Fear And Other Stories
A chill that lingers long after the last page Fear And Other Stories reintroduces Achmed Abdullah s unnerving masterpieces to a new generation. Step into a shadowed archive of classic horror tales and psychological thrillers: this mystery and suspense anthology gathers Abdullah s finest supernatural short stories and eerie short stories collection, where gothic atmosphere meets razor-sharp human drama. From uncanny apparitions and claustrophobic dread to twist-laden classic mystery stories, each piece is crafted in the brisk, evocative style of early 20th century fiction. Readers will find vintage horror fiction s hungry curiosity about the unknown, paired with suspenseful, timeless narratives that unsettle and enthrall. This edition is a literary restoration out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions. Meticulously restored for today s and future generations, the book preserves Abdullah s voice while presenting a clean, collectible format for classic literature collectors and casual readers alike. More than a reprint, this is a cultural treasure: a collector s item that celebrates the convergence of gothic literature collection and psychological nuance, offering both spine-tingling entertainment and historical significance. Perfect for fans of supernatural short stories, classic mystery stories, and anyone who loves timeless suspense narratives, Fear And Other Stories is an essential addition to your bookshelf where mystery, dread, and the exquisite craft of early modern horror await. Keywords: fear and other stories, Achmed Abdullah stories, classic horror tales.
The Collected Stories of Pietro di Donato
Pietro Di Donato's New York Times obit branded him "operatic, lyrical, ferocious, and hilarious," and with good reason; his short stories dominated the red-hot fiction offerings in the top men's magazines during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s . . . Di Donato shocked and delighted the readers of Esquire, Playboy, Penthouse, Ramparts, and OUI, making him the star of highbrow literary pulp on the newsstands across America. Originally made famous by his 1939 novel Christ in Concrete, his evolved voice in these popular magazines captured a whole new audience thirsty for his audacious sexual adventures, transgressions and confessions, poetic voice and fierce political stands. Now, finally, the untamable writer is captured in one volume: The Collected Stories of Pietro Di Donato.
Found And Lost
Hook: A buried manuscript. A trail of clues. A vanished life until Found and Lost reveals the secrets that refuse to stay hidden. This restored edition of Found and Lost is a gripping literary thriller that blends the mood of classic literature with the page-turning pulse of detective fiction. At its heart is a suspenseful story of discovery: an anonymous author s fragmented narrative, a series of puzzling disappearances, and characters who must confront the moral cost of truth. As threads of crime mystery and hidden secrets unwind, readers are drawn into an engaging plot that balances psychological insight with a propulsive, suspenseful story arc. Historically significant and long overlooked, Found and Lost disappeared from print for decades until Alpha Editions unearthed, restored, and republished it for today s readers. This is more than a reprint: painstaking restoration returns the voice, rhythm, and nuance of a work that sits at the crossroads of mystery novel and classic literature. Collectors will appreciate the fidelity to the original text; casual readers will relish the brisk pacing and enigmatic twists. Perfect for fans of detective fiction, literary thrillers, and crime mystery, this edition also links readers to a free ebook legacy via Project Gutenberg while offering a premium, collector s presentation. Rediscover a lost gem a found and lost book that proves some stories are meant to be read again.
The Church of Divine Electricity
Delightfully blending literary fiction with speculative genres, the stories in The Church of Divine Electricity somehow manage to feel as though they could take place today. In Emily Mitchell's created worlds, as in our own, technology bewitches, especially with its ability to heighten both connections and isolation. Whether being held by a giant and comforting machine, allowing micro-drones to record one's every moment for a year to win prize money, or choosing self-mutilation in exchange for a bionic hand, these characters navigate technological and social change. The familiar can turn unrecognizable and disorienting--sometimes in a flash, sometimes gradually. Lyrical, haunting, and often funny, these stories ask us to consider what--and who--gets left out of a seemingly utopian future of technological advancements. Finely observed, thoughtful, and vivid, Mitchell's stories get under your skin. It's not that the best-laid plans could lead us astray--it's that they may already have.
Mind the Gap
Mind the Gap is the beautifully crafted second short story collection from award-winning writer Alice Zorn. With an uncompromising lyric voice, Zorn travels through Mexico, Morocco, Texas, England, Austria, Tunisia, and northeastern Quebec in these seven short stories and one novella, each following a compelling narrator on a quest -- to find someone who does not wish to be found, to discover the truth behind family secrets, to expiate guilt, to make new bonds, to realize a dream. Away from home, facing a new mirror, characters leave selves behind and discover new selves. Alice Zorn shines once again in this exploration of friendship, love, art, work, gender, and cultural identity in this spectacular collection of travel fiction.
