The Man Who Screams At Nightfall…
and other stories
by Rush Leaming
January 16 - February 10, 2023 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
Thailand. The Congo. Greece. Spain. America…
Four continents and 40+ years in the making.
The Man Who Screams At Nightfall is a landmark collection of short stories depicting a young man on a classic voyage of self-discovery, scouring the earth in search of some purpose in life.
From childhood to parenthood and everything in between—these tales are at times raw and unflinching, at other times poignant and moving.
Get ready for a literary journey unlike any you’ve experienced before.
WARNING: Some of these stories contain strong language, depictions of graphic violence, and sexual situations.
Praise for The Man Who Screams At Nightfall...and other stories:
"A powerful, gritty, and exquisitely written anthology —not to be missed."
J. Miller, Reader's Favorite
"A short story collection that excels in its sense of literary psychological growth and discovery. Libraries looking for interconnected short stories that represent life journeys and revelations will find The Man Who Screams At Nightfall...and other stories an appealing acquisition that promises much fodder for discussion to book club readers interested in fictional blends of psychological and social revelation."
Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan
"Sharply observed, nuanced, precise, and morally challenging..."
"Leaming's light hand with dialogue and keen sense of human psychology create a book that highlights weighty issues by putting a compassionate human face on human struggles. Sharp, inventive, and deeply moving: a fine literary collection."
Book View
"Without a lengthy description of the characters, just enough to provide the imagery necessary to identify them, he catches and holds the reader's attention like no other I've experienced in the hundreds of books and stories I've read over the years."
Reader's Favorite, L. Allen
Book Details:
Genre: Literary Fiction
Published by: Bridgewood Publishing
Publication Date: November 2022
Number of Pages: 150
ISBN: 0999745670 (ISBN-13: 9780999745670)
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
…I could see the glow of a fire up ahead of us, and as we reached the mango tree, Pumbu motioned for me to stay low and follow him along a small wall of honeysuckle bushes. We crouched down, and from our hiding place, I saw Kachamba furiously pacing back and forth in his yard in front of a small bonfire. He swung his arms wildly in the air as if he was fighting off something that was falling on him. He dropped to his knees and then suddenly sprang three feet off the ground. Then he began to dance, swaying and spinning his body so close to the fire that I was certain he was going to fall in. All the while he screamed and shouted deep into the empty black night.
He spoke in a dialect that I couldn’t understand, so I had to ask Pumbu to tell me what he was saying. I asked him many questions: Why was he doing this? Who was he speaking to? Was he drunk? What was going on? Pumbu patiently explained to me that no, he was not drunk, and that he really didn’t know who he was speaking to, but that Kachamba’s wife had left him a few years ago, run off with another man and taken their children, and that ever since, he had not been right in the head. He was not from this village and had been kicked out of all the other places he had lived. He came here only because Kachamba’s father, the chief of Kitengo’s uncle, had once saved the life of the chief’s father (Kachamba’s uncle) and so the chief had to let him stay to repay that old favor. It was all very complicated, Pumbu said, and he didn’t fully understand it himself.
I was hardly listening, instead transfixed and horrified by what I saw. Spinning, swirling, shouting, and screaming—Kachamba’s face, so calm and happy as I had seen it earlier that day, was now knotted and twisted like a grotesque carnival mask, like some gargoyle sprung from the lowest depths of hell. The glow of the fire cut fierce shadows and gorges in his face, adding to the haunting vision that I saw.
For a long while, Pumbu and I hid behind the honeysuckle bushes and watched Kachamba shriek and wail and try to push back the night, until suddenly, all at once, he just stopped. Suddenly, he just stood still and quiet and stared at the sky. I followed his gaze and saw another shooting star. When I looked back, Kachamba had disappeared.
“Is that it?” I asked.
“That’s it,” said Pumbu. “He usually only does this for an hour or so.”
“And he does this every night?”
“Almost,” said Pumbu and yawned. “Mmm. I’m tired. I think I am going to go home.”
We left the bushes, went past the mango tree, and said good night. I walked home alone, both exhilarated and troubled by what I had seen.
I entered my room and prepared for bed, but long after I had extinguished my petrol lantern, I lay there staring into the darkness. I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned. It wasn’t that unusual—I noticed that it had been happening a lot lately, that I couldn’t sleep. I got up and found the bottle of Johnnie Walker and knocked back a tall glass until at last I was floating, and at last, my eyes did shut…
***
Excerpt from The Man Who Screams At Nightfall... and other stories by Rush Leaming. Copyright 2022 by Rush Leaming. Reproduced with permission from Rush Leaming. All rights reserved.
Review:
Immersive collection of gritty short stories that I know I will read again and again.
The Man Who Screams At Nightfall and other stories is a collection of fascinating short stories written by their author over several years’ time. Each mesmerizing piece is a gem, and with only a few paragraphs, I was deeply drawn into the time and place of each story. It was so easy to melt into the reading.
There are eleven works in total, some gritty, some terrifyingly tense, and many also heartbreaking. But each is told, seemingly, from the point of view of one young man at different stages of his life. I read all of them in one evening, and although very satisfied when I was done, I wished I’d spread them out to make that first-time reading last longer. I don’t go out of my way to read short story collections, but this book may have lit a desire to do so. I will also be looking into this author’s other, longer works as well.
Many of the stories are set in exotic locations. The title story is set in Zaire in the 1990s, before the country became known as The Congo. The sheer eeriness of the tale raised the hair on the back of my neck. But besides the dark tales, there were also moments when I couldn’t help but laugh, such as in “Happy Hour at the Pub Madrid?” However, I'm still feeling affected by the final story, "A Way To Go Home."
I highly recommend THE MAN WHO SCREAMS AT NIGHTFALL to
readers of literary fiction and short stories.
Author Bio:
RUSH LEAMING has done many things including spending 15+ years in film/video production working on such projects as The Lord of the Rings films. His first novel, Don't Go, Ramanya, a political thriller set in Thailand, was published in the fall of 2016. His second novel followed suit in the summer of 2018, entitled The Whole of the Moon, set in the Congo at the end of the Cold War. 2021 saw the 5-star reception of his crime thriller Dead Tree Tales. His short stories have appeared in Notations, 67 Press, Lightwave, 5k Fiction, and The Electric Eclectic.
He has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Zaire, Thailand, Spain, Greece, South Carolina, England, and Kenya.
Catch Up With Rush:
LeamingRush.wixsite.com/Nightfall
Goodreads
BookBub - @RushLeaming
Instagram - @RushLeaming
Twitter - @LeamingRush
Facebook - @RushLeamingStories
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Great review! I am not much of a "short story" person, but this does sound like a good read!
ReplyDeleteWhoo-hoo! Thanks for the great review and for kicking off the book tour with a bang!
ReplyDeleteSeriously outstanding work!
ReplyDelete