In Payback, renowned Israeli author and poet Elisha Porat stares into the eyes of men and women united by the turmoil of the 1982 War of South Lebanon. Skipping from on-the-line realism to the tender grief of a son rediscovering his father even as he struggles with the ghosts of friends that war dictated would be left behind, it is not battle that unites these stories, but the hope of peace.These are the tales of those who have no right to dream but do. One man returns home to find that he can reclaim his love in body but not in soul. Comrades not permitted the choice between home and service to their country rebel in thought and deed. Faced with the impossibility of regaining what was, Porat's characters strike out on spiritual journeys that canvas the darkness and brilliance of their own inner spaces. A book of subtle and stirring beauty, Payback inscribes the memories of those Porat himself lost on the consciousness of the reader while also placing them in the context of a vibrant culture's broken generations.Without passing judgment on his characters, Elisha Porat has succeeded in bringing to life Everymen who would be recognized as easily on the streets of Los Angeles as they would in Jerusalem. The fact of his nationality is secondary to the universality of his stories, yet Payback retains an innate sense of self. Crackling with intelligent detail and simple strength, this new collection offers yet more proof that Elisha Porat has earned his place in the ranks of the world's greatest storytellers.

Payback: Stories

Porat, Elisha

Wind River Pr

The Startled Land

Mass, Rochelle

To Be a Stranger

Displacement, exile and return haunt the pages of Gaither Stewart's second short story collection, To Be A Stranger. Though most of the sixteen stories are set in the author's hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, the stories touch only lightly on the real Asheville, today's renowned tourism destination. Stewart says, ?The Asheville I depict rather hazily is the misty, intangible town I imagine from a distance or see when I visit there. It is a strange Asheville, an Asheville of great secrets, an Asheville of a distant past, an Asheville removed from the present. It is also an Asheville as a destination and a hope. It is the hometown of the exile, seen now close at hand, now in the past, now as in a dream.'In a way, the Asheville stories are my first attempts at coming to grips with my origins. Perhaps the town is a metaphor, as someone commented, because the stories are permeated by the idea of departure and return.'Stewart's characters, like the fictionalization of Asheville's most famous son in Look Homeward, Angel, are perplexed by return, uncertain of their place in the world. Likewise, characters peopling the Mexican or New York or European stories of To Be A Stranger want to be somewhere else--or someone else. Stash Luczkiw, editor of Milan's Cartier Art, praises the volume for its cosmopolitan portrayal of common human traits. ?Reading Stewart's stories is like playing a raucous game of connect-the-dots with these coordinates across sundry landscapes and languages. It is an effortless, smooth, always thoughtful and often humorous ride that can drop you off in the most unexpected pockets of turbulence'where you can see the world and mull over questions of freedom, chance, destiny and the human (all-too-human) condition.'In lyrical, personal language, To Be A Stranger explores the luxury of escape and the bittersweet joy of return.

Stewart, Gaither

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Books by Wind River Pr

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Wind River Pr publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Payback: Stories

The Startled Land

To Be a Stranger

To Be a Stranger