Even More Tales of a Highland Minister
This is the third book in the Trilogy about a young Glasgow Minister who moves up to the Inner Hebrides off the West Coast of Scotland.It is a series of Short Stories including, "The Haunted Croft," 'The Selkie's Grave, ' 'The Witch's Cat, ' and "The Whisky Olympics." The characters and the craic continue to bring a smile to our faces as they daunder through life on the Scottish Islands. Fun, faith and folklore feature in their everyday lives, bringing a rich tapestry of belief and banter to these stories - and all this, with a wee dram of 'uisge beatha' to be sociable.Gabh Tlachd!Enjoy!Some readers comments "I love these books, they have a lovely feel good factor""The author brings the characters to life, it's as if I've known them for years!""It's one of those 'can't put down' books.""Its larger print and spacing is great for older eyes like mine!""Beautifully written and flows effortlessly from page to page"
A Wooded Shore
From the award-winning "master of the short story" (The New York Times Book Review)--nine shattering, hilarious tales of men on the outskirts of America, habituating the motels, hot dog stands, and dive bars time forgot, grappling with a world that is swiftly changing, and dreaming of a return to the wooded shores of their youth In these nine peerless stories, a family boating trip veers into emotional disaster while very narrowly avoiding the physical; a would-be cheater hands over his car--his prized possession--for a shot with a pretty girl; a furniture magnate and his filmmaker daughter visit his impoverished hometown; a doctor's long-ago affair returns with a bitter pill. Crackling with wry humor, shot through with both wisdom and pain, these are stories of grifters and dreamers, of the lovelorn and the lawless, stories of the ongoing dissonance between the lives we want and the lives this world will allow.
Short Stories to Warm your heart
After the passing of three husbands Carleen Riach has rebuilt her life with a goal of living life to the fullest. She has gone on to enjoy each day using her life experiences to trudge lightly into the fantasy of fiction by simply making up stories and sharing them to groups who are eager to listen. She lives in an upscale Assisted Living Facility called Vivante in Newport Beach California and has created a valuable past time for herself and her fortunate listeners. Besides writing her stories, she is an avid golfer, tournament bridge player, and a curious world traveller.
The Crooked Hour - 1 Minute Past Midnight
The Crooked Hour is a chilling collection of 31 short stories where nothing is as it seems and safety is always one step out of reach. From famine-stricken Ireland to the frozen front lines of the First World War, from a quiet English garden to a German hostel's candlelit bar, ordinary lives are torn apart when darkness takes hold.A grieving writer discovers a forbidden iron door in his home; a child's drawings begin to predict the deaths of those around her; travellers chasing gold are consumed by greed and betrayal; soldiers learn the forests hold monsters older than war; and a solar flare plunges civilisation into chaos. Each story stands alone, but together they explore the crooked hours of human existence-moments when time falters and reality twists.Written with atmosphere and dread, these tales are not merely for scares but for reflection. They remind us that the real terror often lies not in monsters but in choices, obsessions, and the hidden shadows of our own minds.Open these pages after midnight if you dare, but remember: once you enter The Crooked Hour, there is no safe way back.
A Shadow of Love
Some loves save you. Some loves destroy you. Some loves do both.From fleeting encounters under city lights to passions born in blood and rain, this collection explores what it means to love in the shadows-when tenderness collides with danger, when devotion blurs into obsession, when survival demands surrender and defiance.A boy made of starlight who disappears like smoke.A gangster whose devotion can only be written in secret poems.A scarred stranger who becomes both captor and salvation.An assassin who learns the language of flowers in a gardener's hands.A childhood friend who burns brighter than the fire that hunts him.A master who lingers like mist long after his last kiss.Dark, haunting, and achingly intimate, these six love stories are not promises, but possibilities. These are tales where the heart is both weapon and wound...where even in the darkest corners, love still dares to bloom.This is the discreet edition of the short story collection 'A Shadow of Love.' Warnings for mature content. Please read content notes. Recommended for readers 18 years old and above. Also available in a discreet edition.
A Kidderminster Tale
Zantis carefully steers the reader into nine different worlds and times, cultures, and traditions, through fact and fiction with a lightness and ease. One is a tale of a man whose family life goes to ruin when his wife joins a religious group. Another story recounts a quadruple murder and suicide on a Greek island that no-one can stop. Then there is a heart stopping story about a reckless swim in a dangerous ocean. There are nine different stories here. With well-chosen words we can visualise characters and places and forge deep connections to the heart of them. We are sometimes left reflective, sometimes outraged, and other times intrigued and tantalised and heading for the computer for additional research. Every story has a different texture, every conversation a different rhythm, tension builds and recedes or builds and overpowers. It is a fascinating journey."These stories weave together humour and pain, the importance of family and connection and will leave you wanting to read Zantis' next collection. I guarantee it."Alex Coutts FenderBeautifully written. The words and expressions carried the emotion well. I had a lump in my throat."Subba Rao, author of No Murder Tonight"Very enjoyable and the truth, so yeah." 'Tik Tok' Phil
A Shadow of Love (The Discreet Edition)
Some loves save you. Some loves destroy you. Some loves do both.From fleeting encounters under city lights to passions born in blood and rain, this collection explores what it means to love in the shadows-when tenderness collides with danger, when devotion blurs into obsession, when survival demands surrender and defiance.A boy made of starlight who disappears like smoke.A gangster whose devotion can only be written in secret poems.A scarred stranger who becomes both captor and salvation.An assassin who learns the language of flowers in a gardener's hands.A childhood friend who burns brighter than the fire that hunts him.A master who lingers like mist long after his last kiss.Dark, haunting, and achingly intimate, these six love stories are not promises, but possibilities. These are tales where the heart is both weapon and wound...where even in the darkest corners, love still dares to bloom.This is the discreet edition of the short story collection 'A Shadow of Love.' Warnings for mature content. Please read content notes. Recommended for readers 18 years old and above.
