The Cartel and Other Cover Stories, livre ebook

These “cover stories” are bold new takes on classic short stories from the masters, brilliantly bringing together the old and the new.

From bestselling novelist Wayne Grady comes the delightful and inventive The Cartel and Other Cover Stories, his first collection of short fiction. Just as cover songs are both tributes to other musicians and original works in themselves, here Grady masterfully reimagines classic short stories in a way that honours the originals while creating something entirely new.

Each story in this collection takes its inspiration from works by international masters of the form, including Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, and Lydia Davis, drawing together new contexts and connections. For instance, in “La Gordita,” inspired by Guy de Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif” about the French bourgeoisie, Grady skewers wealthy expats in Mexico as they make arrangements to leave their winter homes when a drug cartel threatens to seize control of their town.

Bringing together delectably stylish prose, striking characters, a foreword from Margaret Atwood, and “literary liner notes” that bring context to the original stories and the short story form, Wayne Grady’s collection of cover stories is not to be missed!

CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY Margaret Atwood ix

INTRODUCTION BY Wayne Grady 1

LA GORDITA Inspired by “Boulle de Suif” by Guy de Maupassant 11

THE WOMAN WITH THE DOG Inspired by “The Lady with the Dog” by Anton Chekhov 87

IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY Inspired by “A Common Confusion” by Franz Kafka 129

DIARY OF A CONSPIRACY THEORIST Inspired by “Diary of a Madman” by Nikolai Gogol 137

THE RING Inspired by “The Ring” by Isaak Dinesen 173

THE CARTEL Inspired by “The Cartel” by Joseph Roth 193

THE QUESTION Inspired by “1968” by Günter Grass 221

MINISTRY TO THE DYING Inspired by “Glenn Gould” by Lydia Davis 235