These thirteen stories reflect different dimensions of the human spirit. Hugh in “The Moonshiner,” Maggie in “The Fight,” and George in “The Drunkard” show remarkable courage when facing physical danger. Myra Lu in “Dyin’ on Time” and John in “The Lost Summer” reveal admirable endurance when facing adversity. In “Talking to the Dead” and “The Strange Requests,” the Reverends Calahan and Hester struggle against superstition and disbelief. Zack in “The Chicken Thieves” discovers that crime doesn’t pay. And characters in “Grandma Excie’s Exit,” “Summer Porch Talk,” “The Prayers” and other stories confront life’s complexities of sadness, joy, humor, pain and death. The setting for these stories: southeastern North Carolina. The time: the depression decade of the thirties.

Rodman the Boatsteerer and Other Stories is a collection of stories written by Louise Becky in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Australian author was well known for his work that often describes life in the South Pacific region. All the stories Described in the book typically revolve around themes of life adventure journey and interaction between indigenous people and European sailors. He also exemplifies the moral connections with the people of the Pacific island. The book Rodman the Boatsteerer and Other Stories, generally centres on the experience of a Boatsteerer a crew member whose duty is to steer a whaleboat. His writing style and narratives are often characterized by vast descriptions of the beautiful natural environment and challenges faced by individuals in navigating the unpredictable and control clashes inevitable in circumstance life of the South Pacific. However, the book provides readers with a gist of the culture and maritime complexities faced in the region during the time in which he wrote this particular book.

Three of Conrad’s most powerful stories of the sea — "Youth: A Narrative" (1898), "Typhoon" (1902) and "The Secret Sharer" (1910) — each probing deeply, suspensefully into the mysteries of human character.

So back he went to Mulifanua. The boat voyage from Apia down the coast inside the reef is not a long one, but the Samoan crew were frightened to have such a man free; so they tied him hand and foot and then lashed him down tightly under the midship thwart with strips of green fau bark. Not that they did so with unnecessary cruelty, but ex-Lieutenant Schwartzkoff, the foreman, was looking on, and then, besides that, this big-boned, light-skinned man was a foreigner, and a Samoan hates a foreigner of his own colour if he is poor and friendless. And then he was an aitu a devil, and could speak neither Samoan, nor Fijian, nor Tokelau, nor yet any English or German....FROM THE BOOKS.

In these fourteen stories, Cameron Raynes traverses landscapes of regret, joy and redemption. In a country town, a woman plots to ruin her rival with an act steeped in racism. A welfare worker is asked to spy on a colleague. And in the award-winning title story, a taxi driver accepts a fare he knows he shouldn't: They headed east, the nude hills of the Geraldton plains, stripped of their trees a century before, leaning into them on both sides as the car climbed into the marginal country. Behind him, Luke heard the gurgle of fluid sluicing out of a bladder and into a cup, smelt the sweet stink of cheap wine. It occurred to him that it was not too late to turn back.

The characters in these short stories all have a connection with the fictional town of Menninger, ND, created in the novel The Song Is Ended (2011). Facing adversity, moral conflicts, or just the challenges of living, the characters must find their way in an imperfect world.

Reproduction of the original: Roman the Boatsteerer and Other Stories by Louis Becke

The biting cold and the aching silence of the far North become an unforgettable backdrop for Jack London's vivid, rousing, superbly realistic wilderness adventure stories featuring the author's unique knowledge of the Yukon and the behavior of humans and animals facing nature at its cruelest.

This edition includes: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Happy Ever After, and The Cossacks. Mortality was one of Tolstoy's most persistent themes, and all of the stories in this volume are connected by this preoccupation, along with the author's simultaneous attempt to help us improve our lives.