Playing the Symphony of the Impossible Peace
Playing the Symphony of the Impossible Peace is a searing collection of very short stories that dissects the anatomy of modern global existence. Author Ahmed Mostafa Ahmed wields the pen like a surgical knife, exposing the hypocrisy of political systems, the crippling weight of bureaucracy, and the absurdities of a world addicted to silence in the face of injustice. From a father's terrifying realization about a meager raise to a lawyer proposing a cinematic solution to corruption, each story is a powerful, fleeting echo of the impossible peace we strive to achieve. Prepare for reality, condensed-where a vote on democracy can lead to abandonment, and the most profound truths are found in the most concise moments.
Thin Places
A finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award, Thin Places is a gothic and atmospheric collection from the national bestselling author of The Bog Wife. This beautiful reissue includes four additional stories. A not-quite-human proprietor menaces guests at a hotel on the edge of a swamp. A composer visits a remote Slavic village where villagers perform soundless songs that accompany violent sacrifices. Four reclusive women conjour children out of unconventional materials in an unnerving mansion. The arrival of a lighthouse-keeper's daughter portends disaster for an insular island community with bizarre traditions. With transcendent prose that celebrates her hypnotic and humane vision of the strange and supernatural, Kay Chronister weaves a dark tapestry of love, grief, death, and the exquisite pain and joy of life on the periphery of the familiar. The fifteen stories collected here, chronicle the lives of powerful women and children, wicked witches and demons, cursed artists and overlooked communities. Thin Places is a perfect companion to Chronister's national bestselling novel The Bog Wife and ideally suited for readers of Shirley Jackson and Carmen Maria Machado.
Always One Mistake
A cow falls through the roof of a bar, landing on a criminal struggling with his bad choices. A recovering gambler wins and wrecks a car on the same day. A mysterious woman transforms toys and oddities into higher powers for newcomers at a twelve-step program. In a fit of road rage, an angry driver mistakenly flips off a cop. A broken man finds a curious companion while attending the reunion show of the favorite heavy-metal band from his youth. These are the strange stories of the all-too-real world of Always One Mistake. Here, author Ace Boggess shows humanity at its bleakest, but also its most hopeful. These stories are explorations of what it means to live in modern times-times filled with addiction, crime, loss, and overcoming.
Winter Delights
The Holidays bring stress, comfort, mystery, and, in the end, ginger-flavored joy.Boxing Day at Wentworth Manor brings joy and celebration. But a cruel crime threatens to ruin the party.A Christmas parade, a mug full of comfort, and a special new friend help a mother learn how to better show her love.Walt knows y'all think Santa Claus ain't real. One snowy Christmas Eve, Walt learns better.The Christmas season hits hard for some people. Yet it sometimes also brings hope for recovery and renewal.Stuart's Stop 'N Shop, always open, even for Christmas. Then the holiday spirit surprises Stuart, Bobby, and Pete.When the Santa Train fails to make the trip, one special person makes all the difference for a grateful town.When the magic of Old Christmas makes an appearance, the magic of music turns sadness to joy.If there's one thing entrepreneur Tina Braddock knows, it's that a good salesperson rolls with the unexpected. Even when the unexpected only stands four inches tall.Carrie faces Christmas in a new city, far from those who refuse to see her. Then she finds a true family to join for the celebration.Ellie faces unwelcome changes in her life, threatening her Christmas spirit. Only Deke, Miss Pebbles, and a pan of Grammy's gingerbread promise a joyful new start.
Late Rehearsals
A collection of self-contained chapters exploring human imperfections, life, and death through humor and raw introspection, perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven, literary fiction. The characters in Dominic Hoffman's tales of Late Rehearsals are familiar. Their choices are recognizable, and the people are far from perfect. Humor is a constant. However, their most significant commonality is the sense that every day is a rehearsal for the next. In this compilation of narratives, contemporary fables and intimate accounts, we travel cultures and cities, contemplate life and death to discover that our lives can be justified, vilified or distanced by the simple act of viewing the lives of others. The individuals in these stories walk their own paths, and their Late Rehearsals will continue into the inevitable closing night.
