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2021

The End of the World is a Cul de Sac ~ Louise Kennedy

DESCRIPTION: The secrets people kept, the lies they told.In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories, people are effortlessly cruel to one another, and the natural world is a primitive salve. Here, women are domestically trapped by predatorial men, Ireland’s folklore and politics loom large, and poverty – material, emotional, sexual – seeps through every crack. A […]

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2021

Male Tears ~ Benjamin Myers

DESCRIPTION: In Male Tears, a debut collection of stories that brings together over fifteen years of work, Benjamin Myers lays bare the male psyche in all its fragility, complexity and failure, its hubris and forbidden tenderness. Farmers, fairground workers and wandering pilgrims, gruesome gamekeepers, bare-knuckle boxers and ex-cons with secret passions, the men that populate these […]

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2021

Born Into This ~ Adam Thompson

DESCRIPTION: The remarkable stories in Born Into This are eye-opening, razor-sharp, and entertaining, often all at once. From an Aboriginal ranger trying to instil some pride in wayward urban teens on the harsh islands off the coast of Tasmania, to those scraping by on the margins of white society railroaded into complex and compromised decisions, Adam Thompson […]

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2021

We Two Alone ~ Jack Wang

DESCRIPTION: Set on five continents and spanning decades, We Two Alone traces the arc and evolution of the Chinese immigrant experience. A young laundry boy risks his life, pretending to be a girl to play organized hockey in Canada in the 1920s. A Canadian couple is caught when Shanghai succumbs to violence during the Second Sino-Japanese War. […]

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2021

The (Other) You ~ Joyce Carol Oates

DESCRIPTION: A powerful reckoning over the people we might have been if we’d chosen a different path, from a master of the short story In this stirring, reflective collection of short stories, Joyce Carol Oates ponders alternate destinies: the other lives we might have led if we’d made different choices. An accomplished writer returns to […]

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2021

Let Us Look Elsewhere ~ Mona Dash

DESCRIPTION : A young boy refuses to ferry his boat. A woman orders a British accent to fit in. A lover sends messages into the void.  Disconnection and desire go hand in hand in this powerful collection. From the bustling streets of Mumbai to the glitz and glamour of Vegas, and the everyday streets of […]

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2021

Filthy Animals ~ Brandon Taylor

DESCRIPTION: In the series of linked stories at the heart of Filthy Animals, set among young creatives in the American Midwest, a young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, […]

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2021

Are you Enjoying? ~ Mira Sethi

DESCRIPTION: From the high-stakes worlds of television and politics to the intimate corridors of home–including the bedroom–these wryly observed, deeply revealing stories look at life in Pakistan with humour, compassion, psychological acuity, and emotional immediacy. Childhood best friends agree to marry in order to keep their sexuality a secret. A young woman with an anxiety […]

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2021

In the Event of Contact ~ Ethel Rohan

DESCRIPTION: In the Event of Contact chronicles characters profoundly affected by physical connection, or its lack. Among them, a scrappy teen vies to be the next Sherlock Holmes; an immigrant daughter must defend her decision to remain childless; a guilt-ridden woman is haunted by the disappearance of her childhood friend; a cantankerous crossing guard celebrates […]

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2021

Intimacies ~ Lucy Caldwell

DESCRIPTION: Intimacies exquisitely charts the steps and missteps of young women trying to find their place in the world. From a Belfast student ordering illegal drugs online to end an unwanted pregnancy to a young mother’s brush with mortality; from a Christmas Eve walking the city centre streets when everything seems possible, to a night flight […]