A Carnival In My Heart And Other Stories

The stories in this volume present some life-changing episodes from the lives of characters associated with the fictional town of Menninger, North Dakota, first created in the novel The Song Is Ended.

First published in 1968, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country established William Gass as one of America’s finest and boldest writers of fiction, and nearly fifty years later, the book still stands as a landmark of contemporary fiction. The two novellas and three short stories it contains are all set in the Midwest, and together they offer a mythical reimagining of America’s heartland, with its punishing extremes of heat and cold, its endless spaces and claustrophobic households, its hidden and baffled desires, its lurking threat of violence. Exploring and expanding the limits of the short story, Gass works magic with words, words that are as squirming, regal, and unexpected as the roaches, boys, icicles, neighbors, and neuroses that fill these pages, words that shock, dazzle, illumine, and delight.

A wonderfully murky, carnivalesque world of intrigue, unexpected friendships and mysteries solved.Sheba the wolf girl joins an unusual troupe of performers that includes Pyewacket, a witch's imp; Gigantus the giant and Sister Moon, a knife thrower. For the first time in her life she feels she might make true friends, and learn a real stage craft. But soon that's not all she has to think about . . .Children are being sucked into the Thames and there have been strange sightings of a mechanical monster. The carnival troupe know first-hand that looks only tell half a story - they become determined to find these forgotten children. Perhaps they will unravel the mystery that has defied even the law!Illustrated with black and white artwork from superstar illustrator, Sam Usher, and the first in a brand new series!'Thrilling, original, full of zest and wit.' The London Times'An atmospheric and exciting read.' BookTrust'A page-turning adventure.' The Daily Mirror

Get ready to have your mind blown. Each of these 15 scifi/fantasy stories shines a light on another wild world you’ve never seen before. From exploding clowns to killer chickens, you will meet the wildest characters. And find a bold new way of looking at life. Forget boring books about the same old star fights. Surf the new wave of tomorrow and leave the same old same old far behind. Get it now! Includes 15 stories: "In A Green Dress, Surrounded by Exploding Clowns" "Monkey Sea, Monkey Do" "The First Hollywood Cowboy of the Bropocalypse" "In All Your Sparkling Raiment Soar" "Piggyback" "Fuzzy Duck" "Not-So-Fortunate Son" "Blackbeard's Aliens" "Cock-A-Doodle Die" "The Dancing Dead" "The Bear in the Cable-Knit Sweater" "The Breakout Story of Galaxy's Edge Ten Million" "The Little Robot's Bedtime Prayer" "The Spinach Can's Son" "As If My Every Word Has Turned to Glass"

VILLAGE OF SHEEP'S SPRINGS, March 20, 18—. The doctor has just left me. At last I have got at something definite! For all his cunning, he had to speak out at last. Yes, I am soon, very soon, to die. The frozen rivers will break up, and with the last snow I shall, most likely, swim away … whither? God knows! To the ocean too. Well, well, since one must die, one may as well die in the spring. But isn't it absurd to begin a diary a fortnight, perhaps, before death? What does it matter? And by how much are fourteen days less than fourteen years, fourteen centuries? Beside eternity, they say, all is nothingness—yes, but in that case eternity, too, is nothing. I see I am letting myself drop into metaphysics; that's a bad sign—am I not rather faint-hearted, perchance? I had better begin a description of some sort. It's damp and windy out of doors. I'm forbidden to go out. What can I write about, then? No decent man talks of his maladies; to write a novel is not in my line; reflections on elevated topics are beyond me; descriptions of the life going on around me could not even interest me; while I am weary of doing nothing, and too lazy to read. Ah, I have it, I will write the story of all my life for myself. A first-rate idea! Just before death it is a suitable thing to do, and can be of no harm to any one. I will begin.

Two essays and eleven short stories from a 1930s novelist who wrote on a variety of subjects, from war to the lot of the black man. In An American Citizen, a black man leaves America for another country to escape the humiliation he suffers, Through Pity and Terror is a war story set in France on a woman whose home is invaded by German soldiers, and in the title story the protagonist finally wins recognition as an artist.

This is a book about stories from the heart. The designation from the heart was carefully chosen because it identifies a place of origin. Using stories from the heartto relay how service to those in need transforms lives and creates a greater appreciation for the role that helping others can have on an individuals sense of purposewas the right choice for a book about Lions Clubs International and its impact on the world over the past one hundred years. Through the stories and comments included in this book, readers gain a better understanding of what service to others has meant to those who have chosen to heed the call to give of themselves in order to make life better for those in need.