One more journey to the universe of Roberto Bolano, an essential voice of contemporary Latin American literature Cowboy Graves is an unexpected treasure from the vault of a revolutionary talent. Roberto Bolano's boundless imagination and seemingly inexhaustible gift for shaping the chaos of his reality into fiction is unmistakable in these three novellas. In "Cowboy Graves," Arturo Belano--Bolano's alter ego--returns to Chile after the coup to fight with his comrades for socialism. "French Comedy of Horrors" takes the reader to French Guiana on the night after an eclipse where a seventeen year old answers a pay phone and finds himself recruited into the Clandestine Surrealist Group, a secret society of artists based in the sewers of Paris. And in "Fatherland," a young poet reckons with the fascist overthrow of his country, as the woman he is obsessed with disappears in the ensuing violence and a Third Reich fighter plane mysteriously writes her poetry in the sky overhead. These three fiercely original tales bear the signatures of Bolano's extraordinary body of work, echoing the strange characters and uncanny scenes of his triumphs, while deepening our reverence for his gifts.

After a life dedicated to the study of languages, A. Colin Wright has distilled his life's observations into this engaging collection of short stories, most of which have been previously published in literary journals. Now retired, his life's adventures, which include serving in the British Air Force, attending Cambridge University, and being a professor of Russian, have inspired this collection. "I'm a librarian and I kissed a film star once. I touched her nipples too. At least, I think I did." So begins "Queen's Grill." Horatio Humphries, one of the unreliable narrators, strikes up a brief friendship with a movie star on a rough Atlantic crossing, but his "twin" brother doesn't believe him. In "A Pregnant Woman with Parcels at Brock and Bagot," an unnamed woman may or may not have an affair with a man she met at a party-depending on whether she can get by a woman in front of her. "Distantly from Gardens," a variant on the theme of the "double" found often in Russian literature, presents a man with a split personality, inhabited by two narrators who are his past as well as his present. While other stories are told in either the first or third person, the subject here demands the use of the second. The stories in A Cupboardful of Shoes explore subjects as wide-ranging as largely disappointed love, violence, and war, sometimes with an underlying religious theme, serving to illustrate Wright's eclectic style and literary interests.

Love beneath the Napalm is James D. Redwood's collection of deeply affecting stories about the enduring effects of colonialism and the Vietnamese War over the course of a century on the Vietnamese and the American and French foreigners who became inextricably connected with their fate. These finely etched, powerful tales span a wide array of settings, from the former imperial capital of Hue at the end of the Nguyen Dynasty, to Hanoi after the American pullout from Vietnam, the Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1979, contemporary San Francisco, and Schenectady, New York. Redwood reveals the inner lives of the Vietnamese characters and also shows how others appear through their eyes. Some of the images and characters in Love beneath the Napalm-the look that Mr. Tu's burned and scarred face always inflicts on strangers in the title story; attorney and American Vietnam War-veteran Carlton Griswold's complicated relationship with Mary Thuy in "The Summer Associate"; Phan Van Toan's grief and desire, caught between two worlds in "The Stamp Collector"-provide a haunting, vivid portrayal of lives uprooted by conflict. Throughout, readers will find moments that cut to the quick, exposing human resilience, sorrow, joy, and the traumatic impact of war on all those who are swept up in it.

This real-life inspired, yet fictional, young adult and adult fable focuses on a young Inyupiaq (Northern Native Alaskan) who was born into a troubled home when the U.S. was just beginning its involvement with her rural arctic village. The text, interwoven with Emily Dickinson inspired poetry, is comprised of vivid descriptions of Alaskan tundra, intense and whimsical dialogue between varied dynamic characters, and action-filled, intelligent, and suspenseful narrative as Samantha ventures into endless Alaska. One day, Sam wakes up after one of her father's drunken evenings and leaves her arctic village in the middle of winter with nothing but the essentials to survive. Mid-walk, she encounters a polar bear and its cub. With her home blocked by these territorial gargantuas, she is tempted to take an adventure into the -20 - -40 degree weather. With her questionable choice, she ends up having to fend off off wildlife, the elements, and even polar bear. A mere 80 miles from the Arctic Ocean in the Alaskan wilderness, Sam begins to redefine her perspective on the lifelong stories she has heard from elders, her relationship with her seized sister, supportive best friend, goofy uncle, drunk father, and troubled mother. She even begins to change her perspective on interracial relations.

