National Network for Equitable Library Service

Shakespeare called Othello "an extravagant and wheeling stranger/Of here and every where." In this exciting anthology, Caryl Phillips has collected writings by thirty-nine extravagant strangers: British writers who were born outside of Britain and see it with clear and critical eyes. These eloquent and incisive voices prove that English literature, far from being pure or homogenous, has in fact been shaped and influenced by outsiders for over two hundred years.

Common Bonds is an anthology of speculative short stories and poetry featuring aromantic characters. At the heart of this collection are the bonds that impact our lives from beginning to end—platonic relationships. Within this anthology, a cursed seamstress finds comfort in the presence of a witch, teams of demon hunters work with their rival to save one of their own, a peculiar scholar gets attached to those he was meant to study, and queerplatonic shopkeepers guide their pupil as they explore their relationship needs and desires.

Close to Spider Man marks the debut of an exciting new literary talent—a collection of connected stories whose female narrators seek out lives for themselves amidst the lonely, breathtaking landscape of the Yukon. The young women in Ivan Coyote's deeply personal stories are looking to make a break from their circumstances, but the North is in their bones—so are their connections to family, friends, and other women.

The stories collected in Bear and His Daughter span nearly thirty years - 1969 to the present - and they explore, acutely and powerfully, the humanity that unites us. In "Miserere," a widowed librarian with an unspeakable secret undertakes an unusual and grisly role in the anti-abortion crusade. "Under the Pitons" is the harrowing story of a reluctant participant in a drug-running scheme and the grim and unexpected consequences of his involvement.

Short fiction examining the mysteries of human character, from a New York Times–bestselling author acclaimed as “among the best in American literature” (Kirkus Reviews). In the title story, a teacher at a private girls’ school ruminates on a long career, wondering if he was right to encourage his students to find a life less constrained than the conventional one prescribed to them—or if he cruelly raised unrealistic expectations.

A landmark collection that brings together Truman Capote’s life’s work in the form he called his “great love,” The Complete Stories confirms Capote’s status as a master of the short story. “To best experience Capote the stylist, one must go back to his short fiction... One experiences as strongly as ever his gift for concrete abstraction and his spectacular observancy.” —The New Yorker.

Les sept nouvelles de Nous renaîtrons peut-être dressent des ponts entre l’humain et le végétal, et entre la vie et la mort. Au cœur d’histoires où le rêve n’est jamais loin du cauchemar, des femmes, confrontées à des enjeux qui les dépassent, tendent vers un idéal de liberté et d’harmonie. Comment se nourrir sans tuer ? Peut-on espérer vieillir dans la joie ? Le bonheur pousse-t-il plus vert à la campagne ? Le recueil propose des réponses troublantes à ces questions ainsi qu’à bien d’autres.

The stories in this volume demonstrate Dostoyevsky's genius for fusing caricature, irony, and the grotesque to create a powerful dark humour. The Gambler is a breathtaking portrayal of an intense and futile obsession.

Crackling Mountain and Other Stories features eleven outstanding works by Osamu Dazai, widely regarded as one of 20th-century Japan's most gifted writers. Dazai experimented with a wide variety of short story styles and brought to each a sophisticated sense of humor, a broad empathy for the human condition, and a tremendous literary talent. The eleven stories in this collection of Japanese literature present the most fully rounded portrait available of a tragic, multifaceted genius of modern Japanese letters.

Three surreal, erotically charged stories from Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata. In the three long tales in this collection, Yasunari Kawabata examines the boundaries between fantasy and reality in the minds of three lonely men. Piercing examinations of sexuality and human psychology-and works of remarkable subtlety and beauty-these stories showcase one of the twentieth century's great writers-in any language-at his very best.