Though it may be difficult to believe, the eleven stories in this collection are based in truth. Author Jeremy Sayers hails from a family of adventurers and farmers. His father's family came to America in 1715 and settled in Virginia. His mother's family arrived much later, immigrants and migrants. All together, these people were coal miners, blacksmiths, and cowboys. Most of all, they were believers in whatever it was that let them survive one sunrise to another. And they were storytellers. Fencline and Other Stories brings some of those tales to life. Like the myths of ancient cultures, the Greeks, Hindus, Hebrews, and Native Americans, these stories tell about a particular time and place. But, they also contain something timeless. These stories give us reasons to laugh and to mourn. And the characters in these tales teach us something about coping with strife as we share little parts of their lives.

A collection of short stories to dip into and devour, by a prize-winning writer. These 23 stories show the breadth of Stephanie Johnson's fine writing. It features poignant insights as well as her sharp wit, with characters as diverse as a woman arranging a second wife for her husband, a criminal returning to the care of his mother, and a widow who hears an octopus call her name.

Before she wrote the bestselling Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx was already producing some of the finest short fiction in the country. Here are her collected stories, including two new works never before anthologized. These stories reverberate with rural tradition, the rites of nature, and the rituals of small town life. The country is blue collar New England; the characters are native families and the dispossessed working class, whose heritage is challenged by the neorural bourgeoisie from the city; and the themes are as elemental as the landscape: revenge, malice, greed, passion. Told with skill and profundity and crafted by a master storyteller, these are lean, tough tales of an extraordinary place and its people.

For over four decades Mike has been shooting and chasing the elusive Wild Goose; mainly the Pink-footed Goose. He certainly knows the meaning of the saying, 'A Wild Goose Chase and Goose Fever' as he has experienced it many times throughout his lifetime. Now in his mid-sixties he has probably seen and been involved in areas of shooting that will never be witnessed or ever re-lived again. But local reports show that now even after many, many years geese are still on a 20%% yearly increase. It must be the most sought after bird in the UK during the winter months. There are a number of short stories in this book about his 'adventures' as he calls them and the fun he shared with many others. Mike talks about what it's like to go Wildfowling and inland Goose Shooting. He tells of sitting for hours just waiting to see those magnificent birds as they leave the safety of the estuaries or lochs to fly inland to their feeding grounds.

The family farm was a place to learn values, work ethic, and develop character. For Author Mark Hillenbrand, it was a place where happy childhood memories were created and discipline and routine were important. Deeply rooted in the hard work of planting and harvesting, raising cattle and chickens, and maintaining the property and machinery, is a sense of responsibility and belonging. His father instilled in him— with words but mostly by example—the importance of cultivating a deep respect and sense of stewardship of the land and its creatures. From Mark’s first time driving a tractor at age ten, to tree planting as a young man, to assisting his father during his last harvest, the farm provided life lessons that bound the family together and extend to the next generation. At once nostalgic and realistic, Fields and Fencelines is a collection of stories that appeals to a simpler, holistic approach to life and reveals the insight and wisdom gained from growing up on a family farm.

We Smoked Our Sister: Stories from a childhood carries the reader back to the wonderful days of the 1960’s; a time of excitement in the growth of America. The life of a rural family in Chunchula, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile County is portrayed between these pages. Though it was a time of financial hardships, the family was held together by a loving mother and father, who worked hard and raised their children to be disciplined/focused, productive, motivated, and successful as werll as creating a love for learning and the importance of family and heritage taught through stories passed down from family ancestry, as well as stories created by the Seymour children who lived these stories. Family life was like a work of art. Also, this book looks at a part of family life and the methods used to discipline children in the south. A picture of a rich life comes through to the reader, which could describe the simple everyday lives of any family in the south. The south has such rich undiscovered family history. The reader will not be able to put it down; it totally involves you in the life of the Seymour family and the siblings with their wonderfully hilarious antics. The reader will be able to picture a time in America when life was totally different. We long for those days again, where there was peace, harmony and caring among the citizens. So take a journey though the sixties and relive the days that are so precious to many southern families. This book contains stories that are timeless in beauty and wonderfully intriguing.

In The Bone Chime Song & Other Stories, Joanne Anderton explores the darkness and the beauty of humans caught on the fringes and pushed to the very edge of the abyss. Enter worlds where terrible secrets are hidden in a wind chime's song, where crippled witches forge magic from scrap, and the beautiful dead dance for eternity. With deities built from circuits and wires, sacrificial drought-ridden towns, and artists who dabble in bone and decay, every story plots a course from the gothic to the fantastic and winds its way back again. Whether charting bleak futures or delving into the darkest of horrors, Anderton’s extraordinary talent weaves magic into every tale, presenting stories guaranteed to draw you in—and never let you go. Winner of both The Australian Shadows Award and Aurealis Award for best collection, The Bone Chime Song & Other Stories returns to entice a new generation of readers.

First Blood, Schaefer's follow-up to Shane, tells the tale of Jess Harker, a young stagecoach driver finding his way in this coming-of-age story.

The classic Western short stories in this Jack Schaefer collection explore the changing and often challenging truths found throughout the American West. The featured novella, "The Kean Land," tells the story of young Ben Hammon as he arrives in western Colorado after the death of his parents to live with his small-town lawman uncle. The drama unfolds as Ben learns the ways of the land and the people who live there--including the Kean family. As "progress" pursues there is a dramatic price the Keans and others must pay to keep their land in this once hostile territory. How much blood must those who love the land pay in order to stay?

Empty Bones is weightlifting, infidelity, drunk driving, facelifts and childbirth it s a family and their weekend reunion. It is Lisbon to Madrid on the night train and Auckland to Wellington on a motorbike. It is the end, the beginning and the gristly in between. Empty Bones is a novella accompanied by five equally raw, intense and comical short stories, from the author of the acclaimed Bird North. Wow. Breton Dukes BIRD NORTH is a knockout. Brilliantly intense book. Emily Perkins, Twitter Roddy Doyle is a hard act to follow, but in Bird North New Zealand author Breton Dukes does it with a gritty and sometimes disturbing collection of stories. Ian Williams, Otago Daily Times Confidant, nuanced and unselfconsciously local, this is an accomplished debut. Sam Finnemore, NZ Listener Breton Dukes lives with his wife in Kaikorai Valley, Dunedin. He is a telephonist for the government. His interests include rabbit shooting, tenting and cookery. Cover: Dylan Horrocks"