The new century saw a furthering of violence hinged in some bizarre way to organized religion, religions that were centuries old and born of good will toward man. Within months of the terror attacks ultimately linked to Bin Laden and his platter. The initial shock, horror, revulsion and sorrow was now replaced with vengeance served up big-time and brought to you nightly by CNN or whoever had the best feed. The far reaching effects trickled down into the communities we lived in. Surprise anthrax packages, remember Tom Brokaw's little gift at the network home site? The attacks continue today with assaults at Fort Hood attributed to a madman, English transit, in Spain and everyday something new. The recent Shafia trial in Kingston Ontario was blocks from our fictitious setting, imagine... The setting is ever changing in this thriller set between Ontario prisons and the fluid world of terrorists who maneuver their agenda with well laid out plans that cover several months or more of planning. We've grown somewhat callous perhaps to the daily bombings and activities of the Middle East. Picture some of the same events in our own towns and communities, the scope of the 911 attacks on a smaller scale, but with potential to devastate lives. A must read

Helmut Schwab's stories reflect the diversity of life through human encounters, observations, visions, or just stories?romantic, funny, serious, or just so?from Provence to Munich, San Francisco, or the gardens of Princeton?from Arizona to biblical Galilee, a bombing night in Afghanistan, a vision in Jerusalem, or some hope in prison?or by describing the funny small animals in the garden?or a children's ball rolling along the road.

A clear vision of reality renders the stories colorful and lively?based on sensibility for joy, sorrow, suffering, love, or humor?written at times with a smiling, at times with a crying face. For computer reading see ?www.schwab-stories.com?

Exploring the way our choices and relationships are shaped by the menace and beauty of the natural world, Megan Mayhew Bergman's powerful and heartwarming collection captures the surprising moments when the pull of our biology becomes evident, when love or fear collides with good sense, or when our attachment to an animal or wild place can't be denied.
In "Housewifely Arts," a single mother and her son drive hours to track down an African gray parrot that can mimic her deceased mother's voice. A population-control activist faces the conflict between her loyalty to the environment and her maternal desire in "Yesterday's Whales." And in the title story, a lonely naturalist allows an attractive stranger to lead her and her aging father on a hunt for an elusive woodpecker.
As intelligent as they are moving, the stories in "Birds of a Lesser Paradise "are alive with emotion, wit, and insight into the impressive power that nature has over all of us. This extraordinary collection introduces a young writer of remarkable talent.

'Zekameron' comes from 'Zek' meaning prisoner and is a word-play on Boccaccio's Decameron. 'He came back from interrogation looking like death. Some people look better than he did when they're being put in their coffin. "What happened then? Did they stick any other articles of the Criminal Code on you? Or break your jaw?" "Nothing like that. I've got toothache..." The 100 tales in Zekameron are based on the 14th Century Decameron, but Znak is closer to Beckett than to Boccaccio. Banality and brutality vie with the human ability to overcome oppression. Znak's stories in different voices chart 100 days in prison in Belarus today. The tone is laconic, ironic; the humour sparse. The stories bear witness to resistance and self-assertion and the genuine warmth and appreciation of fellow prisoners.

In this unique collection of stories, each story chronicles an emotional dance of some type-the dance of life, the dance of death. Each story resonates with the knowledge that every person must learn the steps to his or her own dance and with the subtle reality that each of us recognizes when the dance is over. In "Lost," Ginny longs for the innocence of a life that is long gone-obliterated by alcohol and lost love. She has lost the desire to live and love; she is hopeless, even in the face of life in the exotic South Pacific. In "The Yellow Dress," set in New Zealand, Joseph Miller is mourning the loss of his beloved wife and wondering how he will spend his remaining time-since he is also unwell. He wanders aimlessly through his days, not focusing on anything in particular. Then one day, by chance, he joins some people at a cultural performance, the type of event he would have normally skipped in the past. That night something happens that changes him-and once again he finds himself joining the dance of life. "All in Order" explores the dance of marriage, hindered by the neuroses of man to whom order is of utmost importance. "The Dancing Hills" depicts the dance of new relationship in which both the tune and the dancers are somewhat unconventional. Full of life, love and emotions, the stories in "Dances" will awaken your heart and take you along on some surprising journeys.