Showing results by narrator "Ian Shaw" in All Categories

Arthur Oakes is an outsider. His mother is in prison, his father is long gone, so he spends his time lost in the legends of English mythology. Then one unintended incident—one moment of standing up for another underdog—leaves his mother in danger and him with orders to steal rare books from the college library. And the events that will unfold from that single act of bravery will lead to slaughter.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. This decade is resplendent with literature and its many prodigiously talented authors who write on as varied a range of subjects as might be thought possible. Yet each is studded with careful literary precision and narrative verve. It is a remarkable decade.

A man who cannot count his years moves between worlds living the lives of other men. A soulless ebony giantess seeks freedom in warfare but cannot escape the tragedy buried in her forgotten past. An aging mercenary and nonbeliever may be the unwitting savior of his—and all—times. A blinded war hero barters for a mythical stone in the hope that it may restore his former glory. An undead God seeks an end to his torment by bringing about an end to all things.