Oskar and Nineteen Other Unexpected Tales

A frozen cat comes back to life. A surgeon attempts the Tasman Sea in a paddleboat. An AI-powered car won't take 'no' for an answer.

In this sharp, strange, and superbly written collection of short stories, award-winning author and surgeon David C. Shelley Jones invites you into twenty wildly imaginative worlds-each with its own twist.

Spanning genres and geographies, these tales are by turns dark, comic, heartfelt and absurd. You'll meet a couple trapped in a water tank after a fire, an ex-serviceman returning to Vietnam, and a pub brawl that goes very, very wrong.

Some stories are speculative, some literary, some downright bizarre ? but all are unexpected.

Perfect for fans of:

· Short fiction with bite

· Black humour and surreal scenarios

· Aussie storytelling with an international lens

· Thought-provoking literary fiction

With accolades in international literary competitions and a writing voice as original as it is entertaining, David C. Shelley Jones brings his offbeat perspective to the page with skill and irreverent charm.

If you are a fan of Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell; Pastoralia by George Saunders and Table for Two by Amor Towles, you will love Oskar and Nineteen Other Unexpected Tales.