A must-have for the fans of the #1 bestselling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris, a collection of his favorite short fiction from Flannery O'Connor to Tobias Wolff. A bestseller in its own right and a must-have for fans of the #1 bestselling author David Sedaris, a collection of his favorite short fiction. David Sedaris is an exceptional reader. Alone in his apartment, he reads stories aloud to the point he has them memorized. Sometimes he fantasizes that he wrote them. Sometimes, when they’re his very favorite stories, he’ll fantasize about reading them in front of an audience and taking credit for them. The audience in these fantasies always loves him and gives him the respect he deserves. David Sedaris didn’t write the stories in Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules . But he did read them. And he liked them enough to hand pick them for this collection of short fiction. Featuring such notable writers as Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, Jean Thompson, and Tobias Wolff, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules includes some of the most influential and talented short story writers, contemporary and classic. Perfect for fans who suffer from Sedaris fever, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules will tide them over and provide relief. 2 hrs 56 mins

In his three short stories, 'For a Night of Love', 'Nantas', and 'Fasting', Emile Zola presents characters in search of fulfilment ? romantic, religious, and financial. Read together, For a Night of Love is an extraordinary depiction of sexual mores. When the apparently angelic Th(r)r se commits murder, she offers sexual favours to a petty clerk if he will dispose of the body; the pregnant Flavie manipulates a neighbour's interest in her dowry to arrange a shotgun wedding; churchgoing women find their hunger for Christianity unsatisfied by a vapid priest ? these beautiful and poignant stories are united by the powerful themes of deception and dissatisfaction. "

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's The Beginner's Goodbye. "A book that should join those few that every literate person will have to read." --THE BOSTON GLOBE Pearl Tull is nearing the end of her life but not her memory. Ever since 1944 when her husband left her, she has raised her three very different children on her own. Now grown, they have gathered together--with anger, with hope, and with a beautiful, harsh, and dazzling story to tell....

With the release of Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives in 1998, journalist Monica Maristain discovered a writer “capable of befriending his readers.” After exchanging several letters with Bolaño, Maristain formed a friendship of her own, culminating in an extensive interview with the novelist about truth and consequences, an interview that turned out to be Bolaño’s last. Appearing for the first time in English, Bolaño’s final interview is accompanied by a collection of conversations with reporters stationed throughout Latin America, providing a rich context for the work of the writer who, according to essayist Marcela Valdes, is “a T.S. Eliot or Virginia Woolf of Latin American letters.” As in all of Bolaño’s work, there is also wide-ranging discussion of the author’s many literary influences. (Explanatory notes on authors and titles that may be unfamiliar to English-language readers are included here.) The interviews, all of which were completed during the writing of the gigantic 2666, also address Bolaño’s deepest personal concerns, from his domestic life and two young children to the realities of a fatal disease.

On a beach at dusk, while Bud Mitchell and Jill Winslow conduct their illicit love affair in front of a video camera set to record each steamy moment, a terrible explosion suddenly lights up the sky. Grabbing the camera, the couple make their getaway, as approaching police cars speed toward the scene. Five years later, the fate of TWA Flight 800 has been attributed to a mechanical malfunction. But for John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield, both members of the elite Anti-Terrorist Task Force, the case is not closed. Suspicious of a cover-up, they set out to find the one piece of evidence that will prove their theory-that at least two other people are determined to keep hidden: a videotape of the unbelievable truth.

The queen always protects her king. For straight-laced attorney, Hope Kendall, loving an outlaw has never been easy. New challengers test her loyalty as she discovers how far she’s willing to go to protect her man. If you have Hope, you have everything. MC President, Rochlan “Rock” North finally has everything he’s ever wanted. Hope as his ol’ lady and his Motorcycle Club earning money while staying out of trouble. The only thing left is to make Hope his wife. But as their wedding day nears, an old adversary threatens Rock’s freedom, the wedding, and throws the Lost Kings MC into chaos. Love makes the ride worthwhile. While the club waits for Rock's fate to be decided, Wrath has to balance solidifying his new relationship with Trinity and fulfilling his president's orders. Loyalty gives an Outlaw strength. Threats from unexpected places will challenge every member, but in the Lost Kings MC, brotherhood isn’t about the blood you share. It’s about those who are willing to bleed for you. **