Winter Delights
The Holidays bring stress, comfort, mystery, and, in the end, ginger-flavored joy.Boxing Day at Wentworth Manor brings joy and celebration. But a cruel crime threatens to ruin the party.A Christmas parade, a mug full of comfort, and a special new friend help a mother learn how to better show her love.Walt knows y'all think Santa Claus ain't real. One snowy Christmas Eve, Walt learns better.The Christmas season hits hard for some people. Yet it sometimes also brings hope for recovery and renewal.Stuart's Stop 'N Shop, always open, even for Christmas. Then the holiday spirit surprises Stuart, Bobby, and Pete.When the Santa Train fails to make the trip, one special person makes all the difference for a grateful town.When the magic of Old Christmas makes an appearance, the magic of music turns sadness to joy.If there's one thing entrepreneur Tina Braddock knows, it's that a good salesperson rolls with the unexpected. Even when the unexpected only stands four inches tall.Carrie faces Christmas in a new city, far from those who refuse to see her. Then she finds a true family to join for the celebration.Ellie faces unwelcome changes in her life, threatening her Christmas spirit. Only Deke, Miss Pebbles, and a pan of Grammy's gingerbread promise a joyful new start.
Winter Delights
The Holidays bring stress, comfort, mystery, and, in the end, ginger-flavored joy.Boxing Day at Wentworth Manor brings joy and celebration. But a cruel crime threatens to ruin the party.A Christmas parade, a mug full of comfort, and a special new friend help a mother learn how to better show her love.Walt knows y'all think Santa Claus ain't real. One snowy Christmas Eve, Walt learns better.The Christmas season hits hard for some people. Yet it sometimes also brings hope for recovery and renewal.Stuart's Stop 'N Shop, always open, even for Christmas. Then the holiday spirit surprises Stuart, Bobby, and Pete.When the Santa Train fails to make the trip, one special person makes all the difference for a grateful town.When the magic of Old Christmas makes an appearance, the magic of music turns sadness to joy.If there's one thing entrepreneur Tina Braddock knows, it's that a good salesperson rolls with the unexpected. Even when the unexpected only stands four inches tall.Carrie faces Christmas in a new city, far from those who refuse to see her. Then she finds a true family to join for the celebration.Ellie faces unwelcome changes in her life, threatening her Christmas spirit. Only Deke, Miss Pebbles, and a pan of Grammy's gingerbread promise a joyful new start.
Now I'm Photogenic and Other Stories I Tell Myself
Winner of the 2024 St. Lawrence Book Award Now I'm Photogenic and Other Stories I Tell Myself is a collection of ten playfully strange and unsettling stories, some realistic and some surreal. The characters in these pages feel alienated: from their communities and relationships, on the streets of wealthy suburbs, at the doctor's office, in classrooms and swimming pools, in their own homes and their own skin. They wonder: is it better to be alone, imagining the life you want, as fantastic and strange as you wish, or is it better to be in the real world with real people, even if that means you might be hurt, embarrassed, and misunderstood? What if the intensity of it all feels equally threatening and glorious? In these stories, an angry father wishes he could be loving and gentle; a seven-year-old girl wants to be better at school and thin like her sister; an uncoordinated, awkward teenager is training to be an Olympic athlete. What would happen, we are left to wonder, if these characters brought their wild sides out into the light? What if they stopped trying to be normal?
One Way and Other Stories
Miriam Allen deFord (1888-1975) was a feminist, a suffragette, birth control advocate, journalist, editor, winner of the Mystery Writer's of America's Edgar Award, and author of science fiction, mystery, and true crime. Now, at long last, a collection of her science fiction short stories are back in print with One Way & Other Stories.-Mystery writer, Fortean, anti-fascist, feminist of the first generation, and science fiction trailblazer for five decades, Miriam Allen deFord masterfully weaves all of her facets into her stories, bringing a macabre, fantastic tone to her tales: Bradbury meets Hitchcock. She was already the grand dame of science fiction when the genre reached its second peak with the magazine boom of the early '50s. Her work thus paved and led the way for SF's Silver Age.Miriam Allen deFord somehow slips under the radar when SF luminaries are listed. With luck, this volume will remedy this oversight. Gideon Marcus, editor of Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women
Epiphany and More
Epiphany and More gathers 13 new short stories by Alex Darkfell. Folklore-rooted, modern twists and raw emotional undercurrent including Cornish, Norse and Japanese myth re-imagined"Epiphany" - She was sold by her mother, mocked by servants and when betrayal came, she burned the world down."Dance of the Raven" - A hiker meets the trickster."Touchwood" - Inheritance, a locked attic and a hungry succubus."Of Ivy and Teeth" - Two schoolgirls step into a forest clearing in search of the Green Bride, how many will walk out?And more!
