JOHN MACK

Short fiction. "So I left him for dead, and I ran. I had no choice." The hunt has gone on for centuries. But tonight - tonight, one way or another - it ends.

Short fiction. Fame is a long, hard road. Sacrifices must be made. But when youve earned it, it seems everyone wants a piece of you.

Short fiction. Two orphaned children, plucked from the streets by a cruel master, escape into their art.

Short fiction. There are few enough rewards to the work. But today, Alisha will see that the mortician gets whats coming to him.

Short fiction. In all the decades they had been married, he had never cheated on her, nothing so banal. Yet his fixation on a long-departed younger model at last became more than she could stand.

Short fiction. If you could change anything about your life - anything - what would you change? And what would you sacrifice?

From John Mack, former CEO of Morgan Stanley, an intimate personal memoir and riveting business story, recounting how he helped grow the company from 300 to 50,000 employees over four decades, transformed a notoriously competitive culture into a successful and collaborative one, and lead the company through the 2008 financial crisis.During his thirty-four-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, John Macks goal was to build the strongest and most productive team on Wall Street. His ability to motivate his employees to do their best work, especially in times of crisis, was fostered by his willingness to slash through bureaucracy and stand up to powerful interests. A forceful personality, one journalist said Mack was described as charismatic so regularly that it could be part of his name.In Up Close and All In, Mack traces his personal journey from a one-stoplight North Carolina mill town to a fortieth-floor corner office on Wall Streetand shares the life lessons he learned along the way. He developed a titanium-strength stomach for risk, stress, and competition while landing accounts early in his career, as investment banks fought like wolfpacks to take advantage of new deregulation, fielding business raids, booms, and busts. As he rose through the ranks, he never forgot where he came from, relying on his instincts, doing what was right, and listening to his people on the front lines. This culture of trust and collaboration helped Morgan Stanley anticipate future trends before other firms, adapt quickly, and achieve record profits.This gripping memoir includes both humbling lowslike when Mack made the difficult decision to leave Morgan Stanley in 2001and exhilarating highssuch as when he made an eleventh-hour agreement with the Japanese bank Mitsubishi to save the company during the 2008 financial crisis, having refused to give in when top regulators pressured him to sell the firm for $2 per share.With humor and honesty, Mack shares advice on both business and life: how to create a culture of team players, how to keep perspective during crises, how to make difficult decisions when all eyes are on you, and more. From a singular man whos as unafraid to cry publicly as he is to anger some of the most powerful people in the world, this is an indispensable guide to living and leading well.

"I forgot to ask you where you work.""Im a mermaid.""A ... beggin your pardon?"She laughed, fluttering her fingers over her mouth."Im an attraction here at the park. I dress up in a costume with a tail, and theres a big fish tank rigged so it looks as if Im lying underwater, and people pay their dime to come look at me. I get a dollar a week and a place to live. Its not much to do, but it lets me daydream all day."***Featured as Daily Literature Deviations Pick of the Day: "Highly polished, this is a complete andenjoyable short story. Excellent dialecticdialogue and pretty descriptions work togetherto create a realistic scene, which allows thestoryline to work on a literal and metaphoricalline. Beautiful fiction."

Short story. Erasmus stalks the halls of his lonely ancestral manor, awaiting the visit of his estranged brother, Leopold, and Leopolds new bride. But what else does the prodigal bring home with him?