This is a true story about one Caribbean man's journey through the healthcare industry and the scare that he may have to lose one of his testicles. Does he? That man is me. Without warning, a searing pain struck. My goodness, what was it? It was neither my stomach nor appendix, but my testicles. No it was only a testicle, my right ball to be precise. I became stunned and only through divine intervention regained my balance, but not my composure, and with wild gesticulations, six feet above ground level, I grasped the ladder. I still do not believe that being either shot or knifed is as painful as the pangs which, like little red devils armed with electric pitchforks, stabbed the areas around and through my groin. Given man's proclivity to intently guard his genitals, I hastened to cup my source of dismay, movements which catapulted the tin of paint off the ladder's platform.

The cricket roaster -- Abanda, the village menace I (or how the bush fowl came to have red marks) -- The songbird and the hunter (or how a bird and a dog enriched a family) -- The tadpole fisher (or the woman who preferred tadpoles to her daughter) -- Abanda, the village menace II -- The egg polisher (or how a water buffalo lost her eggs and a chief his life) -- A wife's man -- The farmer and the apes -- Dibong, the jealous friend -- Revenge of the coaster (or how a witch took advantage of a helpless woman) -- The farmer and the cannibal -- The search for Mr. Handsome -- The tortoise and the chief (or how the tortoise gained respect as the most intelligent of animals) -- The uncooperative sons -- The farmer and the goat herder -- The cocoyam farmer who accepted payment in flesh.

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Wise and addictive... The Gifted School is the juiciest novel I've read in ages... a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud page-turner and an incisive inspection of privilege, race and class." –J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Friends and Strangers, in The New York Times Smart and juicy, a compulsively readable novel about a previously happy group of friends and parents that is nearly destroyed by their own competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens in the community, from the author of The Displacements This deliciously sharp novel captures the relentless ambitions and fears that animate parents and their children in modern America, exploring the conflicts between achievement and potential, talent and privilege. Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who've been a part of one another's lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group's children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It's a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.

This very readible book offers a the true account of a Zululand family whose lives were touched in equal measure by tribal belief and Christianity, healing herbs, magical birds and the tokeloshe, a mischievous creature surrounded by myth and sexual innuendo. It is a story of betrayal, grand passion, bewitchment, abuse and the triumph of love. A love-story and family saga; and social history.. In the late 19th century, well-to-do British and Irish traders started operating in Ngome in northern KwaZulu-Natal. They took Zulu wives and adopted Zulu cultural practices, including polygamy, which meant that they fathered numerous children with their various wives. Agnes Lottering, the author of this book, is one of their offspring. Her grandfather, the Rorke after whom Rorke's Drift was called, came from Dublin; her grandmother was a princess of the Myeni tribe of Ubumbo. women who found them in a social environment that was neither Zulu nor British, where women, now without the strict codes that governed Zulu marriages, were basically at the mercy of the men: white men, far removed from their own society with its constraints, and coloured men who had never known a coherent, stable social environment. Both Agnes and her mother were loved with passion, but both were also abused. Caught in the cross-current of two cultures and never completely belonging to either, they both managed not to have their spirit broken. In fact, Agnes is and emerges from her narrative almost larger than life.

This collection, unique to contemporary Trinidad and Tobago, shows Baptiste equally adept at the short story as with the novel.Stories range from the love song of Samo and his dulahins, to a ghetto youth in Simon and The Babylon, to the acid vision of arranged marriages reflected in Her Bitter Life.Reviews: "Baptiste has produced an amazing array of stories that cuts into the beliefs and social fabric of Trinidadian society."- Michael Cozier, author of Bend Foot Bailey and Forward Ever! Backward Never!"Witty and comical, yet bearing profound messages... that's BoyDays!"- Dexter Emrit, author of Awakening the Spirit... You Can!"Boy Days is quite interesting. The dialogue is rapid fire and humorous. Lyndon Baptiste is a delightful storyteller."- Keith Anderson, Trinidad Guardian"These stories make us laugh, but also beg us to look at how we see Trinidad life and values as they relate to our day-to-day beliefs."- Nellon Hunte, WINTV News Anchor"These are excellent stories. They all genuinely represent our lives, our rich subcultures, with elements of hope and reality mixed together. Relief is a steady story with a consistent message of hope, and it's seen in the form of reward for faith within adversity."- Michelle Byam, Total Development Company Ltd."This collection of short stories is a potent indication of the fertile mind that drives the writing output of Lyndon Baptiste. These stories whilst potent pieces of writing in themselves evoke in the mind of the reader the need for the story lines to be expanded to full novel size as the complexities and motivations of their central characters surpass the size limits of a short story."- Daurius Figueira, Social Researcher and Author"A very lively bunch of stories with variations in structure, style and language to satisfy readers in both reflective and upbeat moods."- Polly Pattullo, Papillote Press"Baptiste's style is natural and entertaining. His stories are grounded in everyday life with moral messages that are unmistakable."- Yvette Francis, Teacher"The West Indian short story is an eclectic mixture of vernacular rhythm, colour, tone and style - an art form that should be preserved. And there is no better exponent than Lyndon Baptiste. His pace is unrelenting, gripping the reader to every word, fusing levity with the gravity of life's experiences. Obeah thrills, eliciting hearty laughs tempered only by the provocative reality of a practice still etched in the cultural DNA of a people. His wrenching commentary on the stench of wasted youth to ill gotten gains and violenceis overwhelmingly haunting in Simon and The Babylon."- Dr. Glenville Ashby, author of The Believers: Spiritual Codes