american bastard
A medium who talks to dead pets. A retail cashier stuck in a town that relives its tragedy every day. A backslidden young man tasked with finding his dearly departed meemaw's cat amidst the wreckage of her hoarder house. A red-blooded, beer-drinking, Jimmy-driving winning machine. And a well-meaning mama, haunted by her dead brothers, who will stop at nothing to resurrect precious holiday memories for her broken son. Losers - loveable and decidedly not-so-loveable alike - abound in american bastard. These stories, simultaneously strange and familiar, reckon with how home is more than a place. With making good, even when it's against your nature. With finding meaning in the face of loss - in a world that's weirder and weirder all the time. Matt Starr deploys his distinctly Southern drawl to bring y'all twelve original tales of smalltown American zeroes. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
After Midnight
From Daphne du Maurier, "a writer of fearless originality" (The Guardian), comes a collection of her thirteen most mesmerizing tales--including iconic stories such as "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now"--with an introduction by Stephen King. Daphne du Maurier is best known for Rebecca, "one of the most influential novels of the 20th century" (Sarah Waters) and basis for Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film adaptation. More than thirty-five years after her death, du Maurier is celebrated for her gothic genius and stunning psychological insight by authors such as Ottessa Moshfegh, Maggie O'Farrell, Lucy Foley, Gillian Flynn, Jennifer Egan, and countless others, including Stephen King and Joe Hill. After Midnight brings together some of du Maurier's darkest, most haunting stories, ranging from sophisticated literary thriller to twisted love story. Alongside classics such as "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now,"--both of which inspired unforgettable films--are gems such as "Monte Verit?," a masterpiece about obsession, mysticism, and tragic love, and "The Alibi," a chilling tale of an ordinary man's descent into lies, manipulation, and sinister fantasies that edge dangerously close to reality. In "The Blue Lenses," a woman recovering from eye surgery finds she now perceives those around her as having animal heads corresponding to their true natures. "Not After Midnight" follows a schoolteacher on holiday in Crete who finds a foreboding message from the chalet's previous occupant who drowned while swimming at night. In "The Breakthrough," a scientist conducts experiments to harness the power of death, blurring the line between genius and madness. Each story in this collection exemplifies du Maurier's exquisite writing and singular insight into human frailty, jealousy, and the macabre. She "makes worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits dance at absolute liberty" (Olivia Laing, author of Crudo). Daphne du Maurier is mistress of the sleight of hand and slow-burning menace, often imitated and rarely surpassed. Stories include: -"The Blue Lenses" -"Don't Look Now" -"The Alibi" -"The Apple Tree" -"The Birds" -"Monte Verita" -"The Pool" -"The Doll" -"Ganymede" -"Leading Lady" -"Not After Midnight" -"Split Second" -"The Breakthrough"
The Other Shore
From the winner of the 2023 Ursula K Le Guin Prize for Fiction comes a short story collection that radiates from the dark forests of the Pacific northwest. In ten tales, Rebecca Campbell's exquisite prose channels ancient forest spirits, the lost ghosts of unknown fates, biological and technological transformations, and challenges the ways that colonization and extraction have shaped not only landscapes but how we imagine the future. Campbell zeros in on horrors and hopes, readying readers for the world to come.About Campbell's interconnected short stories in her novella Arboreality, the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize selection committee said, "In her masterful and profoundly ethical stories, Campbell asks us what might be saved, what must be saved, and what it will take to do so." Continuing in this tradition, The Other Shore delves deep into what transformations we need to survive and thrive.
A Manual for Cleaning Women
One of The New York Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. International bestseller. A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. One of The New York Times' 100 Best Books of the Twenty-First Century and a classic of short fiction, Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women was a global sensation upon its publication in 2015, eleven years after its author's death. Largely unheralded throughout her peripatetic life, Berlin was a fiction writer of staggering, singular genius. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafted miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the Laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers and bad Christians. Written over the course of thirty years, the forty-three stories in A Manual for Cleaning Women--collected here in a 10th anniversary edition--are short fiction at its most unforgettable and original, told with unmistakable style by a master of the form.
at the Dusk of Madness
.A Collection of Short Stories.The stories in this collection stretch across a wide canvas of genres, horror, science fiction, and poetic fables -- just to name a few. However, they are all united by a common thread, the examination of what truly separates the sane from the insane, the natural from the supernatural.Redcap Asylum - A doctor's investigation into her patient's claim that a mythical begin is to blame for his incarceration. Plague of Consequences - A town tries to bury its dark secret and inevitably must face the consequences. The Damned Rain - On his death a man stands trial for his life of sinful deeds. Along with a BRAND NEW story written just for this edition, The Creature - A man's dark warning of his spiral into an abyss of horror shrouded within the dark unlit alleyways of London. These and many more await.
Condemned To Be
Technology to fuse the human soul with a machine, mysterious imps of popular folklore, a sea captain with a tragic past, a freedom fighter with no future, the disappearance of familiar strangers, and the final trip you'll ever take. A collection of tales exploring free will in the face of the inevitable. The first collection by Stephen Howard.
