A Private Experience,” a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she’s been pushing away. In “Tomorrow Is Too Far,” a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother’s death. The young mother at the center of “Imitation” finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when she learns that her husband has moved his mistress into their Lagos home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to reexamine them.
Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Adichie’s prodigious literary powers. Views: 438
A superb collection of short stories from the author of The Stone Diaries, winner of the Governor General's Award.Emerging from these twelve beautifully articulated stories are portraits of men and women whose affairs and recoveries in life take us into worlds that are both new and yet unnervingly familiar. A smile of recognition and a shock of surprise await readers of these finely crafted stories. From the magical orange fish itself—enigmatic and without age—to holiday reunions; from the passions and pains of lovers and friends to the moving uncertainty of a Parisian vacation, this exquisite collection is bound to delight and enchant Carol Shields's fans everywhere. Views: 438
Seventeen-year-old Rowan Harper knows her life is forever changed the moment her schizophrenic mother commits suicide. What Rowan doesn't realize is how much her mother’s choice altered her own fate. It’s not until after meeting Jet, a sapphire-eyed dead boy, Rowan begins to learn of her new destiny as becoming her mother’s replacement for something she never knew existed.Plus a bonus short!Seventeen-year-old Rowan Harper knows her life is forever changed the moment her schizophrenic mother commits suicide. What Rowan doesn’t realize is how much her mother’s choice altered her own fate. It’s not until after meeting Jet, a sapphire-eyed dead boy, Rowan begins to learn of her new destiny as becoming her mother’s replacement for something she never knew existed. Plus a bonus short story-Choice- told from Jet’s perspective!People often say everything happens for a reason. Seventeen-year-old Jet Donavan Mathews is about to find out that statement is not always true. Jet will learn that sometimes there are moments which were never meant to occur, moments where you are left with a choice. Views: 438
New York Times bestselling author David Levithan takes young readers on twisting journey through truth, reality, and fantasy and belief. Aidan disappeared for six days. Six agonizing days of searches and police and questions and constant vigils. Then, just as suddenly as he vanished, Aidan reappears. Where has he been? The story he tells is simply. . . impossible. But it's the story Aidan is sticking to. His brother, Lucas, wants to believe him. But Lucas is aware of what other people, including their parents, are saying: that Aidan is making it all up to disguise the fact that he ran away. When the kids in school hear Aidan's story, they taunt him. But still Aidan clings to his story. And as he becomes more of an outcast, Lucas becomes more and more concerned. Being on Aidan's side would mean believing in the impossible. But how can you believe in the impossible when everything and everybody is telling you not to? Views: 438
Abducted from her West African village at the age of eleven and sold as a slave in the American South, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom - and of finding her way home again. After escaping the plantation, torn from her husband and child, she passes through Manhattan in the chaos of the Revolutionary War, is shipped to Nova Scotia, and then joins a group of freed slaves on a harrowing return odyssey to Africa.
Based on a true story, Lawrence Hill's epic novel spans three continents and six decades to bring to life a dark and shameful chapter in our history through the story of one brave and resourceful woman. Views: 438
All I've ever tried to do is keep the people in my life safe. That's gotten me into hot water more times than I can count. Hell, the last time got me four years behind bars.So when my favorite barista tells her mom that I'm her boyfriend to stop the woman's endless criticism, I can't stop myself from helping her out. But she's too innocent and I'm too damaged for this to ever be the real deal. I can't allow myself to touch her, not when making her mine will drag her into my world and drown her in my messed up life. What I really need to do is stay away. Except every touch and every accidental kiss breaks my control. I want her. Then I find out her dad is the detective who put me away...and he's trying to take down my family. I don't blame him. The secrets I'm keeping are big enough to destroy everything. Views: 438
Writing at the height of his powers, John Hersey has created a taut, dazzling novel of suspense and revelation—in which we watch, mesmerized, the fateful convergence of two lives. A young woman, having fled from her suddenly unbearable "college kid" self—and from the place, even the lover, that were part of it—comes alone to a strange city, anxiously waiting for something new and important to begin.... A man—breezy, ponytailed, beautiful—stranded by the passing of the sixties whose excitements had nurtured and consumed him, now lavishes his whole self on loving craftsmanship, on the construction of simple, perfect wooden doors, on the mystery of locks, and on the artful offering of security (his locks and doors) to women who are alone.... The meeting of these two, and their love affair—its choreography masterminded by one, unsuspected by the other—are hypnotically told in a novel that illumines the fearful and the fear-makers... Views: 437
To Libby Mason, Mr. Right has always meant Mr. Rich. A twenty seven-year-old publicist, she's barely able to afford her fashionable and fabulous lifestyle and often has to foot the bill for dates with StrugglingWriter Nick, a sexy but perpetually strapped-for-cash guy she's dating (no commitments - really). So when Ed, Britain's wealthiest but stodgiest bachelor, enters the picture, her idea of the fairy tale romance isturned on it's head.
