"Elephant's Graveyard is the unfortunately true story of Mary, an elephant who went berserk during a parade through the middle of a small town in Tennessee in 1916. The townspeople demanded justice for her actions, which led to a very unfortunate set of circumstances. The play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge."--George Brant's interview answer to Adam Szymkowicz in "I Interview Playwrights Part 48: George Brant" by Adam Szymkowicz.

“Introduces us to the darker side of the Asian elephant. It is more of a thriller than a straightforward travel book . . . insightful and sensitive.” —Literary Review On India’s northeast frontier, a killer elephant is on the rampage, stalking Assam’s paddy fields and murdering dozens of farmers. Local forestry officials, powerless to stop the elephant, call in one of India’s last licensed elephant hunters and issue a warrant for the rogue’s destruction. Reading about the ensuing hunt in a Delhi newspaper, journalist Tarquin Hall flies to Assam to investigate. To the Elephant Graveyard is the compelling account of the search for a killer elephant in the northeast corner of India, and a vivid portrait of the Khasi tribe, who live intimately with the elephants. Though it seems a world of peaceful coexistence between man and beast, Hall begins to see that the elephants are suffering, having lost their natural habitat to the destruction of the forests and modernization. Hungry, confused, and with little forest left to hide in, herds of elephants are slowly adapting to domestication, but many are resolute and furious. Often spellbinding with excitement, like “a page-turning detective tale” (Publishers Weekly), To the Elephant Graveyard is also intimate and moving, as Hall magnificently takes us on a journey to a place whose ancient ways are fast disappearing with the ever-shrinking forest. “Hall is to be congratulated on writing a book that promises humor and adventure, and delivers both.” —The Spectator “Travel writing that wonderfully hits on all cylinders.” —Booklist “A wonderful book that should become a classic.” —Daily Mail

A rural Irish village is transfixed when anonymous lottery winner offers to fund the development of a long-delayed community centre. But the gathering of characters who are thrown together by this quirk of fortune reveal old sores that had never healed in the life of this Galway village.

The Elephants Graveyard is like an epitaph without a tombstone.Officer Kevin Martin, SFPD The Elephants Graveyard is the citys skid rowthe Tenderloin District of San Francisco. Its a purgatory for the junkies and shadowy characters that frequent the dark alleys, bars, and fleabag hotels on the dark side of the city by the bay. But to some, its a sacred place to hide out, to fall off the face of Gods green earth, and never be found. And like the old African elephants who journeyed to a secret place to die, Rooster journeyed into the Tenderloin, and his bones will never be found. Sean Patrick Murphy walked into the Mill Valley Police Department for the first time back in 1971. Things were different back then, and had he known what he knows now, he would have turned around and walked right back out the door. Mill Valley was the best-kept secret in Marin County. White powder cocaine, marijuana, hot-tub orgies, and rock n roll were all part of the scene. It was all fun and games until the Colombians moved in and ruined everything. The Sweetwater Bar took over as the West Coast cocaine connection, and the Medelln cartel started murdering anyone who stood in their way, including police officers. The twisting tale of corruption and greed took Murphy into the seedy underworld of a life he came to loathe. It was the drugs, extortion, philandering, and a ruined relationship that turned his life into a living hell. But somewhere along the way, Rooster snapped out of the slump he had fallen into. By the late seventies, the Colombians had been driven out of Mill Valley and into hiding. The Sweetwater Bar had been shut down, and top-ranking police officials had become the target of a federal RICO investigation. A special task force led by Officer Sean Murphy, dubbed Rooster by his peers, and the FBI went after the bad guys with a vengeance. And the dirty cops on the MVPD were on the top of list. By 1980, the United States attorney had indicted all of the players in the RICO investigationColombians and cops. But the Colombians and the owner of the Sweetwater, Lance Larkin, had fled to Bogot and into the arms of the feared drug lord, Pablo Valencia. Finally, in 1982, extradition warrants were issued, charging Javier Valencia (son of Pablo Valencia) and Lance Larkin with racketeering, drug dealing, and murder. But the Colombians reacted violently, beheading a Supreme Court justice and vowing to kill everyone connected to the investigation. It was trouble all right. But when the Colombians crossed the line and kidnapped Roosters four-year-old daughter, everything changed. All bets were off. And it didnt take long for the Colombians to become the victims. The Elephants Graveyard is the sequel to Rooster: A Badge, Gun, and Heartache.

The Sixth Sense meets Planet of the Apes in a moving science fiction novel set so far in the future, humanity is gone and forgotten in Lawrence M. Schoen's Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard An historian who speaks with the dead is ensnared by the past. A child who feels no pain and who should not exist sees the future. Between them are truths that will shake worlds. In a distant future, no remnants of human beings remain, but their successors thrive throughout the galaxy. These are the offspring of humanity's genius-animals uplifted into walking, talking, sentient beings. The Fant are one such species: anthropomorphic elephants ostracized by other races, and long ago exiled to the rainy ghetto world of Barsk. There, they develop medicines upon which all species now depend. The most coveted of these drugs is koph, which allows a small number of users to interact with the recently deceased and learn their secrets. To break the Fant's control of koph, an offworld shadow group attempts to force the Fant to surrender their knowledge. Jorl, a Fant Speaker with the dead, is compelled to question his deceased best friend, who years ago mysteriously committed suicide. In so doing, Jorl unearths a secret the powers that be would prefer to keep buried forever. Meanwhile, his dead friend's son, a physically challenged young Fant named Pizlo, is driven by disturbing visions to take his first unsteady steps toward an uncertain future.

"Fascinating . . . colorful . . . fast-paced." San Francisco Chronicle American expatriate Jazz Jasper happily ekes out a living running safari tours and working for animal rights. When the lifeless body of wealthy American Emmet Laird, head of the Save the Elephants foundation, is found beside a watering hole, Emmet's grieving lover, Mikki, presses her friend Jazz to investigate. But as Jazz stalks her game high in the forested hills and through the streets of Nairobi, she becomes certain that the murderer she seeks is someone she knows well . . .

Drama / 10m, 3f -casting may vary / Simple Set Winner of the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature Winner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge. This abridged version, which runs about 40 minutes in length, is perfect for high schools looking to perform the play at theatre competitions or for producers looking for a shorter version of the original script. Adapted by the author, it maintains the haunting drama of the award-winning full length play. "The script is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward across time. Elephant's Graveyard buzzes with truth about the consequences of misunderstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville." -The Stranger, Seattle "A theatrical masterpiece." -Columbia City Paper "The most striking production in the (NSDF) festival." -Times of London "Deeply moving...has the audience in stitches at the open and tears at the close." -TheSunCoast.com