Cinema 46
Cinema 46 is a collection of short stories with different themes, all of interest to current readers, as they address universal issues. Paul Costa Gavin, the author of this book, has a Brazilian and North American cultural background, but the different focuses of his stories cannot be restricted to a single country or community. PC Gavin does not exempt any religion, political party, ideology, or philosophical prejudice from his critical approaches, which are personal, and never express other people s ideas. In addition to harshly criticizing the decadence of current culture, Paul Costa Gavin addresses in depth the problem of the meaning of human life, and this appears in all the stories in this book. The relationship between feeling and thought, the deep analysis of what it means to be human, and the always relevant question of the destiny of humanity permeate this entire book of short stories entitled Cinema 46.
Deux
In a city where the crowds have vanished, only two remain. Together they wander streets once filled with voices, searching for meaning in the stillness and for connection in each other. What begins as survival slowly unfolds into something deeper-a meditation on love, possibility, and the quiet rediscovery of life itself.Deux is a tender 50 x 50 micro novella that imagines a modern Eden: two souls, one world, and the boundless journey of what it means to be human, together.
Dare to Dream Trilogy
Dare to Dream is a trilogy of hope, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of dreams woven with the powerful truth that life s greatest transformations arise from daring to dream and recognising the pivotal moments that can change everything. In New York, MALCOLM, a struggling taxi driver with a love for music, fights against endless rejection and hardship. One day, a chance encounter with a mysterious passenger opens a door he never thought possible. In Zambia, ZAWADI, a determined young girl with nothing but chalk and a dream of fashion, refuses to give up even as the world tells her it s impossible. Her journey shifts dramatically when her sketches reach someone who can change her life forever. In Budapest, RON, a waiter with grand aspirations, dreams of managing the luxury hotels he can only admire from afar. His rise is a testament to grit and recognising opportunity in the unlikeliest of places. Dare to Dream is more than just three stories. It s a celebration of courage, resilience, and the power of believing in your vision. It s a reminder that those pivotal moments do exist and those who dare to dream and seize them can change their lives forever.
Obligations to the Wounded
Winner of the 2024 Drue Heinz Literature Prize Longlist, 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction Winner, Minnesota Book Awards of 2025 Winner, 2025 CLMP Firecracker Award Finalist, 2024 Foreword Indies Award Cowinner, The Boston Globe's Best 75 Books of 2024 Winner The Minnesota Star Tribune Best Book of 2024 Cowinner, Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books of 2024 Cowinner, The Continent's Top 5 African Books of 2024 In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, culture, and homeland inextricably link them together in struggle and triumph.
The Silence Between Heartbeats
Love doesn't always stay, but it it always leaves something behind...The Silence Between Heartbeats is a collection of sixteen bittersweet stories about love found in fleeting moments-on late-night bus rides, in quiet hotel rooms, across crowded cities, and between strangers who were never quite meant to stay.Told in whispers and memories, these tales follow people who meet by chance, love without promises, and part with the kind of ache that lingers long after the last word. A ghost who waits at the terminal. A wedding guest who never belonged. An assassin softened by flowers. A boy who cooks love into every dish he will never serve her again.These are not stories of grand gestures or forever. These are stories of almosts, of if-onlys, of one last time.And sometimes, that's all love ever needs to be.Some themes may be emotionally intense. Recommended for readers 16 years old and above. Also available in paperback.
Dare to Dream Trilogy
Dare to Dream is a trilogy of hope, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of dreams woven with the powerful truth that life s greatest transformations arise from daring to dream and recognising the pivotal moments that can change everything. In New York, MALCOLM, a struggling taxi driver with a love for music, fights against endless rejection and hardship. One day, a chance encounter with a mysterious passenger opens a door he never thought possible. In Zambia, ZAWADI, a determined young girl with nothing but chalk and a dream of fashion, refuses to give up even as the world tells her it s impossible. Her journey shifts dramatically when her sketches reach someone who can change her life forever. In Budapest, RON, a waiter with grand aspirations, dreams of managing the luxury hotels he can only admire from afar. His rise is a testament to grit and recognising opportunity in the unlikeliest of places. Dare to Dream is more than just three stories. It s a celebration of courage, resilience, and the power of believing in your vision. It s a reminder that those pivotal moments do exist and those who dare to dream and seize them can change their lives forever.
Tales from Manila Ave.
