Jonathan Carroll

Briefly discusses different types of stories and encourages the reader to complete and compose stories.

A man falls in the snow, hits his head on a curb, and dies. But something strange occurs: the man doesn't die, and the ghost that's been sent to take his soul to the afterlife is flabbergasted. Going immediately to its boss, the ghost asks, what should I do now? The boss says, we don't know how this happened but we're working on it. We want you to stay with this man to help us figure out what's going on. The ghost agrees unhappily; it is a ghost, not a nursemaid. But a funny thing happens--the ghost falls madly in love with the man's girlfriend, and things naturally get complicated. Soon afterward, the man discovers he did not die when he was "supposed" to because for the first time in their history, human beings have decided to take their fates back from the gods. It's a wonderful change, but one that comes at a price.--From publisher description.

Bestselling author Sam Bayer is stuck. Burned out from his third divorce, bored with the formulaic rut his writing has fallen into, and unable to deliver the manuscript for which he has been paid a stratospheric advance, he is desperate for inspiration. But a chance visit to his hometown of Crane's View, New York, sparks his imagination. Soon he immerses himself in an unsolved case of murder that took place when he was a teenager - Sam himself had discovered the body of the victim, a beautiful and wild teenage girl named Pauline. At the same time he is drawn into an explosive affair with a gorgeous but seriously loopy fan with the improbable name of Veronica Lake. As Sam learns the disturbing facts about his lover's past, Pauline's murderer reappears - not only endangering Sam but putting his beloved fifteen-year-old daughter in jeopardy as well. Not knowing whom to trust, Sam has to brace himself for the truly unexpected resolution to this decades-old mystery.

"In her thirties, Miranda Romanac has an interesting, successful life. But she is also alone and adrift - in certain essential ways lost in the middle of it. At her high school reunion she discovers a shattering fact that further undermines her already shaky sense of who she is and where she is going. Then miraculously she meets the remarkable Hugh Oakley and her life does a 180-degree turn for the better. But everything has its price, and the consuming love affair with already-married Hugh begins to take a bitter emotional toll."--BOOK JACKET. "When they move to a house in the country to start a new life together, the reality Miranda had once known begins to slip away the moment she walks in the door the first time. It is quickly replaced by alarming, impossible visions and strangers she somehow feels she knows but couldn't possibly because they are all from other times and places. Other lives utterly alien to her own begin to affect her and all that she loves. But that is just the beginning of Miranda's odyssey, because sometimes the worst thing that can happen to us is finding out who we really are."--BOOK JACKET.

"Mid-level office drone Tony Areal receives an extravagant gift: the Lichtenberg wristwatch he has always coveted. Shortly afterward, he receives an even grander gift: the luxurious--and expensive--Porsche Cayman that has always been the car of his dreams. Accompanying the car is the mysterious Alice, who knows more about Tony's dreams and desires than Tony himself. This encounter opens the door to a rich and unexpected universe: the world behind the world"--From publisher description.

In the small town of Crane's View, New York, "a three-legged dog limps into the comfortable life of Police Chief Frannie McCabe and drops dead at his feet," and then "a mysterious, multicolored feather ... keeps insinuating itself into his past, present, and future."--Jacket.

Through the course of his eight unforgettable novels, Jonathan Carroll has earned comparisons to writers as diverse as Herman Hesse, Stephen King, Mark Helprin, Shirley Jackson, C. S. Lewis, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and John Milton. As this volume of shorter fiction demonstrates, however, Jonathan Carroll is one of a kind. The twenty stories collected here transmit the same intense charges of intellect and emotion that characterize Carroll's longer works. Among the many pleasures are:. "Friend's Best Man" - An award-winning story about a dog that teaches its owner the real and very frightening meaning of "The Animal Kingdom;" "Black Cocktail" - A short novel about a high-school kid who never grew up - literally;. "The Sadness of Detail" - What are we to do when contacted by angels? What are we to do when one makes an offer we can't refuse?; and. "A Flash in the Pants " - Original to this volume - a story about a beautiful stranger and a house that remembers all too well its previous owners.

Walker Easterling est un acteur à la retraite devenu scénariste à succès qui vit dans la Vienne du café fort, des amis fascinants et des cafés mystérieux. Lorsqu'il tombe amoureux de Maris York, une belle artiste qui crée des villes, sa vie s'anime de manière fantastique et troublante. Venasque aide Walker à découvrir et à démêler ses nombreuses vies antérieures interconnectées, et il devient vite évident qu'un conflit non résolu de ces vies antérieures a refait surface, et menace maintenant de défaire l'amour de Walker et de Maris. À la fois lyrique, effrayant, drôle et sexy, Sleeping in Flame est un récit envoûtant où la réalité et l'imaginaire se confondent dans d'étonnantes circonvolutions de magie et de suspense. Il confirme que Jonathan Carroll est l'un des rares romanciers qui, en nous surprenant constamment, nous donne une perspective entièrement nouvelle sur notre monde. Il n'est pas étonnant qu'il soit généralement considéré comme le romancier le plus original et le plus provocateur de sa génération.

"In Jonathan Carroll's surreal masterpiece, Bathing the Lion, five people who live in the same New England town go to sleep one night and all share the same hyper-realistic dream. Some of these people know each other; some don't. When they wake the next day all of them know what has happened. All five were at one time "mechanics," a kind of cosmic repairman whose job is to keep order in the universe and clean up the messes made both by sentient beings and the utterly fearsome yet inevitable Chaos that periodically rolls through, wreaking mayhem wherever it touches down--a kind of infinitely powerful, merciless tornado. Because the job of a mechanic is grueling and exhausting, after a certain period all of them are retired and sent to different parts of the cosmos to live out their days as "civilians." Their memories are wiped clean and new identities are created for them that fit the places they go to live out their natural lives to the end. For the first time all retired mechanics are being brought back to duty: Chaos has a new plan, and it's not looking good for mankind.."--