Mr. Maybe is the tale of her heartfelt but hilarious deliberation, irresistibly chronicled by bestselling author Jane Green. On one hand, Nick makes up for hislow bank-account balance by his performance in the sack, or in the bathtub, as the case may be. But life with him means little more than nightly trips to the bar, a dark and grungy apartment, and plenty of dull politicaltirades to boot. But those blue eyes, and that tender heart...
On the other hand, there's Ed, whose luxurious house and gargantuan bank account are quite tempting to the starving Libby. But his unsavorymustache and bumbling ways make Libby wonder if the platinum AMEX and unlimited "retail therapy" are worth it. He may have fallen in love with her at first sight, but nothing seems to solve his lacklusterperformance in the sack - even speed reading The Joy of Sex. When the diamond shopping commences, Libby is forced to realize that the time for "maybe" is up.
Taking romantic comedy to a hip, sparkling new level, Mr. Maybe is a classic tale of what happens to one girl when her heart and her head aren't looking for the same thing. With alaugh and minute and a heroine whose struggles in the dating jungle will remind you of your own, Mr. Maybe is a story that all will leave you smitten. "From theHardcover edition." Views: 437
In a stream of consciousness mode ‘Glaring
Shadow’ is the self-account of the life and times of a man, who liquidates his
immense wealth only to consign it to the flames.The agony and ecstasy of his
life as he makes it big in our materialistic world and the way he loses his
soul in the bargain, only to regain it when tragedy strikes him makes one
ponder over the meaning of success in life. This
philosophical ‘novel of a memoir’ is a compelling read that is conducive to
contemplate about the nature and scope of human relationships.Chapter
Titles1. Glaring Shadow2. Pains of Regret3. Cradle of Life4. Outlook for Re-look5. Humbling Reality6. Orgies
of Love7. Pangs of Remorse8. Villainy
of Innocence9. Couple of a Kind10. A
Character of Sorts11. Moments of Poignance12. Enigma of Being13. Vignettes of a Village14. A Teacher of Note15. Brink of Incest16. Love-less Love17. Flights of Heart18 Gaffes of Youth19. Pats
and Slights20. An Emotional Affair21. The Harlot Zone22. A Lingering Longing23. Smallness of Bigness24. Disown to Own25. Sentiment of Ruin26. Enigma of Attraction27. Veneer of the Vile28. Swap for Nope29. Goring Syndrome
30. Back to the BasicsBook excerpt for a feel of its literary style:Glaring Shadow
He had the soul of our times, and is the namesake of many.
He tamed success by the scruff of its neck, only to fuel envy in our
neighborhood. When it seemed there was no stopping him, fate dealt him a deadly
blow in his early sixties. Besides losing his wife, son and daughter-in-law
with their children in that fatal road mishap, he found his leg mangled in the
debris of that Ferrari. The intensity of the pity all felt for him seemed to
match the magnitude of his loss, but as he became a recluse, his thought eluded
all, and in due course, his tragedy became a thing of the past. But, in time,
his intriguing behavior brought him back to the top of the page three in the
local media – why he had disposed off his lucrative real estate for a song that
left the realtors in the lurch. And as if to create a newsflash in the business
world, he had off-loaded his considerable stockholding, which sent the bulls
running for cover in the country’s bourses. Soon, even as the scrip was still
crunching in the bear hug, the closure of his umpteen bank accounts earned him
the national headlines, as it heralded a first rate liquidity crisis in the
country’s banking system. But even in that gloomy setting, it cost me a fortune
to acquire his palatial bungalow the outhouse of which he had retained.
