In this story the angel of death, who has taken the form of a precocious eight-year-old girl, tags along with Private Fudgerié and his team of marines as they sweep for roadside bombs in Afghanistan. Death takes many forms and manifestations.
It comes for many people when they least expect it. Death visits on sunny days and when people are in the best of health. Death comes to the park and playground alike. Around the time of the first Gulf War when I saw the photos of The Highway of Death between Kuwait and Iraq, I got the idea for a story about a girl who beautifies destroyed war machinery by sticking flowers in tank muzzles, painting colorful designs on the sides of the machinery. She is a ray of sunshine during the horrors of war. At the time I wrote a few lines of dialogue between the girl and various soldiers. That’s as far as I got with other projects I had undertaken.
These bits and pieces remained in my electronic filing drawer, bouncing from computer to computer over the years. In 2009 I used those few lines of dialogue to build the story that you have just read and I included it in my first short story collection: Mailboxes – Mansions – Memphistopheles.
About Andrew:
Andrew Barger is the award winning author of Coffee with Poe: A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe’s Life and The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology. Mailboxes – Mansions – Memphistopheles is his first short story collection. He has also edited a number of acclaimed books, including Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems, and The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology. Andrew is recognized for his scholarly and creative writing. Andrew is a leading voice in the Gothic literature space.
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Read Other Titles by Andrew Barger
Mailboxes – Mansions – Memphistophels
A Collection of Dark Tales
In his first short story collection Andrew Barger has unleashed a blend of character-driven dark tales, which are sure to be remembered. In the collection Andrew unleashes a blend of character-driven dark tales, which are sure to be remembered.
In “Azra’eil & Fudgie” a little girl visits a team of marines in Afghanistan and they quickly learn she is more than she seems. “The Mailbox War” is a deadly tale of a weekend hobby taken to extremes while “The Brownie of the Alabaster Mansion” sees a Scottish monster of antiquity brought back to life. “Memphistopheles” contains a tale of the devil, Memphis, barbeque and a wannabe poet. “The Serpent and the Sepulcher” is a prose poem that will be cherished by all who experience it. “The Gëbult Mansion” recounts a literary hoax played by Andrew on his unsuspecting social networking friends that involves a female vampire. Last, “Stain” is an unforgettable horror story about a stain that will not go away.
The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849
A Classic Horror Anthology
The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 is a book for anyone who loves a classic horror story.
Thanks to Edgar Allan Poe, Honoré de Balzac, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others, the first half of the nineteenth century is the cradle of all modern horror short stories. Andrew Barger, the editor, read over 300 horror short stories and compiled the dozen best. A few have never been republished since they were first published in leading periodicals of the day such as Blackwood’s and Atkinson’s Casket.
At the back of the book Andrew includes a list of all short stories he considered along with their dates of publication and the author, when available. He even includes background for each of the stories, author photos and annotations for difficult terminology.
‘The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849’ will likely become a best seller . . .What makes this collection (of truly terrifying tales!) so satisfying is the presence of a brief introduction before each story, sharing some comments about the writer and elements of the tale. Barger has once again whetted our appetites for fright, spent countless hours making these twelve stories accessible and available, and has provided in one book the best of the best of horror short stories. It is a winner.
AMAZON TOP TEN REVIEWER
Through his introduction and footnotes, Barger aims for readers both scholarly and casual, ensuring that the authors get their due while making the work accessible overall to the mainstream.
BOOKGASM
[a] top to bottom pick for anyone who appreciates where the best of horror came from.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Coffee with Poe
A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe’s Life
Coffee with Poe brings Edgar Allan Poe to life within its pages as never before. The book is filled with actual letters from his many romances and literary contemporaries. Orphaned at the age of two, Poe is raised by John Allan—his abusive foster father—who refuses to adopt him until he becomes straight-laced and businesslike. Poe, however, fancies poetry and young women. The contentious relationship culminates in a violent altercation, which causes Poe to leave his wealthy foster father’s home to make it as a writer. Poe tries desperately to get established as a writer but is ridiculed by the “Literati of New York.”
