Here are twenty-one tales from Kentucky's inimitable and beloved storyteller, Jesse Stuart. Full of high, rambunctious humor, quick-paced as a mountain square dance, bright as a maple tree against an October hill -- these stories are Stuart in his best form -- the form that has made him one of the most widely read authors in America. Read here about the man who coveted a steam shovel and stole it piece by piece, or about the celebrated eating contest between Sam Whiteapple and the game rooster, or about the hill farmer who wanted to clear and farm one last spot of new ground before he died. Although he has a sharp eye for human foibles and infirmities, Stuart never fails to write of his people with affection or to see that justice is done them. Originally published in 1950, Clearing in the Sky was inadvertently declared out of print after three years and never reprinted. Now for Jesse Stuart's many readers it is once more available with an appreciative foreword by Ruel Foster.

Sketches of the lives of southern mountaineers.

Here are twenty-one tales from Kentucky's inimitable and beloved storyteller, Jesse Stuart. Full of high, rambunctious humor, quick-paced as a mountain square dance, bright as a maple tree against an October hill -- these stories are Stuart in his best form -- the form that has made him one of the most widely read authors in America. Read here about the man who coveted a steam shovel and stole it piece by piece, or about the celebrated eating contest between Sam Whiteapple and the game rooster, or about the hill farmer who wanted to clear and farm one last spot of new ground before he died.

The stories in this collection draw variously on the themes of love and loss, Taoist metaphors, socio-political concerns, and the writer's place and role in the world. Literary and complex yet accessible and fast-paced, each story differs widely in style, motivation, philosophy, and denouement from all the others. The collection encompasses topographies and places from China to France, and Ireland to India. ,

The first seven stories in this book have either locale or characters in common. The village called Fraternity is an actual one; and the surrounding countryside has a beauty which grows with long acquaintance. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the characters are—with one exception—fictitious. The exception is Mr. A. L. McCorrison, better known as Bert McCorrison, who introduced the author to the trout brooks and the woodcock covers thereabouts. He appears in some of the stories, under the name of Chet McAusland. The third story in the book, "Old Tantrybogus," is—so far as the dog is concerned—a true story. The last two stories in the Fraternity group, "Jeshurun Waxed Fat" and "Epitome," together with the succeeding seven, are each less than four thousand words in length. These stories represent successive attempts to combine brevity with other and more elusive attributes.

Howard Lovecraft was an American writer who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Despite the fact that he was virtually unknown before he died, today he is known as the most influential author in his genre. “The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories” is a collection of wonderful short stories such as “Dagon,” “The Nameless City” and “The Call of Cthulhu.” These stories, full of mystery and fantastic creatures, have captured the minds of readers all over the world.

Mary Noailles Murfree, who used the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock, was a 19th and 20th century American writer whose contemporary fiction is still read today by people interested in depictions of life in Appalachia at the time. -- Amazon.com.