Though best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also an accomplished writer of the most chilling horror stories of the 20th century. Written during the same period as the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, these horror stories share the darkness of Doyle's more well-known works, if not always their logical conclusions. Together they paint quite a different picture of Doyle than do his detective pieces, illuminating a writer as fascinated by the supernatural and the unsolveable as by the science of modern detection.

This collection of twelve short stories and one essay by Vietnamese writers reveals the tragic legacy of Agent Orange and raises troubling moral questions about the physical, spiritual, and environmental consequences of war. Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed approximately twenty million gallons of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants on Vietnam and Laos, exposing combatants and civilians from both sides to the deadly contaminant dioxin. Many of the exposed, and later their children, suffered from ailments including diabetes, cancer, and birth defects. This remarkably diverse collection represents a body of work published after the early 1980s that stirred sympathy and indignation in Vietnam, pressuring the Vietnamese government for support. "Thirteen Harbors" intertwines a woman's love for a dioxin victim with ancient Cham legend and Vietnamese folk wisdom. "A Child, a Man" explores how our fates are bound with those of our neighbors. In "The Goat Horn Bell" and "Grace," families are devastated to find the damage from Agent Orange passed to their newborn children. Eleven of the pieces appear in English for the first time, including an essay by Minh Chuyen, whose journalism helped publicize the Agent Orange victims' plight. The stories in "Family of Fallen Leaves" are harrowing yet transformative in their ability to make us identify with the other.

Wild Mustard, an anthology of prizewinning short fiction by contemporary Vietnamese writers, throws into relief the transformations of self and place that followed Vietnam's turn toward a market economy. In just three decades, since the 1986 policy known as doi moi (renovation) ended collectivization and integrated Vietnam into world markets, the country has transformed from one of the poorest and most isolated on earth into a dynamic global economy. The nineteen stories in this volume capture the kaleidoscopic experiences of Vietnam's youth, navigating between home and newly expanded horizons, as they seek new opportunities through migration, education, and integration not only into their nation but into the world. In the tradition of the ""Under 40"" collections popularized by magazines such as the New Yorker and Granta, but with greater stakes and greater differences between the previous generation of writers and this new one, Wild Mustard seeks to change how North American readers think of Vietnam. Escaping the common fixation on the Vietnam War and its aftermath, these stories reflect the movement and dynamism of the young Vietnamese who locate themselves amid the transnational encounters and proliferating identities of a global economy.

What is it about lighthouses that stirs the heart and sparks the imagination? Built for strength and permanence, they are nonetheless always vulnerable. We look to them for guidance and reassurance yet never quite lose the feeling of being watched when near them. Their keepers work tirelessly to serve humanity, protecting many hundreds of lives each year; yet they themselves are isolated from other people. And of course, we are ever aware that these often remote outposts can be unforgiving of human frailties, so inevitably they become the setting for tragedy and consequently for spirits that linger at the site of their ruined hopes, their sufferings, and their obsessions. In Lighthouse Hauntings a dozen contemporary authors spin an intriguing mix of supernatural tales around this evocative theme. Some of these never before published stories are just plain creepy, others are mystifying or metaphysical, or even heartwarming, but all are vividly memorable."

This collection of twelve short stories and one essay by Vietnamese writers reveals the tragic legacy of Agent Orange and raises troubling moral questions about the physical, spiritual, and environmental consequences of war. Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed approximately twenty million gallons of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants on Vietnam and Laos, exposing combatants and civilians from both sides to the deadly contaminant dioxin. Many of the exposed, and later their children, suffered from ailments including diabetes, cancer, and birth defects. This remarkably diverse collection represents a body of work published after the early 1980s that stirred sympathy and indignation in Vietnam, pressuring the Vietnamese government for support. "Thirteen Harbors" intertwines a woman's love for a dioxin victim with ancient Cham legend and Vietnamese folk wisdom. "A Child, a Man" explores how our fates are bound with those of our neighbors. In "The Goat Horn Bell" and "Grace," families are devastated to find the damage from Agent Orange passed to their newborn children. Eleven of the pieces appear in English for the first time, including an essay by Minh Chuyen, whose journalism helped publicize the Agent Orange victims' plight. The stories in "Family of Fallen Leaves" are harrowing yet transformative in their ability to make us identify with the other.

Drawing upon original sources and published material, A Distant War Comes Home is a fascinating survey of the many individual stories that linked Maine with the war hundreds of miles away.