Tales from Manila Ave. traces the joys and struggles of Filipino immigrants as they navigate life and ponder identity outside their motherland. Through touching reflections on community and memory, Patrick Joseph Caoile's debut collection takes an honest yet playful look into the intricacies of longing and belonging. Tenants gather to swap meals and stories, workers strive to prove their worth, sons and daughters revisit their relationships with faith, patriotism, and their own parents. These connections span generations, and in crossing both time and distance, urge us to observe what is lost or changed in the translation. Feelings of grief and alienation abide, but so do love and gratitude as these characters forge bonds and gain perspective in unexpected encounters. Here, the familiar and the foreign cannot be clearly delineated, and attempts to escape one's history lead to seeing it in new forms. More than fragments, these contemporary tales are evidence of an inheritance that continues to flourish; they vocalize the lessons and hopes that have taken wordless root in our hearts, waiting for us to remember them.
The Silence Between Heartbeats (The Dark Edition)
Now in a special dark edition...love doesn't always stay, but it it always leaves something behind.The Silence Between Heartbeats is a collection of sixteen bittersweet stories about love found in fleeting moments-on late-night bus rides, in quiet hotel rooms, across crowded cities, and between strangers who were never quite meant to stay.Told in whispers and memories, these tales follow people who meet by chance, love without promises, and part with the kind of ache that lingers long after the last word. A ghost who waits at the terminal. A wedding guest who never belonged. An assassin softened by flowers. A boy who cooks love into every dish he will never serve her again.These are not stories of grand gestures or forever. These are stories of almosts, of if-onlys, of one last time.And sometimes, that's all love ever needs to be.Some themes may be emotionally intense. Recommended for readers 16 years old and above. Also available in discreet and illustration editions.
The Book That Read Me - Six Surreal Encounters
The Book That Read Me by Anthony Maccini is a mind bending fusion of psychological thriller, surreal metafiction, and philosophical sci fi. Six extraordinary stories push reality to breaking point, exploring fractured identity, the illusion of free will, and the fragile boundary between the real and the imagined.In Zigzag, a man's life is rewritten by a sinister book-and a shadowy double who wants to erase him.The Doubles plunges into a claustrophobic city where everyone hides behind coats and hats, and individuality dissolves in the crowd.In The Lottery Ticket, a destitute soul wins 瞿200 million, revealing how society values wealth above humanity.Echoes follows a grieving bureaucrat haunted by ghostly visions of himself, as love and escape clash with the possibility of fate.The Interview delivers a ferocious attack on Britain's welfare system, exposing how institutions dehumanise and criminalise the vulnerable.And in The Zoo, time bends cruelly, trapping strangers across centuries in a cosmic experiment run by higher powers.With shades of Kafka, Orwell, and Philip K. Dick, Maccini blends dystopia, magical realism, and existential dread into a relentless exploration of what it means to be human in an indifferent universe. Each tale is a mirror-sometimes cracked, sometimes clear-reflecting the self you recognise and the stranger you fear you might become.Dazzling, disturbing, and darkly thought provoking, The Book That Read Me will change the way you think about reality-if reality is even real at all.
A Different Kind of Tension
A definitive collection of new and selected stories by a master of the form"Comparisons might be drawn to writers ranging from Jorge Luis Borges and Haruki Murakami to Margaret Atwood and J. D. Salinger. All of Lethem's stories are enlivened by his wit and provocative wordplay." --Chicago TribuneThis dazzling, genre-defying collection from Jonathan Lethem features seven major stories published since his last collection, along with his best work spanning more than three decades. A major new story, "The Red Sun School of Thoughts," never published before, follows a teenage boy coming to terms with figures of authority and power--those in both his biological family and in the family he creates for himself.Elsewhere we meet "Super Goat Man," a down-at-heels bohemian superhero; "The Porn Critic," whose accidental expertise wrecks his own romantic aspirations; and "Sleepy People," who pose interpersonal conundrums without ever rousing from their slumber. Fluidly moving between realism and the surreal, the absurd and the mundane, A Different Kind of Tension is a container bursting with life and death, couples in trouble, talking animals, and technologies on the fritz. Through it all are people longing to be seen and to connect; to thrive, love, and be forgiven. "This is the joy of reading Jonathan Lethem: you never know what you're going to get." (Financial Times)
The Silence Between Heartbeats (The Artist Rendition)
Love doesn't always stay, but it it always leaves something behind...This is the special artist rendition of the groundbreaking short story collection, The Silence Between Heartbeats.The Silence Between Heartbeats is a collection of sixteen bittersweet stories about love found in fleeting moments-on late-night bus rides, in quiet hotel rooms, across crowded cities, and between strangers who were never quite meant to stay.Told in whispers and memories, these tales follow people who meet by chance, love without promises, and part with the kind of ache that lingers long after the last word. A ghost who waits at the terminal. A wedding guest who never belonged. An assassin softened by flowers. A boy who cooks love into every dish he will never serve her again.These are not stories of grand gestures or forever. These are stories of almosts, of if-onlys, of one last time.And sometimes, that's all love ever needs to be.Some themes may be emotionally intense. Recommended for readers 16 years old and above. Also available in paperback.
