Brimming with our deepest fears and desires, Sides’ dazzling stories examine the complexities of masculinity, home, transformation, and loss.
Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-952536-20-5
$16.95
In Sides’ tender, brilliantly-imagined collection, a young boy dreams of being a psychic like his grandmother, a desperate man turns to paper for a
miracle, a swarm of fireflies attempts the impossible, scarecrows and ghosts collide, a mother and child navigate a forest plagued by light-craving monsters, a boy’s talking dolls aid him in conquering a burning world, and a father and mother deal with the sudden emergence of wings on their son’s back. Bradley Sides is an exciting new voice in fiction. Brimming with our deepest fears and desires, his haunting debut collection of short stories examines the complexities of masculinity, home, transformation, and loss. Tenderness is illuminated by magic realism, providing rays of hope in the darkness and igniting imaginations.
Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-952536-20-5
Brimming with our deepest fears and desires, Sides’ dazzling stories examine the complexities of masculinity, home, transformation, and loss.
Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-952536-20-5
Buffalo, New York is known for its remarkable architecture. Masterpieces by world-renowned architects dot the city. From the ground, these structures are impressive. From the sky, they are breathtaking. Soar high over the Queen City via beautiful drone photography and see the city like you’ve never seen it before. From the sweeping grandeur of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to the immense scalloped walls of Temple Beth Zion, discover Buffalo from A to Z.
Follow the lives of John and Patrick Donahue as they grow up in the Old First Ward in Buffalo, New York during the mid-1800s. Orphaned as children, they are sent to live with their grandmother. While John finds work and helps support the family, Patrick becomes involved with a gang and runs wild. When the Civil War breaks out, the brothers join the Union army. Follow them through the deadly battles of Grant’s Virginia campaign to Appomattox, the difficulties they face holding jobs once the war is over, their relationships with wives, children, and one another, and Patrick’s lifelong battle with the bottle. A compelling tale of two Irish Catholic men, sons of immigrants, during a tumultuous period in our nation’s rich history.
Sophomore Cole Renner knows teamwork inside and out from running cross-country at his multi-ethnic Chicago public school. He knows about
braving the elements and not getting passed in the chute. What Cole doesn’t know is how much he’ll need all of his mental and physical skills when the heavy doors of Cook County Jail slam shut on his father, a community activist; when his English teacher catches Cole tagging the school with the F word and sentences him to write two poems a week, each on a word that starts with F; when his best friend Felipe Ramirez runs for class president against the girl who dumped him; and when the school bully prowls the halls looking for Cole and the principal seems more interested in punishing Cole than the bully. As much as Cole wants to win meets, what he wants even more is justice—for his father, for himself, for Felipe, and for his fellow students. Cole learns that actions matter, but so do words. He takes his write words (in both Spanish and English) and turns them into the right words to fight for justice.
The Story of a Kite-Flying Contest, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the Underground Railroad |
Can a kite change history? Katie and Homan’s did.
When engineers were faced with the challenge of bridging the vast Niagara Gorge, the solution was a kite-flying contest. After Katie and Homan’s kite crosses the gorge and wins the contest, construction begins on the first suspension bridge to connect the United States and Canada. The two friends are there as it becomes an important link on the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom.
Even as her parents try to shield her from the ugly existence of slavery and the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Katie discovers that the scary truth is closer to home than she could have imagined.
Kite to Freedom is an action-packed, fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the construction of the Niagara Falls International Suspension Bridge, which still connects the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls.
102 pages
Suitable for readers between 8 and 12 years old
You know that ridiculously difficult to buy for guy on your list? THIS is the gift for him. Himself: A Civil War Soldier’s Battles with Rebels, Brits and Devils is a historical novel that takes place during the Civil War era and takes readers from the intensely Irish Old First Ward in Buffalo all the way to the Battle of Appomatox and back. It is a very compelling read. And the Kelly green blown glass buffalo ornament emblazoned with a four-leaf clover will look great on the tree for years to come. It’s a Giftmas Bundle that brings with it the luck of the Irish!
FREE SHIPPING
There’s a monster in Dave’s basement! His name is Howard and he’s very hungry. Howard invites Dave to dinner. But will Dave eat dinner or BE dinner? The thought makes Dave shake a little bit, shake a little bit, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Has Dave made a big mistake? |
The Monster in My Basement began as a song called Howard the Monster. (The author is a children’s musician too!). Visit Howard the Monster here and read along with the music and lyrics printed in the back of the book!
