Fiction. UPTURNED EARTH is set in Namaqualand, the copper mining district of the Cape Colony, during the winter of 1886. William Hull arrives at the town to take up the position of magistrate, a position that no one else wanted to accept because of the bleak and depressing locale. He finds that the town is run by the Cape Copper Mining Company and the despotic mine superintendent, Townsend. Meanwhile, Molefi Noki, a Xhosa mining labourer, is intent on finding his brother who was sent to jail for drunkenness and has yet to be released. Set against the background of a diverse community, made up of white immigrants, indigenous people and descendants of Dutch men and native women, we are given insight into the daily life of a mining town and the exploitation of workers, harsh working conditions and deep-seated corruption that began with the start of commercial mining in South Africa in the 1850s and which continue until now. While UPTURNED EARTH is a novel about the past, its concerns are very much founded in the present. "A remarkable and moving book. Evocative of an era of raw possibility; unflinching as it traces the veins of violence that run through South Africa's bedrock to this day."--Henrietta Rose "A mythical tale of heart and soul, cruelty and courage, fear and redemption."--Joanne Hichens "Meticulously researched and grippingly told, this is an intensely human story that sheds light on a neglected corner of South African history."--Fiona Snyckers

This volume of stories and poems illustrates the ubiquitous presence of Nyarlathotep, the mighty messenger of the Outer Gods, and shows him in several different guises. The 13 stories include a Lin Carter novella.

The groundbreaking autobiographical novel by the renowned Irish journalist, poet, and author of The Great Push and The Rat-Pit. Peopled with extraordinary characters, suffused with humor and yet unflinching in its portrayal of the near slavery of the poor in Scotland and Ireland, Children of the Dead End sold 50,000 copies a year in the 1920s. It was as influential in its own way as the work of social investigators such as Rowntree in bringing about change in British and Irish attitudes to poverty and destitution. Starting with an account of his childhood in Donegal, Ireland at the end of the 19th century, the story moves to Scotland where, living as a tramp, then working as a gang laborer, and for some years as a navvy at Kinlochleven near Fort William, Dermod Flynn (as he calls himself) begins to discover himself as a writer. “Its freshness and force is the mark of true literature—the structure is perfect Heartily recommended.” —Irish Press “Splendid . . . a superb account of its times . . . Children of the Dead End and The Rat-Pit blaze with a passionate sincerity.” —Irish Times

In Berlin in 1939, Michael Tradowsky celebrated his fourth birthday with his parents by helping his father tack up blackout paper over their windows. Germany was at war. For the next six years, the Tradowsky family endured the nightmare of the German home front. Intense and powerful, War Children shares the incredible saga of an ordinary German family during World War II. Looking back from the vantage of seventy years, Michael's memoir directly confronts how his childhood experiences, despite his parents' attempt to give him a normal upbringing, were shaped by an epoch of rampant evil under Hitler. Michael shares how each member of his family had his or her own way of fighting against the regime. His courageous and outspoken aristocratic mother was determined to protect her son from Nazi brainwashing and sacrificed everything but her love and honor to keep her children alive. His father, a promising theater director, rubbed shoulders with the great entertainers of the time until his refusal to join the Nazi Party destroyed his aspirations. But perhaps Michael's love for his baby sister exemplifies the tragedy of a childhood spent in war, for her very life depended on him carrying her to the bomb shelter. From winding roads twisting through the tall pines of the Black Forest to trucks crammed with refugees, War Children offers a sobering testimony for children victimized by war, past and present.