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
It all begins one mid-summer day. First, the Cayuga Island Kids rescue a mallard caught in the plastic rings from six-pack of cans. Litter. Moments later, a girl on a bike carelessly tosses a plastic bottle in the creek. The Cayuga Island Kids successfully retrieve it, but then they notice all the litter in the park. That’s when they decide it’s time for action. But moving from knowing something has to be done to getting it done takes determination, teamwork, and sometimes, looking in a new direction. How the Cayuga Island Kids go from fishing a plastic bottle out of the creek to bringing the community together to build a recycling bin big enough to hold plenty of plastic makes for a lively adventure. Best of all, readers will cheer on the Cayuga Island Kids as they come to realize that although we are each just one person, together we can make a BIG difference.
Written by Jonathan Zimmerman, with cartoons by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson.
Across the political spectrum, Americans have demanded the suppression of ideas and images that allegedly threaten our nation. But the biggest danger to America comes not from speech but from censorship, which prevents us from freely governing ourselves.
In this brief but bracing book, historian Jonathan Zimmerman and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson tell the story of free speech in America: who established it, who has denounced it, and who has risen to its defense.
120 pages
5” x 7”
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-952536-10-6
What happens when a group of friends sets off on a hunt for a certain kind of tree and uncover a buried cannonball instead? Who knew that the island they live on is also home to a whole lot of history? And, it turns out, a whole lot of mystery, too…
Meet the Cayuga Island Kids! It’s summer vacation, and that means there’s plenty of time for a hunt, a mystery, and an exciting adventure. Are you ready? Open the book and join the fun. Find out what the Cayuga Island Kids are up to in this mystery story based on historical events on Cayuga Island near Niagara Falls!
While skipping lessons at the prestigious ballet academy that her mother forced her to enroll in, 11-year-old Elinor Malcolm meets Indira, a mysterious older girl who encourages her to explore her identity and expand her world. A touch of magical realism infuses their encounters and shapes their relationship. Indira’s influence helps Elinor find a path that ultimately is satisfying for both her and her mother. Friendship, family, identity, and the importance of honest communication and being true to oneself are interwoven themes that create a fascinating tapestry and a very compelling story.
ISBN: 978-1-952536-22-9 (softcover only)
Billionaire industrialists Sheldon and Richard Haft are accustomed to manipulating the system to achieve their agenda, but when they decide the government isn’t serving them as well as it could, they decide to take it to the next level. Richard stumbles upon the Angels of Democracy, a group of Good Samaritans headquartered on Southern California near the Mexican border. What if the brothers take a chunk of their considerable fortune and fund the group into a paramilitary force capable of changing society?
The outcome yields chaos on the nation’s southern border, upheavals in the highest levels of government, and a new America which could not have been envisioned—except by the Haft brothers themselves. |
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.