“The Raven” subsequently gains Poe renown in America yet he slips deeper into poverty, only making $15 off the poem’s entire publication history. Desperate for a motherly figure in his life, Poe marries his first cousin who is only thirteen. Poe lives his last years in abject poverty while suffering through the deaths of his foster mother, grandmother, and young wife. In a cemetery he becomes engaged to Helen Whitman, a dark poet who is addicted to ether, wears a small coffin about her neck, and conducts séances in her home. The engagement is soon broken off because of Poe’s drinking. In his final months his health is in a downward spiral. Poe disappears on a trip and is later found delirious and wearing another person’s clothes. He dies a few days later, whispering his final words: “God help my poor soul.”
To give us a historical fiction look at Edgar Allan Poe is great. The start where we are at his mom’s funeral gives a little insight into why he may write the way he does. It is very interesting the ideas the author has put into the story about Poe. I like the idea of detailing the life of Edgar Allan Poe into a historical fiction novel.” . . . “A great idea to give us some insight into why Poe may be the way he is.
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer
The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849
A Classic Ghost Anthology
Ghost stories became very popular in the first half of the nineteenth century and this collection by Andrew Barger contains the very scariest of them all. Some stories thought too horrific were published anonymously like “A Night in a Haunted House” and “The Deaf and Dumb Girl,” with the later being anthologized for the first time since its original publication in 1839.
The other ghost stories in this fine collection are by famous authors. “The Mask of the Red Death,” is by Edgar Allan Poe; “A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family,” by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu; “The Spectral Ship,” by Wilhelm Hauff; “The Old Maid in the Winding Sheet,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne; “The Adventure of the German Student,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” by Washington Irving; as well as “The Tapestried Chamber,” by Sir Walter Scott. Andrew Barger has added his familiar scholarly touch to this collection by including annotations, story backgrounds, author photos and a foreword titled “All Ghosts Are Gray.”
The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849
A Classic Werewolf Anthology
Andrew Barger has compiled the best werewolf stories from the period when werewolf short stories were first invented. The stori
es are “Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages,” “The Man-Wolf,” “A Story of a Weir-Wolf,” “The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin,” and “The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains.” It is believed that two of these stories have never been republished in over 150 years since their original printing. Read The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 tonight by the light of a full moon.
Knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by Andrew Barger, “The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology” is a 170-page literary compendium covering a fifty year span from 1800 to 1849 and identifying famous and not-so-well known authors who wrote werewolf stories . . .. After an informed and informative introduction on the subject by Andrew Barger, five of these stories are presented in full, followed by a listing of short stories considered from 1800 to 1849, along with an index of Real Names. A seminal work of impressive scholarship, “The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology” is highly recommended reading for fantasy fans, and a valued addition to academic library Literary Studies reference collections.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Edgar Allan Poe
Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems
For the first time in one compilation are background information for Poe’s stories and poems, annotations, foreign word translations, illustrations, photographs of individuals Poe wrote about, and poetry to Poe from his many romantic interests. Here is a sampling of the tales and poems included: “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” “The Black Cat,” “[The Bloodhounds],” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Conqueror Worm,” “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Gold-Bug,” “The Haunted Palace,” “Lenore,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “MS. Found in a Bottle,” “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Oblong Box,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Premature Burial,” “The Purloined Letter,” “[The Rats of Park Theatre],” “The Raven,” “Some Words with a Mummy,” “The Swiss Bell-Ringers,” “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “Thou Art the Man.” The classic illustrations are by Gustave Dore and Harry Clarke, with a great introduction by Andrew Barger.
Andrew Barger opens his hefty book that includes all of the prose and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe with an introduction ‘Demystifying Poe’, an essay so well written and informative that it sets the tenor for the important collections of his book EDGAR ALLAN POE ANNOTATED & ILLUSTRATED ENTIRE STORIES & POEMS: ‘Edgar Allan Poe is arguably our most important original and brilliant author of American letters and most misunderstood. His combination of industriousness, minuteness for detail, originality, and respect for his craft are unparalleled.’ Barger then proceeds to offer all of the written works of Poe (many of these will be discoveries to the casual Poe reader), offering annotations to clarify the time and setting and influences on each work. This is an ambitious work and one that immediately becomes the scholar’s gold standard for research on this major writer of mystery and thrills.