Princess NAI and Other Stories
From award-winning author Jamal Saeed comes a collection of stories written in the dark of a Syrian prison. These gripping tales highlight his work as an activist, artist, and author, shedding light on Syria's ongoing humanitarian crisis and the enduring power of hope. Jamal Saeed wrote the stories in this collection during different stages of his life, but most originated while he was a prisoner of conscience in one of the worst prisons in the world. Other stories were composed after the Syrian uprising in 2011. One story -- written in 2009 when he was still in Syria -- is about a mythical olive tree that the Syrian military would eventually destroy. Canada plays a role too: Two of the stories were rewritten after his family finally escaped Syria and landed in Kingston, Ontario. In these stories, reality and imagination coexist, and again and again the reader arrives at the truth by exploring the imaginary. Most of Saeed's pieces include a poetic scene that enables the reader to engage with various characters' fresh dreams (or their scattered and shattered dreams, as the case may be). Love, beauty, despair, hope, the longing for freedom, the search for lost time, and the impact of the past all coexist and vie for supremacy. Here too there is betting on the future (along with mockery of every kind of bet). In the end, these stories open windows to the inner world of the human soul -- and it is also true that every one of Saeed's stories is based upon a solid fact.
The Silence Between Heartbeats
Love doesn't always stay, but it it always leaves something behind...The Silence Between Heartbeats is a collection of sixteen bittersweet stories about love found in fleeting moments-on late-night bus rides, in quiet hotel rooms, across crowded cities, and between strangers who were never quite meant to stay.Told in whispers and memories, these tales follow people who meet by chance, love without promises, and part with the kind of ache that lingers long after the last word. A ghost who waits at the terminal. A wedding guest who never belonged. An assassin softened by flowers. A boy who cooks love into every dish he will never serve her again.These are not stories of grand gestures or forever. These are stories of almosts, of if-onlys, of one last time.And sometimes, that's all love ever needs to be.Some themes may be emotionally intense. Recommended for readers 16 years old and above. Also available in ebook and hardcover.
The Silence Between Heartbeats (The Artist Rendition)
Love doesn't always stay, but it it always leaves something behind...This is the special artist rendition of the groundbreaking short story collection, The Silence Between Heartbeats.The Silence Between Heartbeats is a collection of sixteen bittersweet stories about love found in fleeting moments-on late-night bus rides, in quiet hotel rooms, across crowded cities, and between strangers who were never quite meant to stay.Told in whispers and memories, these tales follow people who meet by chance, love without promises, and part with the kind of ache that lingers long after the last word. A ghost who waits at the terminal. A wedding guest who never belonged. An assassin softened by flowers. A boy who cooks love into every dish he will never serve her again.These are not stories of grand gestures or forever. These are stories of almosts, of if-onlys, of one last time.And sometimes, that's all love ever needs to be.Some themes may be emotionally intense. Recommended for readers 16 years old and above. Also available in ebook and hardcover.
The Killing Room
The sixth installment in At Bay Press's acclaimed 'From the Heart Series'.For the fifth time in less than two years, eleven year old Kate and her parents have moved, this time to a farm in the rolling hills of Northumberland County, Ontario. Her Dad says they will make a fortune raising broilers for the 1950's fried chicken craze. The back shed of the farm house becomes the killing room. A coming of age story and the things we do, all of them, to please our parents.
The Protector
A successful business owner, Yvonne Braxton is used to being in control of things. She's built her life around careful planning, calculated decisions, and maintaining order in every aspect of her world. As long as life is going the way she wants it, then it's going fine. Her company thrives under her meticulous management, and she's created what she believes is a safe, predictable environment for her family.Not one for taking risks, Yvonne does something different for a change-something that challenges every protective instinct she possesses. When she does, she finds herself in a predicament that has the potential to leave her broken beyond repair. Everything she thought she could control slips through her fingers, forcing her to confront the limitations of human strength and planning.Despite her circumstances, Yvonne must find strength to activate a level of faith that she's never had previously. Having experienced profound loss before, she must now choose between paralyzing fear and surrendering to divine protection. Like children who trust their earthly fathers, Yvonne must trust her heavenly Father. Without faith, she and her family could be destroyed. This powerful story explores the journey from self-reliance to spiritual dependence, and the courage required to let go.
at the Dusk of Madness
A Collection of Short Stories.The stories in this collection stretch across a wide canvas of genres, horror, science fiction, and poetic fables -- just to name a few. However, they are all united by a common thread, the examination of what truly separates the sane from the insane, the natural from the supernatural.Redcap Asylum - A doctor's investigation into her patient's claim that a mythical begin is to blame for his incarceration. Plague of Consequences - A town tries to bury its dark secret and inevitably must face the consequences. The Damned Rain - On his death a man stands trial for his life of sinful deeds. Along with a BRAND NEW story written just for this edition, The Creature - A man's dark warning of his spiral into an abyss of horror shrouded within the dark unlit alleyways of London. These and many more await.
