Showing titles in Short Stories

Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....

Dive into a world of laughter with "107 Short Humorous Stories for Seniors," a collection that celebrates the quirky and comical moments of senior life. Perfect for quick listens, this book brings together anecdotes of generational clashes, technological mishaps, and everyday adventures that are sure to spark joy and nostalgia.

Mark Gatiss ( Sherlock, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones) reads chilling tales by the unsung master of the classic ghost story: E. F. Benson. There's nothing sinister about a London bus. Nothing supernatural could occur on a busy train platform. There's nothing terrifying about a little caterpillar. And a telephone, what could be scary about that? Don't be frightened of the dark corners of your room. Don't be alarmed by a sudden inexplicable chill.

Before his trip to the stars, before the Rocinante, Timmy was confined to a Baltimore where crime paid you or killed you. Unless the authorities got to you first. On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, people do what they must to survive. The Churn follows a crime boss named Burton as his organization is threatened by a new private security force tasked with cleaning up the city.

The Books of Blood combine the ordinary with the extraordinary while radiating the eroticism that has become Barker's signature. Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist.

Drew Magary is a correspondent for GQ and columnist for Deadspin, as well as the author of Someone Could Get Hurt and The Postmortal. He lives in Maryland with his wife and children. Something has landed in Armie Puglian's yard. Something not from here. What is it? What's it looking for? And what happens when Armie decides to keep it?

An older single dad gives this curvy college student more than a midnight kiss in this New Year’s Eve, off-limits, age gap, instalove romance. Aimee I’ve got no idea how I ended up babysitting my little sister and twelve of her adolescent friends on New Year’s Eve. But when her best friend’s dad turns up, the evening suddenly gets interesting. While the kids are playing spin the bottle, we’re already on second base. But he’s the father of my sister’s best friend. It could never work, could it? Theo When I drop my daughter off at her first New Year’s Eve party, I don’t ...

Field Notes completes Barry Lopez's trilogy that includes Desert Notes and River Notes. In these fictional stories, Lopez's characters must rediscover the wisdom and spiritual strength found in nature. Many of Lopez's vignettes are mystical and magical - a reckless desert sojourner is saved by birds; a botanist is led back to his family by wildflowers; a hunter is given a trapping lesson by wolverines.

A million problems arise when trying to flip a crumbling old Victorian. But Lyda, a newbie seller, and Dani, a TikTok-trained home stager, are fixated on one: the dead landscaper in the bedroom. The notorious lothario was one of many last-minute contractors swarming around, and now every jilted lover and business competitor is a suspect. It’s up to Lyda and Dani to close the case before the open house.

For most couples, a quiet dinner for two at Auberge de la Reine Blanche on the Ile Saint Louis would be just the thing to smooth out the complications in a romance. But for gorgeous Mossad operative Delilah and trying-to-retire contract killer John Rain, nothing is ever easy, and when Rain sees a crew of hard-looking men setting up outside the restaurant, he realizes someone has been bringing her work home with her. Is it a hit - or something even worse?

This beautifully written, intensely intimate collection explores a subject of nearly universal experience: the psychological push and pull between a mother and a son.

Does a trained killer deserve love? When I meet Ewan, the mysterious Scottish recluse who lives in the mansion on the side of the mountain, he seems too good to be true. He’s a chicken farmer living a quiet life, working the land. I fall into that idyllic life with him, growing vegetables and sipping scotch in front of an open fire. But why does a chicken farmer have a cupboard full of weapons, always carry a knife, and fight like a ninja? Who exactly have I given my heart to? Mountain Man's Redemption is an age gap instalove romance featuring an ex-military mountain man and a younger ...

Originally published in 1865, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" began Mark Twain's remarkable career, and immediately demonstrated his masterful storytelling and brilliant sense of humor. This delightful tale introduces Jim Smiley, a man who loved to gamble, whether on horse races, dogfights, catfights, or even how long it took bugs to cross the Mexican border. When a gullible stranger came to town, Smiley boasted that his pet frog, Dan'l Webster, could outjump any frog in the county.

Lisa finds her senile old coworker, Saswin, lost in an abandoned mall hallway. He's talking to a circle of mannequins, their limbs twisted and fused in unnatural ways. When Lisa looks away, she swears the mannequins have moved, and that this abandoned hallway has grown longer. After Saswin disappears down the impossible hallway, Lisa goes to find him, but she’s unprepared for the horrors that await her in the mall's forgotten depths.

She's the daughter of his high school sweetheart, who left her in his care when she died. Years later, he's set to marry someone else after getting his pseudo daughter settled in at college. Now it was time for him to live his life after putting parts of it on hold to raise the young scared little girl who'd been left on his doorstep. But someone else has other ideas and is just biding her time to capture the man who's been her sweet obsession ever since she became a woman.

Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all. Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic.

From his early days as a Baltimore cop to his time with the Department of Military Sciences and then more recently leading Rogue Team International, these stories cover the range of the Ledger timeline bringing back old favorites and introducing new ones. The stakes are as high as ever, and Joe Ledger is there to save the day!

Grace is an usher at the stately (and possibly haunted) Royal Ruby Theater. She’s also an aspiring actress ready for her big break. Vanessa is the glamorous yet spiteful star who’s made more enemies than friends on her rise to the top. When Vanessa winds up dead in act one, Grace is determined to find the killer. But is she seeking justice, or something darker?

In Spanish Stories for Beginners, Vol. 2: You will find 10 easily understandable, engaging, and fun stories that will not only help you to dramatically expand your vocabulary, but will give you the tools to improve your grasp of the Spanish language.

In these 10 exquisite stories, first published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 1987 and now reissued as a Grove Press paperback, Richard Ford mines literary gold from the wind-scrubbed landscape of the American West - and from the guarded hopes and gnawing loneliness of the people who live there: a refugee from justice driving across Wyoming with his daughter and an unhappy girlfriend in a stolen, cranberry-colored Mercedes; a boy watching his family dissolve in a night of tragicomic violence.