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The Emperor of Nuts
The Emperor Of Nuts: Intersections Across Cultures is a collection of stories about cultural membranes—those edges across which people try to communicate. This is first-person fiction, written in the voices of people met during Barnard’s travels in Asia, the people anthropology calls "half-way people," individuals with one foot in our culture and another in their own.
"Part travelogue, part character study, altogether a delightful account of the people and places we discover through travel. a must-read for anyone considering a globe-trot to explore and learn about the world and themselves. The book reminds us it's a small world after all."
— Shelley Drennan, M.Ed, Assistant Professor, Dong-A University, Busan, South Korea
"From a hotel clerk in Vietnam to a shopkeeper in the DMZ, Ms. Barnard's thought-provoking characters draw readers into their heartaches, dreams, struggles, and triumphs. Vibrant and unflinching, her stories bring to life a spectrum of human experiences across Asia, compelling readers to want more."
— Amy Francis Dechary, President, Third Street Writers
"Author Elaine Barnard travels widely, observing the world around her with a keen eye. Her observations are evident in her stories of the people and situations she's encountered as she traveled throughout Asia. She writes with clarity, empathy, and compassion about the resilience and courage of the human spirit. This is a wonderful collection of short stories. I highly recommend Emperor of Nuts: Intersections Across Cultures."
— Sandra Giedeman, Award-winning Poet and Short Story Writer, author of In This Hour (Green Tara Press, Los Angeles 2014), Past President of the Orange County Chapter of PEN
"Elaine Barnard has added yet another extraordinary literary work to her award-winning publications list, this time in the form of Emperor of Nuts: Intersections Across Cultures. As usual, she brings an insight and authenticity to this collection of short stories which reflects her own extensive travel throughout Asia. Her ability to capture local color and the human experience in this part of the world makes Emperor of Nuts compelling reading. Once started, readers most assuredly will not be able to put her book down."
— Edward Shaw, Essayist and Biographer, Assistant Vice Chancellor (ret.) UCLA
"Elaine Barnard takes you to less known corners of the world and illuminates them. Her stories are exact and evocative, and you come away with insights into the people and places she's written about with a deft hand and photographic eye."
— Barbara Ismail, PhD, author of Princess Play, Shadow Play, Spirit Tiger, Moon Kite
Elaine Barnard is an award winning writer and actor living in Southern California. Her stories have been published in numerous literary journals, many of them reflections on her travels in Asia and elsewhere. Recently, her work was presented as part of the New Short Fiction Series at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica, California. She received her BA from the University of Washington, Seattle and her MFA from the University of California, Irvine.
