Wildly acclaimed in Canada, this book marks the debut of a remarkable young writer first published by McSweeney's when she was twenty-three and living at home with her dad and brother. The Middle Stories is a strikingly original collection of stories, fables, and short brutalities that are alternately heartwarming, cruel, and hilarious. This edition, marking the 10th anniversary of The Middle Stories, will be designed in the newly iconic McSweeney's paperback style, and will be published shortly before Heti's newest novel, How Should A Person Be?, emigrates from Canada via Henry Holt & Co.

A powerful, funny, and wise debut from a writer Esquire praises as “the second coming of Denis Johnson.” In this widely acclaimed story collection, Jim Gavin delivers a hilarious and panoramic vision of California, in which a number of down-on-their-luck men, from young dreamers to old vets, make valiant forays into middle-class respectability. Each of the men in Gavin’s stories is stuck somewhere in the middle, caught halfway between his dreams and the often crushing reality of his life. A work of profound humanity that pairs moments of high comedy with searing truths about life’s missed opportunities, Middle Men brings to life unforgettable characters as they learn what it means to love and work and exist in the world as a man. Hailed as a “modern-day Dubliners” (Time Out ) and “reminiscent of Tom Perotta’s best work” (The Boston Globe), this stellar debut has the Los Angeles Review of Books raving, “Middle Men deserves its hype and demonstrates a top-shelf talent. . . . A brilliant sense of humor animates each story and creates a state of near-continuous reading pleasure.”

Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries in Europe, not all women fit the stereotype of passive housewife and mother. Many led bold and dynamic lives. In this collection of historical portraits, Maria Teresa Brolis tells the fascinating tales of fashion icons, art clients, businesswomen, saints, healers, lovers, and pilgrims – both famous and little known – who challenge conventional understandings of the medieval female experience. Drawing on evidence from literary works and archival documents that include letters, chronicles, trials, testimonials, notary registers, contracts, and wills, Brolis pieces together an intricate overview of sixteen women’s lives. With zest and compassion, she describes the mysterious visionary Hildegard of Bingen, the cultured Heloisa, the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine, Saint Clare of Assisi, the rebel Joan of Arc, as well as lesser-known women such as Flora, the penitent moneylender, Bettina the healer, and Belfiore the pilgrim, among others. Following the trajectories and divergences of their lives from wealth to poverty, from conjugal love to the love of community, from the bedroom to life on the streets of Paris, London, Mainz, Rome, and Bergamo, each portrait offers a riveting glimpse into the often complex and surprising world of the medieval woman. Combining the rigour of research with the thrill and empathy of narrative, Stories of Women in the Middle Ages is a provocative investigation into the biographies of sixteen incredible medieval heroines.

Susi Klare exquisitely celebrates the natural world in this collection of short fiction, while also delivering biting commentary that cuts to the heart of our relationship to the land. Bringing her intimacy with nature to the page, she creates a sensual interweaving between the details of a particular landscape and the main character's dilemma and state of mind. Including work previously published in notable literary journals, these stories encapsulate the talent of the author, the recipient of a 2001 Oregen Literary Arts Fellowhip, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and numerous other literary awards. The voices in these stories come from people who are variously attempting to lose or find themselves in the wild country from Alaska to Guatemala. Klare's work explores the nuances of mother-daughter relationships, aging, desire, and what it means to persevere and find identity in the face of trauma.

Kevin Pollak rose through the comedy club ranks at the feet of Don Rickles and Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson and George Carlin. Named one of Comedy Central’s Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians of All Time, he’s a killer impressionist—Falk, Shatner, Walken, Nicholson—a versatile actor with one of the most respected filmographies around, and an Internet pioneer. He’s done it all, and now he’s ready to spill the beans. Ballsy, hilarious, and revealing, How I Slept My Way to the Middle winningly combines never-before-heard stories featuring A-list entertainers with fan favorites and Kevin’s own thoughts about how he made it. He turned down his first invitation to do stand-up on The Tonight Show because he knew that he’d make a bigger impact if he sat on the couch next to Johnny. That huge risk—which paid off in spades—was just the beginning. Find out how he brought John Belushi to his knees, tortured Paul Reiser (twice), bamboozled Larry King, stole Alan Arkin’s soul, almost killed Warren Beatty, and sucked face with Robert DeNiro’s girlfriend. Now a new media entrepreneur, he’s laughing proof that if you follow your gut and believe in yourself, you can do anything you want—except have a rational conversation with Rip Torn, who’s an evil, paranoid $#!%.

Wide-ranging stories offer a glimpse into witchcraft, magic, Crusaders, astrology, alchemy, pacts with the Devil, chivalry, trial by torture, church councils, mercantile life, other elements of Middle Ages.

From the Blurb: Though social scientists often talk about the "mainstream" of American society, they have very rarely studied it. Stories, Community, and Place does look at this group, examining the socio-linguistic behavior of the white middle-class population of a Midwest city. Barbara Johnstone focuses on the stories people tell about their lives and the stories they jointly create to define the place where they live. She looks at people's stories about incidents in their own lives, discussing what it is that these stories share, in structure and in theme, and what it is that gives each speaker a creative individual voice. She then examines how people use narrative to create, perpetuate, and manipulate social roles and relations. How, for example, are gender roles reflected in the stories women and men tell, and how do men's and women's stories create worlds of contest and community? How do people use reported speech to indicate what their relationships to police officers and other authority figures are like, while simultaneously suggesting what these relationships should be like? The final section of the book connects narrative with place. The author shows, for example, how stories are anchored in the local sociolinguistic world partly by being anchored in the local physical world. Another kind of connection between narrative and place is exemplified in a "community story" created by the media about a natural disaster in the city. This is a story which belongs to the city rather than to any of its citizens, and one in which the city and its citizens become one. Stories, Community, and Place will be of interest to linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, and folklorists, as well as to narratologists of any persuasion.