If for no other reason than to have a solid selection of the works of Poe on the shelf, this beautifully designed and handsomely printed book will serve that intent. But once the reader thumbs through this book, pausing to re-read favorites such as ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, and ‘The Raven’, there are many little known gems of short stories, articles, essays, and poems in addition to the stories that are less familiar to the larger audience to discover.
Barger adds ‘guidance’ to his method of presenting these works by such devices as listing all of the poems under the subheadings of ‘Women in Edgar Allan Poe’s Life’, ‘Miscellaneous Poetry both Before and After Age 25’, ‘Autobiographical’, and ‘Men in Edgar Allen Poe’s Life.’ These may seem like minor adjustments to the collections, but in Barger’s hands the divisions add meaning and context to the works.
In addition to all of the written works of Poe, this handsome book contains photographs and many of the famous illustrations for his works - especially those of Harry Clarke and Gustave Dore. The fine art of these two men is also honored with annotations adding to their importance to Poe’s popularity as a writer. This is simply a splendid book, handsomely written and produced, and a fine tribute to the literature of Poe - and to the scholarship of Andrew Barger! Highly Recommended.
AMAZON TOP TEN REVIEWER
Leo Tolstoy’s 20 Greatest Short Stories
Annotated
Anna Karenina and War and Peace revealed Leo Tolstoy as one of the greatest writers in modern history. Few, however, have read his wonderful short stories. Now, in one collection, are the greatest short stories of Tolstoy, which give a snapshot of Russia and its people in the late 19th century. Annotations are included of difficult Russian terms. Read these short classics today.
Now for the first time, twenty of his best short stories have been compiled and edited into a single volume by Andrew Barger. Enhanced for the reader with informative annotations. The stories comprising this outstanding collection include: A Candle, After the Dance, Albert, Alyosha the Pot, An Old Acquaintance, Does a Man Need Much Land?, If You Neglect the Fire You Don’t Put It Out, Khodinka: An Incident of the Coronation of Nicholas II, Lucerne, Memoirs of a Lunatic, My Dream, Recollections of a Scorer, The Empty Drum, The Long Exile, The Posthumous Papers of the Hermit Fedor Kusmich, The Young Tsar, There Are No Guilty People, Three Deaths, Two Old Men, and What Men Live By. A truly impressive anthology, “Leo Tolstoy’s 20 Greatest Short Stories” is especially recommended for acquisition by community and academic libraries, as well as the supplemental reading lists for students of Russian Literature.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Orion
An Epic English Poem
Orion is an epic English poem of love and war. It deserves its place next to Beowulf in English literature. Its overtones consist of aesthetically pleasing writing with a Shakespearian tinge, all wrapped in classical Greek mythology. It contains a fine introduction by Andrew Barger, a foreword by the author, Richard Horne, and a fantastic review by Edgar Allan Poe. This is all combined with illustrations and annotations for the first time. As Poe stated, “It is our deliberate opinion that, in all that regards the loftiest and holiest attributes of the true Poetry, ‘Orion’ has never been excelled. Indeed we feel strongly inclined to say that it has never been equaled.” While Charlotte Bronte said, “there are passages I shall recur to again and yet again - passages instinct both with power and beauty.” Written in 1843, Orion is the greatest epic poem you have never read.
The present edition, which not only reprints the complete text of the poem itself, but also provides a brief introduction, a biographical sketch, illustrations, explanatory footnotes, Horne’s Preface to the 1854 Australian edition, and Poe’s review, in an attractively prepared volume edited by Andrew Barger, constitutes a determined effort to restore the poem to something approaching its former glory.
Professor Paul Schlicke
University of Aberdeen
Copyrights Trademarks and Ownership: © Copyright Bottletree Books LLC 2011. All rights reserved. Andrew Barger is part owner of Bottletree Books LLC. Digital images of the front cover may be resized and shown as “fair use” for purposes of selling and promoting the book. This work and all names, characters, places and incidents are fictional. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. BOTTLETREE is a registered trademark of Bottletree Books LLC. The Bottletree logo, and related trade dress, including all cover art designs are trademarks of Bottletree Books, LLC.
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Azra'eil & Fudgie: A Short Story Page 3