Grease Monkey S Tale

A gas-station attendant waits wistfully for a mysterious young woman in a Mustang; astronauts find a promising, but curiously empty, planet; a modern corporation enjoys an eye-opening transformation; and an Irish lass gains enduring fame in post-colonial Pennsylvania: These and other "preposterous accounts" await readers who appreciate a wry angle and a wicked wit in this eclectic collection of stories....

This is a classic, standard resource for collection building and on-the-spot readers advisory absolutely indispensable for school and public libraries.

A huge earthquake opens deep fracking water contaminated caverns and a huge spider creature with the head of a woman and the sting of a scorpion crawls up from the abyss and begins terrorizing and stinging and eating and killing the locals. Ground zero for the humongous chasm in the earth is the old funeral parlor owned by the family of the local sheriff, Jake Trapper. And, amazingly, not so coincidentally, the head of the giant spider woman thing bears a striking resemblance to his long lost cousin, Sara, who vanished in her thirteenth summer, some fifteen years prior, off the face of the planet. Jake Trapper must deal with his own recurring nightmares regarding his missing cousin; conquer his fear of spiders; while all the while attempting to save his relationship with the fiery woman he loves, Ellie. Attempting to mirror the world we live in, my tale explores, depicts, includes: gay, heterosexual, LGBT, even cross-species extraterrestrial characters- all of course, intended in good fun.

An exciting series from best-selling authors David and Karen Mains, the gold-medallion, award-winning Tales of the Resistance offers readers fast-paced action and exciting storytelling with a Christian theme. The book, Tales of the Resistance, contains 12 stories about Hero's participation in the underground taxi resistance against the evil Enchanter, challenger to the one True King. High drama unfolds as everywhere Hero turns there are suffering people in need of his help! You'll meet Carny, Doubletalk, Sewer Rat #1, the Boiler Brat and the Most Beautiful Player of All. And you'll feel the tension of Traffic Court and the Burning Place. Bost mostly, your readers will be reminded that God's Kingdom is all around us, if we care to find it, and that the presence of the King dispels all darkness from our hearts and souls. This is the second book in a trilogy, that is an exceptional set to give to your family and friends.

The short story has been a staple of American literature since the nineteenth century, taught in virtually every high school and consistently popular among adult readers. But what makes a short story unique? In Reading for Storyness, Susan Lohafer, former president of the Society for the Study of the Short Story, argues that there is much more than length separating short stories from novels and other works of fiction. With its close readings of stories by Kate Chopin, Julio Cortázar, Katherine Mansfield, and others, this book challenges assumptions about the short story and effectively redefines the genre in a fresh and original way. In her analysis, Lohafer combines traditional literary theory with a more unconventional mode of research, monitoring the reactions of readers as they progress through a story—to establish a new poetics of the genre. Singling out the phenomenon of "imminent closure" as the genre's defining trait, she then proceeds to identify "preclosure points," or places where a given story could end, in order to access hidden layers of the reading experience. She expertly harnesses this theory of preclosure to explore interactions between pedagogy and theory, formalism and cultural studies, fiction and nonfiction. Returning to the roots of storyness, Lohafer illuminates the intricacies of classic short stories and experimental forms of surreal, postmodern, and minimalist fiction. She also discusses the impact of social constructions, such as gender, on the identification of preclosure points by individual readers. Reading for Storyness combines cognitive science with literary theory to present a compelling argument for the uniqueness of the short story.

Old bones speak from the grave as a curse descends on Saltaire in acclaimed author Frances Brody’s thirteenth Kate Shackleton mystery, perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Jacqueline Winspear. When Kate Shackleton disembarks at Saltaire station, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, she has no idea what to expect. A stranger, Ronnie Creswell, has written to say that he has urgent information about the past that will interest her, and he persuades her to make the journey to Milner Field, the grand house that is said to be cursed. But moments after Kate arrives at the lodge, a messenger brings devastating news to Ronnie’s parents: he has been found drowned in the mill reservoir. Ronnie’s father suspects that this was no accident, and the post-mortem proves him right. Ronnie was murdered. Terrified and distraught, Mrs. Creswell refuses to stay at the Lodge a moment longer. But events take an even more shocking turn when ten-year-old Nancy Creswell, eyes and ears for her blind Uncle Nick, goes missing. An account of the fateful Saturday of Ronnie’s death arouses Kate’s suspicions, and furhter investigations could prove her right. But truth is never so straightforward at Milner Field. Uncle Nick spins an old story that could hold the key to finding Nancy alive—though the fabled curse may not have claimed its last victim yet. And only a set of old bones buried on the grounds will finally reveal the horrifying truth.