A gorgeously rendered graphic novel of Daniel Alarcón’s story City of Clowns. From the author of The King Is Always Above the People, which was longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction. Oscar “Chino” Uribe is a young Peruvian journalist for a local tabloid paper. After the recent death of his philandering father, he must confront the idea of his father’s other family, and how much of his own identity has been shaped by his father’s murky morals. At the same time, he begins to chronicle the life of street clowns, sad characters who populate the violent and corrupt city streets of Lima, and is drawn into their haunting, fantastical world. This remarkably affecting story by Daniel Alarcón was included in his acclaimed first book, War by Candlelight, and now, in collaboration with artist Sheila Alvarado, it takes on a new, thrilling form. This graphic novel, with its short punches of action and images, its stark contrasts between light and dark, truth and fiction, perfectly corresponds to the tone of Chino’s story. With the city of Lima as a character, and the bold visual language from the story, City of Clowns is moving, menacing, and brilliantly vivid.

From the Orange Prize-winning author of Property comes a vital and heartbreaking collection of short stories that turns an unflinching eye upon artists—driven and blocked, desired and detested, infamous and sublime—as they struggle beneath the tyranny of Art to reconcile their audience with their muse. • “A triumph”—The New Yorker A painter who owes his small success to a man he despises, discovers that his passivity has cost him the love that might have set him free. A writer of modest talents encounters the old love who once betrayed him; now she repels him, yet the unfinished novel she leaves in his hands may surpass anything he could ever produce himself. An American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. A print maker, who has reached a certain age, enters so deeply into the magical world of her imagination that she can never find her way back. In captivating, luminous prose, Martin explores the trials and rewards of human relationships and creative endeavor with all the ease and insight of a writer at the top of her form.

Over the course of the twentieth century, Mongolian life was transformed, as a land of nomadic communities encountered first socialism and then capitalism and their promises of new societies. The stories collected in this anthology offer literary snapshots of Mongolian life throughout this tumult. Suncranes and Other Stories showcases a range of powerful voices and their vivid portraits of nomads, revolution, and the endless steppe. Spanning the years following the socialist revolution of 1921 through the early twenty-first century, these stories from the country’s most highly regarded prose writers show how Mongolian culture has forged links between the traditional and the modern. Writers employ a wide range of styles, from Aesopian fables through socialist realism to more experimental forms, influenced by folktales and epics as well as Western prose models. They depict the drama of a nomadic population struggling to understand a new approach to life imposed by a foreign power while at the same time benefiting from reforms, whether in the capital city Ulaanbaatar or on the steppe. Across the mix of stories, Mongolia’s majestic landscape and the people’s deep connection to it come through vividly. For all English-speaking readers curious about Mongolia’s people and culture, Simon Wickhamsmith’s translations make available this captivating literary tradition and its rich portrayals of the natural and social worlds.

These fierce, funny and feminist short stories shine with everyday heroines at work and at play. Ordinary lives are transformed as women try to be themselves while clowning around for others. Captured in familiar situations as well as in flights of fancy, the women in these stories are engaged in acts of self-preservation: they are exhilarated to discover the joy and surprise of other women's company, they make bold sexual choices, they go on a night-time excursions; as grandmothers, they give their grandchildren unsuitable presents. In one story, a young woman and her mother harness their creativity to express their horror at the world around them. In another, a teenage mother struggles with her feelings for the father of her child. One of the tales follows a woman who experiences the freedom of the workplace while another shows how imprisoning it can be. Compassionate, unexpected, and full of small triumphs in the face of adversity, this collection establishes Hannah Vincent as one of the freshest voices in contemporary fiction.

The Clown of White Fields is a collection of 7 stories set in various parts of the world, and a common thread of mysticism unites them. They are stories about children and people from small places who have a secret each. The enchanted world they live in, they are possessed by magic and the illusory world of dreams. Be it Anatoly's special powers or Siom's hatred for his step mother, Oddvar's shame of poverty, Azec's magical circus or Ravana's soul wanderings; they all brave the oddities as time affords them clarity and strength. The book attempts to bring back the lost era of storytelling, with illusory and mystical undertones that a child's innocence craves for.

David LaLone is a native of Lansing Michigan, where he lives with wife and two daughters. David has a degree in theology, which he thought would be used in full time pastoral ministry. This however was not the path his life would take. He wrote many of these poems while struggling to understand his role in ministry. He identifies with the persona of the Sad Clown. This clown is a marionette waiting for God to pull the strings. He is sad, and yet he is meant to make people smile. His poetry often swings along such pendulum emotions. His faith is stitched into every line. David is a lamenting prophet using his god given gift of words to paint the images that rise up from within and without. These are poems written in his late twenties. He has felt the thrill of graduation and the fear of the real world. He has started a church and watched it fall. He has invested in ministry to watch him fail. He has seen death and prayed for life from his wife's womb. David shares his life. His poetry is a window into his soul.Everyone knows that clowns are supposed to make you happy. So when as clown looks sad we are perplexed on what to do. I think this is a good image of the poetry in this book. When I wrote them I felt like I was in a sad clown season of life. This is not poetry meant to be depressing but like a sad clown it may make you a bit uncomfortable. I hope that these poems are able to impact you in a powerful way.