The Monster in My Basement Book Trailer from Heather harris on Vimeo.
Philip Clapper –
“The significance of emotional connection can be seen throughout the entire collection from start to finish. The losses, trials, fears, and triumphs that each of the many characters experience will resonate loud and clear in our hearts.”
Brendan Jesus –
” Each story gives us a glimpse into the lives of some really interesting people and comments on many different aspects of life and our messed-up world.”
Chelsea Risley –
In Sides’ tender, brilliantly-imagined collection, a young boy dreams of being a psychic like his grandmother, a desperate man turns to paper for a miracle, a swarm of fireflies attempts the impossible, scarecrows and ghosts collide, a mother and child navigate a forest plagued by light-craving monsters, a boy’s talking dolls aid him in conquering a burning world, and a father and mother deal with the sudden emergence of wings on their son’s back. Brimming with our deepest fears and desires, Sides’ dazzling stories examine the complexities of masculinity, home, transformation, and loss.
Josh Denslow –
Full of cinematic confections and concoctions. In deceptively buoyant prose that never sinks under the weight it carries, these stories are scary and funny and thrilling, sometimes all at the same time. I don’t know if we should take this collection as a series of warnings, but being doomed has never been so enjoyable.
Shaun Hamill –
Bradley Sides’ debut collection is a treasure chest of dark wonder, one that brings to mind the best of Joe Hill and Ray Bradbury. It’s perfect company for a stifling August night, or a rainy April morning, full of lovely places to get lost in for a little while
David Bersell –
Whether or not you consider yourself a dreamer — or a fan of magical realism — you will likely find something to believe in reading Sides’ strange, beautiful stories. Many feel like fables, without relying on simple resolution or overarching metaphors. The author balances brisk plots with lively dialogue and flashes of poetic language.
Brendan Jesus –
Bradley Sides’ new collection Those Fantastic Lives contains compelling pieces of fiction that use the speculative lens to terrify, delight, and aid us in pondering the true reality around us, and our relations to others within it. […] The significance of emotional connection can be seen throughout the entire collection from start to finish. The losses, trials, fears, and triumphs that each of the many characters experience will resonate loud and clear in our hearts
Chuck Augello –
Sides’ new collection, Those Fantastic Lives and Other Strange Stories, is bold, unsettling, and always entertaining. Anyone seeking a quick trip into the unexpected will savor these tales
Rebecca Foster –
Many of the protagonists in these 17 stories are orphans or children who have lost one parent. Grief uproots them, leaves them questing; combine their loneliness with dashes of the supernatural and you have perfect situations for strange and wonderful things to happen. […] I’d particularly recommend the book to readers of Kelly Link and Lydia Millet
Electric Literature –
Bradley Sides uses magical realism to imbue everyday moments in his stories with a sense of eeriness and dread, but the true hauntings aren’t the ghostly apparitions with sharp bared fangs, but the emotional ghosts that we’re trying to outrun.
Nashville Scene –
Whether or not you consider yourself a dreamer — or a fan of magical realism — you will likely find something to believe in reading Sides’ strange, beautiful stories. Many feel like fables, without relying on simple resolution or overarching metaphors. The author balances brisk plots with lively dialogue and flashes of poetic language.
Heavy Feather Review –
Bradley Sides’ new collection Those Fantastic Lives contains compelling pieces of fiction that use the speculative lens to terrify, delight, and aid us in pondering the true reality around us, and our relations to others within it. […] The significance of emotional connection can be seen throughout the entire collection from start to finish. The losses, trials, fears, and triumphs that each of the many characters experience will resonate loud and clear in our hearts.
Fiction Writers Review –
The collection goes beyond familiar narratives of the supernatural by asking why we are afraid of monsters and ghosts, and the things we cannot explain, illuminating the depths we as humans go to protect ourselves from what we are unable to comprehend.
Cease, Cows –
Sides’ new collection, Those Fantastic Lives and Other Strange Stories, is bold, unsettling, and always entertaining. Anyone seeking a quick trip into the unexpected will savor these tales.