Description:

Praise for M Pepper Langlinais' Work:

"Proficient and touching." -- Steven McKnight, DC Theatre Scene

"She has a clever way with words, so pay attention." -- Christine Rains, Goodreads

"Totally enjoyable." -- Liam Ringmol, Amazon.com

The eight tales contained within "The World Ends at Five & Other Stories" are alike only in that they all seem to defy categorization. While combining elements of science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, these stories stretch beyond the conventions of those genres to deliver a truly unique experience. For instance:

"The World Ends at Five" views the apocalypse through the bureaucratic lens of a Constructor, tasked with building up worlds only to then have to tear them back down again.

In classic Southern Gothic tradition, "A.B.C." explores the tragedy three siblings whose unearthing of a decades-old mystery begins to have unintended consequences in the present.

The island of Japan, long since consumed by the ocean, is unearthed in "Raising the Ruins," while the narrator struggles to come to terms with her cultural identity.

In these and five other narratives, characters are challenged by the twin spectres of the fantastic and the mundane, with singular results.

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From the Author

With the exception of "Milling Wind," all the stories in this collection were written between 2000 and 2005. The first edition of The World Ends at Five was published in 2008 in paperback form; it is no longer in print.

At the time I wrote these stories, I was finishing graduate school and only just beginning to be A Writer. Those readers familiar with my more recent works might well see a difference in style and tone, and certainly in subject matter. Much of The World Ends at Five is filled with magical realism, and there is at least one fairy tale.

For this edition, some of the stories have been edited, though none are significantly changed from their originals. I might have considered rewriting all of them, but we Writers must ever till new ground. It would be easy to go dig in earth that has already been turned over--that soil is loose and requires less effort--but eventually there are no new treasures to find, and if I spent all my time making an old field perfect, I would be neglecting the harvesting of fresh crops in other pastures. (I have mixed my metaphors, but you get the idea. That's the thing about being A Writer--it is part archaeology and part farming and all of it hard work.)

So think of these stories as old, lost treasures. Or think of them as old, dried crops. Whichever suits your fancy. Risking yet another metaphor, I will say for me these tales will always represent a starting point, the moment I set my token on the board and rolled the dice.

From the Back Cover

Also by M Pepper Langlinais:

The K-Pro

St. Peter in Chains

St. Peter at the Gate

Sherlock Holmes & the Adventure of Ichabod Reed

Sherlock Holmes & the Mystery of the Last Line