My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece. Well, some of her does. A collarbone, two ribs, a bit of skull, and a little toe. To ten-year-old Jamie, his family has fallen apart because of the loss of someone he barely remembers: his sister Rose, who died five years ago in a terrorist bombing. To his father, life is impossible to make sense of when he lives in a world that could so cruelly take away a ten-year-old girl. To Rose's surviving fifteen year old twin, Jas, everyday she lives in Rose's ever present shadow, forever feeling the loss like a limb, but unable to be seen for herself alone. Told with warmth and humor, this powerful novel is a sophisticated take on one family's struggle to make sense of the loss that's torn them apart... and their discovery of what it means to stay together. From BooklistStarred Review Readers of Pitcher’s debut should brace themselves: this book pulls no emotional punches. Jamie Matthews was five years old when his sister Rose was killed in a terrorist attack in London. While her urn on the mantelpiece dominates his family’s life, he can barely remember her, much less love her; all he knows is the wreck that her death has left behind. When his parents split, Jamie moves with his father and sister Jas—Rose’s surviving twin—and starts a new life and a new school in the Lake District. Jamie becomes friends with the clever and effervescent Sunya. But Sunya is a Muslim, and, as Jamie’s dad constantly reminds him, “Muslims killed your sister.” Jamie’s mother has abandoned him, his father is sinking into alcoholism, and he’s bullied at school—when it seems things can’t get worse, Jamie endures a personal tragedy that puts the previous five years in perspective while finally offering some solace. Just as the macabre title straddles that fine line between funny and tragic, so does this book. As a study of grief’s collateral damage, it deals with the topic realistically without losing sight of hope. Jamie is a frank narrator whose naïveté is tempered by the wisdom he acquires. He relies on his relationship with Jas for stability and eventually sets his own moral compass. An outstanding first novel. Grades 7-10. --Kara Dean ReviewA Kirkus Best Children's Book List Selection"Most Deftly Handled" Atlantic Wire 2012 YA/MIddle-Grade Award"[A] striking debut. Realistic, gritty, and uplifting." (Kirkus (starred review) )"Straddles that fine line between funny and tragic... As a study of grief's collateral damage, it deals with the topic realistically without losing sight of hope." (Booklist (starred review) )"In this powerfully honest, quirkily humorous debut novel...Pitcher tackles grief, prejudice, religion, bullying, and familial instability." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )"Compelling and believable...by turns heartbreaking and hysterically funny... This is an important book that could be used in classes and book-discussion groups. Don't let it fall through the cracks." (School Library Journal (starred review) )"It lives off the page. It has a warmth you can bask in; an honesty you can cut with a knife." (The Guardian UK )

In an old hut by a railway in Norway, two men face up to the reality of their love affair; both knowing what they want, but aware of the impossibility of realising it.This story also appears in the following anthology: ‘Sketches #001 – separations’ – click here to purchase: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/297938

Spiritual PoetryMy Mind’s Temple is a collection of spiritual poetry written by Kimberly LaRocca that invites the reader to rely on faith, believe in a higher power and to never give up on prayer. Her intention is to reach everyone regardless of spiritual or religious denomination, thoughts or beliefs.

Lucas is drawn to the chair. His is a sad story, but when he sits in the chair, he gets the answers he has been searching for.Lucas lost his parents at an early age. After twenty years, he still doesn't know what happened to them. When he comes across the most beautiful chair he has ever seen, his world changes and he gets his ansers.

Wrongly acused of rape by Queen Cynethryth, Oswald, one of King Offa's finest champions, flees into exile.Learning that Cynethryth plots to bring down her husband's kingdom with the aid of the Red Dragon, Oswald leads a small band of outlaws across war-torn Dark Age Britain in a desperate quest for the only weapon that can kill the monster threatening their land...Wrongly acused of rape by Queen Cynethryth, Oswald, one of King Offa's finest champions, flees into exile.Learning that Cynethryth plots to bring down her husband's kingdom with the aid of the Red Dragon, Oswald leads a small band of outlaws across war-torn Dark Age Britain in a desperate quest for the only weapon that can kill the monster threatening their land...The long-lost Sword of Wayland!The Sword of Wayland is the first in the Wayland Saga trilogy.

When her favourite cousin Shelley is whisked away to Australia, Harley is not in the mood for a new girl. What's more, her mum's job interviews have started coming at weirder and weirder times of ... night, and she's worried there might be a man on the scene.Can she plan an ace birthday party for a desperate-to-be-trendy seven year old sis, while keeping close tabs on her mum and brothers?It's September 2006. Everyone loves the Pussycat Dolls, and this one Green Day song is played over and over on the radio all month as if that's big or clever.Harley and friends are back at school (minus Shelley), and there's a new girl in town. Usually, this wouldn't pique her interest, but this particular girl might be important. With her mum increasingly absent, Harley's determined to get to the bottom of things. After all, the last time she buried the facts about her changing homelife, it just meant that she didn't get her say.Can she plan an ace birthday party for a desperate-to-be-trendy seven year old sis, while keeping close tabs on her mum and brothers?Follow Harley's frustrating attempt at Year 9, in this accidental time capsule...

In the seventies a metal shop just south of Los Angeles received an order for one stainless steel coffin with a glass lid, but that wasn't the unusual part.Those unfamiliar with the metal fabrication industry may find this bizarre little period piece too fanciful to be believed but those who are familiar will know that it's business as usual. The craziness you are about to read actually happened to a business acquaintance of the author—even to the fish oil.Now including a newspaper clipping with a follow-up to the continuing story.