Tag: short-story

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Captivating generational saga

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Patrick Ryan conjures a vanished America with deep insight and lyrical intelligence about war and adultery, the mysteries of sexuality and family life, and the strange paths we have to travel to forgive or at least begin to understand the people who’ve hurt us the most.  A small-town novel about two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.  In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret … Continue reading Captivating generational saga

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Meaning of Life: ride to infinity

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Ferries have a spooky association with death, Charon, an ugly demon employed by Hades as the underworld’s ferryman, picking up the souls of recently perished human beings in his skiff and depositing them in the afterlife, in Greek mythology. In The Ferryman and His Wife by 64-year-old bestselling Norwegian author and winner of the prestigious Brage Prize, Frode Grytten takes readers on an epic journey: Ferry Driver Nils Vik’s last route along the fjord instead of the River Styx, which he must cross to get there “it rumbles and rustles, it whispers and rushes, even on days with no wind”, … Continue reading Meaning of Life: ride to infinity

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Don’t give the customer what they want, give them what they don’t know they want yet

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Gene Pressman’s memoir of his time working for the legendary New York Department store Barneys founded by his grandfather, comes when the authors helps open its vast new outpost on Madison Avenue in 1993. The luxury store, complete with mosaic floors, custom-made furniture, saltwater fish tanks, a restaurant and floors of beauty, jewellery and clothes. Pressman writes “ The store is amazing. It’s hard to be humble knowing stores just didn’t look like this – not anymore”. Barney’s had, he says, “gone back to the past to the grand  department stores just didn’t look like this – not anymore. Barney’s had … Continue reading Don’t give the customer what they want, give them what they don’t know they want yet

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Dark Desires, a smell of leather, the flash of harness, the snap of a latex gloves

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Welcome to the radical, vibrant world of sexual fetishists. In 21st century commodity culture, we are all intimately involved with objects we covet a Birkin bag; we keep trainers box-fresh. We are, in a sense, all fetishists. Occasionally this desire spills into something more subversive. Second Skin offers a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics commonly fetishized, unpacking their histories, their expressive potential, and the communities they give rise to. Drawing from her encounters with fellow fetishists and kinksters, it is alos the story of ex-fashion critic, Anastasiia Fedorova’s own journey of what it means to come to terms … Continue reading Dark Desires, a smell of leather, the flash of harness, the snap of a latex gloves

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You can’t outrun the past

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When New York law professor, Tom Layward’s wife, Amy’s infidelity was revealed, he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact. It is a commitment born of spite and pride, unlikely to stand the test of time. As soon as his daughter is settled in her dorm, though, he gets in his car and starts driving. His destination – friends, relatives, exes, the basketball courts beloved of his youth – is anywhere but home. It doesn’t help that Tom’s job in … Continue reading You can’t outrun the past

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Avalanche on Black Sunday

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Magical tale of climate catastrophe – a pure dust storm  is the new novel from the Pulitzer Prize shortlisted author Karen Russell, in The Antidote where the moving dust looks like a mountain range, or an avalanche on Black Sunday, April 1935, in the central plains of the US. Mid-afternoon, the temperature dropped; birds chattered, horizon turned black to flatten wheatfields, burying houses  and vaporising every memory stored inside the Antidote. She wakes up empty- as bankrupt as America. If her customers ever discover the truth, her life will be in danger. “The onrushing cloud, the darkness, and the thick, choking dirt, made this … Continue reading Avalanche on Black Sunday

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Impulsive decision

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Spiky Cece who is in love, has arrived early at her in-laws’ beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planner her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant future. Charismatic and generous doctor Charlie Margolis, a Swede Levov descendant asks Garrett, a depressed baggage handler at the local airport and his best friend from college, to officiate the wedding. Great-hearted Charlie hopes to reinvigorate melancholic, near misanthropic Garrett, and he wants him and Cece to hit it off, so encourages to spend time together before he arrives for the wedding. Quirky Cece immediately don’t like Garrett, but … Continue reading Impulsive decision

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Short Story: The Octopus Curry

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The Octopus Curry  – A Short Story by Penny Nair Price Liz and Roger worked together and were great comrades in the office – Roger had had his eye on her for some time but he was strapped for cash and when  Friday evening came,  another colleague – Chris invited him to eat locally to the office as a treat. Liz said her goodbyes and went on her way for the weekend.  The chosen restaurant was on the first floor.  Roger took his rucksack with him, found a space for it,  and the two colleagues sat down to a wonderful … Continue reading Short Story: The Octopus Curry