Showing titles in Short Stories

On a dark evening, Mr. Harley Quin appears at the door of Royston Hall under the premise that his car has broken down. Once inside, he embarks upon the tragic tale of Royston Hall's former occupants, leading to a dramatic change in the perceptions of the current inhabitants - but has Mr. Quin's revelation come too late?

More than any other writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad buys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks and saints.

Zayne Carmichael: The moment I set eyes on Emma Cooper, I knew she was meant to be mine. Unfortunately, my shy little lamb loves the word no. She's been rejecting me since day one. So I'm breaking out the big guns and fighting fire with fire.

Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.

Two women. Two wishes. Two love stories with holiday heat and a HEA. Sophie’s Story (by Livvy Stone) Every time I sit on Santa's lap, I go from nice to naughty. The first time, a $5,000 dare to kiss Santa ended up in me losing my V-card to Patrick Carlton—my brother's best friend. When our whirlwind romance ended, I was heartbroken. Years later, my littlest one is scared of Santa, so I go first. Missing her late daddy, she innocently asks for a new one. My wish? A second chance at happiness. Then Patrick struts into my bakery with his pro hockey swag, as decadent as a chocolate lava ...

Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret - Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these 11 stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life.

Bukowski's mad immortal origins, surfaced from the literary underground, have addicted legions of audiences who've recognized Bukowski as one of America's greatest realist writers and poets. Audible Studios narrator and OBIE winner Will Patton ( Remember the Titans, The Good Wife, Armageddon) gives a tour de force performance of Bukowski's greatest work in his prime.

Collected for the first time anywhere, the nine tales in The Egg and Other Stories highlight Andy Weir's trademark wit and unexpected twists. For the few who have yet to experience The Martian, it's a perfect appetizer. For passionate Weir fans, it's a delicious dessert.

We are witnessing our own gradual disappearance. Not through violence or proclamation, but through the quiet optimization of human experience. "Don't Snow Here No more" traces this vanishing through the lens of a small American town, where reality itself becomes negotiable under the guise of progress. The terror lies not in jackboots but in software updates. Each digital upgrade erases another fragment of human irregularity, smoothing the rough edges of existence into algorithmic perfection. We see this already - our memories externalized to clouds, our relationships mediated by screens, ...

Un libro de cuentos con las insólitas historias navideñas de algunos de los autores con más talento de la literatura española. Un regalo excepcional para estas fiestas. Pensar en la Navidad es imaginar familias felices que sostienen tazones humeantes frente a la chimenea, cenas opíparas servidas con cubiertos de plata, calles cuajadas de nieve, vaho en las ventanas, abetos engalanados. Es invocar la nieve, el trineo de Santa Claus, las casas enormes decoradas con luces y estrellas, muñecos de nieve impávidos que sonríen bajo la nariz de zanahoria.

He says he’s saved me from a fate worse than death. But all I see is a future that was stolen from me. Six months ago, my father promised me to the Bratva heir. My hand in marriage was meant to bridge the violence between our two families–Italian and Russian, mafia and Bratva–and bring peace. Then my father died. Now my godfather is my guardian. He believes the Bratva are ruthless animals, cruel and brutal, and that giving me over to them is signing my death warrant. So on my wedding day, he makes a fateful decision. He takes me for himself. Now I’m wed to the man who vowed to ...

I need a break. I’ve spent this last year working hard to get my business off the ground and to settle into my new apartment and town. All work and no play though has made me a dull girl. Now I’m looking to change that and I know just how to do it. With Ryder Murray.

It had been a typical New Year's Eve party. But as midnight approaches, Mr. Satterthwaite - a keen observer of human nature - senses that the real drama of the evening is yet to unfold. And so it proves when a mysterious stranger knocks on the door. Who is this Mr. Quin? Mr. Satterthwaite's new friend is an enigma. He seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. In fact, the only consistent thing about him is that his presence is always an omen - sometimes good, but sometimes deadly....

Halloween is more than a holiday; more than a fun time of candy and costumes for the young. It is inoculated into our very being at an early age and there it remains. As we grow old, it grows dormant… but it is still there. For the lucky ones, such as us, it emerges every year, like a reanimated corpse digging its way out of graveyard earth to shamble across our souls. And we rejoice… oh, if we are the fortunate ones, we most certainly rejoice.

Mushu is a small dog, apparently helpless. She is anything but. She is resourceful, clever, and has the memory of a thousand previous lives to help her know what to do. There is a fractured family in dire need of help in Middle Falls, Oregon and Mushu is on her way to help.

Charlie knows he’s not the main character in his own story. He’s just another schmuck in the Ivy League looking to be somebody. He plays in a terrible jazz band, falls in love too easily, and struggles with the human being business. Written in a wry, comedic style, A Comedy of Nobodies: A Collection of Stories traces one fall semester in the lives of four typical but unforgettable university students who, as compensation for their existential anxieties, just want to feel understood.

A trip to the library prompts one woman to question her fate in this galvanizing short story. For a woman like Hadley, deemed not acceptable to procreate, there’s only one recourse. Unlicensed for motherhood, she can alleviate her grief and frustration at a “baby library,” where a curiously endless supply of infants is available for a two-week loan. But the borrowed life that serves as a temporary balm leads to a journey of self-discovery that will forever change the direction of Hadley’s future.

Partners in Crime is a collection of short stories featuring Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, a couple who own and manage Blunt’s International Detective Agency. In their previous adventure Tommy and Tuppence rescued the pink pearl against all odds. Now the best and brightest are at their door, and throughout these 15 stories we see them crack cases from the mysterious to the murderous.

Owls Hoot in the Daytime & Other Omens is the 5th and final volume of Night Shade Books' five volume "Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman." This volume contains all of the John the Balladeer stories (sometimes better known as Silver John), Manly's most famous character.

An American cult figure, Paul Bowles has fascinated such disparate talents as Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Truman Capote, William S. Burroughs, Gore Vidal, and Tobias Wolff. From “The Delicate Prey” to “Too Far from Home,” this definitive collection celebrates the Bowles’s masterful artistry in short fiction.