What put a white cop and a black youth on a tragic collision course? This moving account is more timely than ever.On a frigid winter’s night in 1973, William Rabbit” Wells, a young man of mixed race, was shot and killed by a white policeman named William Sorgie outside a bar in Bernardsville, New Jersey. The shooting, later ruled an accident, stunned local residents and the nation.For thirty years, author William Loizeaux, who went to high school with Rabbit, hasn’t been a...

A character-driven novel about the unlikely friendship between a 10-year-old boy and an elderly woman. The old woman badgers the boy into taking her sailing, but when the weather turns bad, it becomes a wild sail. It becomes the last trip before she goes into the hospital where she dies: but not before the two of them share memories of their last sail together. Hazel helps build the boy's confidence during a tough time in his home life. Both moving and joyful, Into the Wind is a p...

When Clarence Cochran wakes up one evening, he's shocked. Where are his antennae and his beautiful wings? And what is this strange pair of shorts that he's wearing? Clarence has changed from a cockroach into a tiny human boy! The other cockroaches are disgusted. Only Clarence's mother understands. "Be who you are," she says. "You will do wonderful things." And when the entire roach community – happily living in the messy Gilmartin kitchen – is threatened with extermination, Clarence does, ...

This haunting memoir of a son’s quest to understand the mystery of his father’s death is “searing and unforgettable…memoir writing at its best” (San Francisco Chronicle)—a “powerfully affecting” (O, The Oprah Magazine) portrait of a family and its legacy of secrets.“Family? Secrets? Sometimes I think they are the same thing.” So writes Michael Hainey in this unforgettable story of...

NOW WITH A FOREWORD BY RON RASH AND AN APPRECIATION BY DWIGHT GARNER"One of the finest books I know about blue-collar work in America, its rewards and frustrations . . . If you are among the tens of millions who have never read Brown, this is a perfect introduction." —Dwight Garner, The New York TimesOn January 6, 1990, after seventeen years on the job, Larry Brown quit the Oxford, Mississippi, fire department to try writing full-tim...

Twenty of America's best mystery short stories from 2011, selected by a #1 New York Times–bestselling author.The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made th...

"Woodrell writes about violence and dark deeds . . . in compact, musical prose. . . . once you begin reading [these short stories ]you can't stop." — New York TimesDaniel Woodrell is able to lend uncanny logic to harsh, even criminal behavior in this wrenching collection of stories. Desperation--both material and psychological—motivates his characters. A husband cruelly avenges the killing of his wife's pet; an injured rapist is cared for ...

A compilation of Charles Bukowski's underground articles from his column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" appears here in book form. Bukowski's reasoning for self-describing himself as a 'dirty old man' rings true in this book."People come to my door-too many of them really-and knock to tell me Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a gypsy and his wife and we talk . . . . drink half the night. A long distance operator from Newburgh, N.Y. sends me m...

"I fell in love with Maupin’s effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read."—Mary KarrIn this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer.Born in the mid-twentieth century and raised in the heart o...

This "impressive crime anthology" presents a century of American greed, crime and comeuppance by some of the genre's greatest authors ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).James Ellroy, the author of such noir classics as The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, joins forces with award-winning editor Otto Penzler to present this treasure trove of stories. Ranging from the 1920s to the present day, this collection represents noir at its best...

1969 is a time of turmoil and murder for a New York PI in this " twisty, sometimes terrifying" novel from the author of the acclaimed Inspector Troy Novels ( Kirkus Reviews ).New York PI Turner Raines is a has-been—and the things he has been include a broken civil rights worker, a second-rate lawyer, and a tenth-rate yippie reporter. But in 1969, as the USA is about to land a man on the moon and the Vietnam War is ripping ...

Fifty remarkable short stories from a range of contemporary fiction authors including Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more, selected from a survey of more than five hundred English professors, short story writers, and novelists.Contributors include Russell Banks, Donald Barthelme, Rick Bass, Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, Amy Bloom, T.C. Boyle, Kevin Brockmeier, Robert Olen Butler, Sandra Cisneros, Peter Ho Davies, Janet Desaulniers, Junot...