When I called on him for chitchat that morning, I was
shocked to see him shredding mounds of money lying beside him. Unmindful of my
protests, as he picked up another wad of notes, I snatched it from him as if it
were the money I paid through my nose. However, getting hold of another set,
when he resumed his destructive regimen, I said it was absurd that the toil of
a lifetime should be laid waste thus. Maybe, to clear my vision as well as to
set his mind at rest, he unwound himself, which I would rewind for man to
readjust his clock of life. But then why not reveal his name when he is worth
writing about? It’s because, the value of this tale lies not in his name,
hallowed though, but in the hollowness of life he had led that is even as his
name became a synonym for fame. However, if someone were to guess who it is, so
be it.
“My tragedy brought to the fore the falsities of life,” he
began melancholically. “How sickening it was to sense the anxiety of those to
step into the shoes of my lost heirs. If only they stopped at that, and not
stooped further, wouldn’t I have taken them as the necessary evils of my
aimless life! But they began to believe that they had a case for cause of
action to file a suit in the court for their share in the spoils of my life.
Let them go in for a writ if they want to, how I care now. What is the
injunction they are going to get from the court but to maintain the status quo.
Better still if the court were to grant them this shredded stuff; won’t that
save me the bother of scavenging it. But then, why blame them? How I failed to
see that the self-worthy will not ingratiate themselves, and that it is the
self-serving that cater to the egos of the egotists. Won’t the upright seem
arrogant to the egotistic, served by the servility of the spongers. Oh, by
letting success go to my head, how I began to condescend to descend to the
principled folks, who tend to occupy the middle order. Didn’t Napoleon say,
‘The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man” and, anyway, they are
few and far between as Shakespeare had averred “Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man
picked out of ten thousand”.
“Maybe in our age
of the billionaires, the ratio could as well be one in a million.”
“You may not be off the mark after all,” he said. “Aren’t
more and more people getting exposed to the temptations of money these days,
and don’t I know how difficult it is to resist the temptation of the moolah.
More so, as it appears, Mammon and Bacchus have pushed Venus to the backbench
of life. Well, warming up to the dubious, didn’t I make it appear that only
those who courted me counted? But why would sane minds court the empty heads
any way? But still, I didn’t care that my attitude distanced the discerning,
even Anand my nephew I was fond of, and he was the last to know of my tragedy.
Why not, won’t it take time for news to trickle down to the distant relations?
When he came to offer his condolences, how my troubled conscience was solaced
by the empathy I saw in his eyes! What a contrast it was with the put-ons of
others underscored with their eyes-on-my-heirless-wealth! It was as if his
ethos had placed my derailed life back on its ethical tracks. How I pleaded
with him to become the prince of my domain and the inheritor of my fortune, and
it was only when he declined my offer, did I realize what a pauper I was in
spite of my riches.”
“Don’t tell me he’s a saint not wanting to be one of the
richest on earth. Maybe, it’s his weird way of getting even with you.”
“You may know that he values love above all else, and that’s
saintly, isn’t it?” he said. “He’s skeptical about the senseless wealth for its
malefic affects on the ethos of his life, and what’s worse, the questionable
quality of those that it ushers into one’s life. While his modest station in
life keeps off the axe-grinders and the gold-diggers from trespassing into his
life to his hurt, he’s afraid that the halo of my bequeathal would change all
that for it might make him a false deity flocked by the dubious gang. That used
to be my philosophy of life as well. I always wanted a woman to enter into my
life, pulled by my persona and not seduced by my wealth for I know women have a
weakness for successful men. Well for my part, I always had a weakness for
desirable women. When Ruma wanted me to own her and her riches as well, for
good or for bad, it all changed forever, but now, how I wish I had his
pragmatism to love and to life. Whatever, that monetary rise was the beginning
of my moral fall.”
“But money can bring the best out of man and I’ve a cousin
to name for that,” I said.“When he was a man of modest means, he pestered me no end for a paltry sum he
lent me but now he’s a silent donor of millions. I guess that it was his
insecurity then that made him petty in spite of his being large-hearted. Why,
it’s the hand that holds the money that shapes its character and not the other
way round.”
