National Network for Equitable Library Service

In these powerful stories the verandah people are Jonathan Bennett's own compatriots: Australians for whom the ever-present verandah is both stage and shelter, a retreat from hostile bushland or city street and a seductive barrier to participation in the wider world.

Marianne Ackerman's second collection of stories for Guernica puts the focus on women, their ascent into selfhood, the beauty and carnage of the their journey. Literary Montreal is the setting of two stories spun around an alpha poseur, George. Picking up from the Gothic shadows of Albert Fine in Holy Fools (Guernica, 2014), Ackerman follows the lives of an Ontario farm family marked by a bloody incident they struggle to understand. Four interlocking stories plumb the secrets of one man's sister, ex-wife, friend and mother.

Recently launched with ECW Press, Joyland eBooks presents new collections from the best voices in short fiction. For the special price of 19.95 you can start reading all three of our titles right now on any device.

The Joyland Trio Deal includes:

How I Came to Haunt My Parents by Natalee Caple

"Moving...unsettling." -- The New York Times on The Heart Has Its Own Reason.

How I Came to Haunt My Parents is storytelling for parents on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In this beautifully written suite of short fiction Natalee Caple explores fables from the dark side of adulthood and imagines what moral Aesop may have offered to a mother who gave birth to a murderous dictator. Caple's animals and humans are imbued with modern complexity as they confront sex, death, and history, but her stories are as witty as they are profoundly lucid.

“Quirky, Sedaris-style musings with unexpected theatrical trimmings.” — Time Out Chicago

These days, reality can be hard to swallow. How do we get to the end of day, let alone the end of the week? Some people drink, others get therapy, but all of us — hidden in the secret places in the backs of our minds — have fantasies. These are what we wish for, fight for, live for. Maybe yours is a pretty girl. Maybe it’s a better job. Maybe its the love that’ll swoop down makes everything seem okay.

This debut collection of stories — featuring a talk-show host and her talking hand, a women’s activity group that writes to prisoners, and a poncho-making nudist — is as unique as it is compelling. Set in their own melodramatic worlds, the stories take inspiration from Old Hollywood, Gothic novels, art-world gossip, and maybe a Lifetime movie or two. Balzer’s observations are as sharp as Flaubert’s, and his characters are drawn with the complexity of George Saunders (and the wit of George Sanders).

In 1995, Canadian novelist and critic Hal Niedviecki started publishing Broken Pencil, a magazine dedicated to the zine scene, the independent and alternative arts community that had been boiling below the surface of Canada’s culture. Broken Pencil’s mandate was (and is) to bring the submerged cultural urge into Canada’s collective consciousness, to help lift it up and lend it legitimacy.

18 exhilarating journeys into Rush-inspired worlds

The music of Rush, one of the most successful bands in history, is filled with fantastic stories, evocative images, and thought-provoking futures and pasts. In this anthology, notable, bestselling, and award-winning writers each chose a Rush song as the spark for a new story, drawing inspiration from the visionary trio that is Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.

Author Scott Fivelson takes the reader on a literary journey from Paris to Pamplona as a marathoner on his last legs reflects on the sport as it might have been written about if Hemingway had been a runner.

Gisèle Villeneuve’s short stories test the elastic pull between passion and terror. For inspiration, Villeneuve turned to her personal history to examine what lures urban dwellers outdoors, to test themselves against peaks and valleys. Using the overarching metaphor of mountain climbing, she plays with form, language, and narrative to reveal our fears, our loves, our passions. Rising Abruptly is a perfect companion for anyone who likes to travel, loves a climber, or simply glories in the allure of the mountains. "Even the unassuming day trips deliver their moments. The whiteouts.