The narrative style of both Clarice Lispector and Carmen Boullosa is characterized by a postmodern tendency toward an increased reader participation. This is accomplished by a process of liberalizing a pre-established socio-cultural repertoire with respect to female identity. The female protagonists, created by Lispector and Boullosa and examined in this book, struggle to find their true voices and their real life experiences. The resulting literary style of both these authors parallels this struggle, subverting traditional narrative structure and utilizing a dialogue that is particularly suited to describe this feminine process of conscientization.

With the frank opinions, irreverent sense of humor, and open-hearted perspective on life that won her such a strong following with Soulwork, BettyClare Moffatt offers us comfort, advice, and inspiration on the difficulties and rewards of the fully lived life. As BettyClare Moffatt has learned, "aging well is not only the best revenge, but the only wise and joyful game in town."

The very best short stories and novellas from National Public Radio's Alan Cheuse are brought together in a quintessential collection. Countless listeners depend on the book reviews from Cheuse, America's "voice of books," and many of those listeners also follow his own critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction. The title story—a flash fiction piece that acts as both prologue and an intriguing look at a writer's inspiration—takes us through a child's eyes into a fantastic land, one that informs, shapes, and travels along with the other stories in this stunning collection. These stories deal with life, death, love, family, work, and a deep exploration of the soul.

Everyone is lost in the "tale" he or she has created. To become authentic, these tales must be unraveled.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic novels, one of the most influential ghost story writers of the nineteenth century. “An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House” is told through the eyes of Dick, a medical student who moves with his cousin Tom into his uncle's unoccupied house on Aungier Street, somewhere in Dublin. Dick and Tom begin having nightmares in which they are visited by mysterious floating portraits and the ghost of the judge.