“And sadly for my money it fell into my frivolous hands,” he
said staring at the heap. “When I said
at his refusal what I was to do with all the money, Anand said in jest that I
might as well hang myself with it. Oh, if only he had told me how to go about
it; can one make a rope out of a wad of a trillion? Why money is paper and rope
is coir; money can buy rope but can’t make one on its own; which is stronger
then, money that buys rope or the rope that gets sold for money? Yet all the
money in the world cannot tie a monkey? But strangely it can bind man, even the
Herculean one! Or is it that man himself submits to money, thinking that he
would be weak without it. Oh, how I acquired wealth to feel strong and appear
so to Ruma. But what money did to me than making me a weakling? What of this
impulse to destroy that, which I had accumulated all my life. Can I become
strong by shredding the stuff? Maybe, am I not rooting out the cause of my
bane? How my hands have begun to ache already, and I’ve so much more to shred
still! Wonder why didn’t I feel any strain at all accumulating all that wealth;
what a heady feeling, the sense of success is! Why did I let the glaring shadow
of success eclipse my soul? Maybe I would never know. But now, wiser for the
myth of wealth don’t I see the falsity of fame in which I had been gloating
over.”
“You seem to be shaken really.”
“I was in a slumber till Anand stirred my soul in showing me
the reality of life,” he said reflectively. “And what a shock it was.”
“Maybe it paves the way to unburden yourself.”
“Isn’t it strange that unburdening itself is a burden for
me,” he bemoaned. “How tiring it is to destroy all that I had built, so to say,
over my dead soul. Whatever, can one either build much or destroy enough with
bare hands. Maybe as business machines generate wealth, we need money munches
to devour it. But all I’ve is a pair of scissors.”
“If ever you get to invent one, I don’t see any takers for
it and that saves the bother of patenting it.”
“Surely sense of humor helps,” he said trying to get up from
his chair to reach the bureau. “How I forgot I needed crutches, don’t I have
the ghost leg still? Even after exorcizing the devil of wealth, I may have to
put up with it for long. And that speaks about the power of habit that is the
bane of man. Didn’t I develop the habit of making money to impress Ruma, only
to go down on the road of doom? Wasn’t my sense of insecurity to retain her
love that was behind all that? But then, how admirably did Anand lead his wife
Anitha through the travails of life.”
“If you don’t mind my being frank with you,” I said
involuntarily, “your tone betrays your jealousy couched by the admiration of
him. It’s also clear that you wished Ruma was cast in Anitha’s mold.”
“I like your perceptivity, the acme of sensitive writing,”
he said and added reflectively. “Don’t I know you aspire to be a writer? Your
muse willing, maybe my life can inspire you to make a memoir of it. If so, pray
not give away those who came into my life and I too, but for a slip of the
tongue, won’t name any save those you are already in the know. Name them as
your fancy suggests, and what’s in a name as Shakespeare had said.”
“Why it’s an idea, and as Abhishek Bachchan says, it can
change one’s life,” I said enthusiastically. “Let me take notes,”
“Why
not you give it a try as I glean through the glaring show of my life in all its
myriad shades,” he said handing me a writing pad. Views: 437
Do you believe there are ghosts and demons and Diviners among us?
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.
Evie worries he'll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.
As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfurled in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened....
Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray opens a brand-new historical series with The Diviners, where the glittering surface of the Roaring Twenties hides a mystical horror creeping across the country. Views: 437
Miss Eleanor Grantham is outraged when her stagecoach is held up by a highwayman, but her outrage turns to astonishment when she discovers that the highwayman is none other than the Earl of Silverton. She cannot begin to imagine why a wealthy nobleman would stoop to highway robbery. Views: 437
They are the outcasts of humanity. Blessed with power. Cursed by fate. Driven by passion. The Sentinels have returned. . .
Out Of The Shadows
At six-foot-three and two-hundred-fifty pounds, Fane is a natural born guardian. A flawless mix of muscled perfection and steely precision, he has devoted years of his life to protecting a beautiful necromancer. But after she found love in the arms of another, Fane has been a warrior adrift. He swears allegiance only to the Sentinels. And no woman will ever rule his heart again. . .
Into The Fire
Not only a powerful psychic, Serra is that rare telepath who can connect to minds through objects. When the daughter of a high-blood businessman is kidnapped, Serra agrees to help. But when she stumbles onto a conspiracy involving secrets sects and ancient relics, her life is in mortal danger--and Fane is her only hope. Is the warrior willing to risk his body, his soul, and his heart, for Serra? Or will one last betrayal destroy them both? Views: 437
