Jim Shepard Libri

Featuring contributions from twenty-six contemporary fiction writers and poets, this anthology presents short essays reflecting on the profound impact of a single movie on each author. The essays explore a range of emotions—whether inspiration, seduction, horror, or fascination—providing readers with unique insights into the writers' perspectives on film and its influence on their creative processes.

The collection features a diverse array of characters, including brilliant scientists, reluctant soldiers, and female explorers, showcasing the vast spectrum of human experience. Jim Shepard's stories delve into the bizarre, breathtaking, and mundane aspects of life, presenting each character with depth and authenticity. This work captures the complexity of existence, from the extraordinary to the deeply flawed, creating a compelling tapestry of narratives that explore the intricacies of human nature.

The narrator reflects on a life filled with failures in various roles—son, brother, neighbor, student, employee, lover, and husband. Their self-deprecating humor highlights a series of shortcomings while revealing a sense of resignation. Amidst these struggles, they find solace in mundane skills like playing darts and managing simple tasks. This candid exploration of personal inadequacies offers a unique perspective on identity and relationships, blending humor with vulnerability.

A fantastic writer - compassionate, funny and fearless . . . inspires us to look more closely at life, and be more caring George Saunders

A spare and gripping novel about a disastrous pandemic-completed by the award- winning Jim Shepard before COVID-19 even emerged-that reads like a fictional sequel to our current crisis.

Bursting with wicked humor and driven by an incomparable understanding of what it means to be human, The World to Come is the inimitable work of “the most ambitious story writer in America” (The Daily Beast). Now a major motion picture Shepard traverses both borders and centuries, seamlessly inhabiting a multitude of disparate men and women, and giving voice to visionaries, pioneers, and secret misfits—from nineteenth-century explorers departing on one of the Arctic’s most nightmarish expeditions to twentieth-century American military wives maintaining hope at home. Shepard’s characters confront everything from the emotional pitfalls of everyday life to colossal catastrophes, battling natural forces, the hazards of new technology, and their own implacable shortcomings. "[Shepard] has a knack for compressing a novel’s worth of life into 30 or 40 pages.” —The Boston Globe

Shepard is an excellent mimic, skillfully providing each of his narrators with a distinct voice.

A fictionalized biography of F.W. Murnau, a pioneering German filmmaker who was among the first to use a moving camera in order to obtain different angles. The novel covers his adventures in World War I as a fighter pilot, his homosexuality and the making of his famous vampire film, Nosferatu

A lauded 'masterpiece' that tells with compassion and humour the story of Janusz Korczak, a hero of the Polish Jewish ghetto **SHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE AWARD** 'Powerful . . . shattering . . . a masterpiece' The Times 'Testament of love and sacrifice . . . a masterpiece' Joshua Ferris, Guardian 'Transcendent and timeless . . . masterpiece'…

Edwin Hanratty navigates the harsh realities of junior high, where he feels isolated and vulnerable. Viewed as a nuisance by teachers and prey by classmates, he struggles to find his place in a relentless social hierarchy. Despite his parents' awareness of his challenges, they remain unable to grasp the full extent of the pressures he faces. This coming-of-age story explores themes of bullying, isolation, and the quest for acceptance in a challenging environment.