The Kite Of Stars And Other Stories

The Kite of Stars and Other Stories is the first collection of speculative fiction by Dean Francis Alfar, including includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other strange short stories: youngsters go on a quest that take all their lives, a man trades time in a shop, mermaids are sold in a wet market, and an android questions the meaning of love.

"Blindfolded courier pigeons, insatiable appetites, overwhelming pride, toes painted blue, spooned soursop, the AsiaPac community station in geosynch orbit around the moon, love without a heart, tragedy and absurdity; stars of course, in many forms; and always, riddles. For those who like their stories rich, their wit dry and their history served with a twist, this gorgeous collection from a cynical romantic deserves a global readership. Alfar writes of many times and in many styles including the classic fairy tale, but in two ways he is a 21st century English-language-plus writer. His use of words and surprising vocabulary is so wonderfully, playfully true to meaning that he can only be an English-as-a-second-language writer (among which are the best users of English in the world today). And he writes of place with a calm assurance of its importance, not as some ethnic other than the default normal western setting, but as important in itself. I have to add that I particularly love his historical concoctions, especially the footnotes."--Anna Tambour, author of Spotted Lily and Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales

Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

Salina Yoon continues her Geisel Honor-winning early reader series starring Big Duck, Little Duck, and Porcupine, perfect for fans of bestselling series like Elephant & Piggie, Ballet Cat, and Pig in a Wig. Loud and in-charge Big Duck, quiet and clever Little Duck, and friendly and gentle Porcupine return in another delightful trio of stories. First, Big Duck and Porcupine are so busy building her lemonade stand that they forget one very important ingredient. Next, when Porcupine and Little Duck make a new friend Big Duck feels left out. Can they find a way to include everyone? And lastly, after Big Duck gets her kite stuck in a tree, Little Duck's smart suggestion will save the day! These three friends may be different, but they always find a way to have lots of fun. Don't miss these other stories by Salina Yoon! Duck, Duck, Porcupine series Duck, Duck, Porcupine My Kite Is Stuck! And Other Stories That's My Book! And Other Stories The Penguin series Penguin and Pinecone Penguin in Love Penguin's Big Adventure Penguin on Vacation Penguin and Pumpkin Penguin's Christmas Wish The Bear and Floppy books Found Stormy Night Bear's Big Day

The Kite Maker is Brenda Peynado's science fiction novelette of how humans cope with alien contact. After aliens arrive on earth, humans do the unthinkable out of fear. When an alien walks into a human kite maker's store, coveting her kites, the human struggles with her guilt over her part in the alien massacres, while neo-Nazis draw a violent line between alien and human. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A patient escapes from an asylum to spend his life as the perfect mannequin in a department store display; when living alone is outlawed, a woman who resides quietly with her cat is assigned by bureaucrats to a role in an artificially created “family”; a luckless man transforms himself into a chair so people can, literally, sit on him. These are just a few of the inhabitants of Hon Lai-chu’s stories, where surreal charac-ters struggle to carve out space for freedom and individuality in an absurd world. The Chinese version of The Kite Family won the New Writer’s Novella first prize from Taiwan’s Unitas Literary Association, was named one of 2008’s Books of the Year by Taiwan’s China Times, was selected as one of the Top 10 Chinese Novels Worldwide, and was awarded a Translation Grant from the US National Endowment for the Arts. “The Kite Family showcases the work of Hon Lai-chu, a wildly creative Hong Kong writer. The stories, elegantly translated by Andrea Lingenfelter, range from the torn-from-the-headlines dystopian anxieties of ‘Notes on an Epidemic’ to the more surrealistic ‘Forrest Woods, Chair,’ which takes themes from Kafka’s Metamorphosis in an engagingly novel direction. The book benefits greatly from an introduction by Lingenfelter, which both explains her approach to rendering Hon’s prose into English and shows how the author’s stories fit into Hong Kong’s fascinating and globally too-little-known literary landscape.” —Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know “Evocatively written and expertly translated, these Hong Kong stories will draw you into Hon Lai-chu’s surreal and yet recognizable world.” —Howard Goldblatt, translator of Nobel laureate Mo Yan

A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love