In the Lives of Women
These insightful short stories reveal hidden existential moments in the lives of women as they journey to self-fulfillment."Lina's style engaged not only my thoughts and feelings but also my five senses. Each story left me with powerful emotions, an influential reflection, hopeful inspiration, or a logical question."- Christine Antonious, Montessori Teacher, m Edmonton."Lina's writing is beautiful in a way that both educates and entertains. This book takes you to all parts of the world at different eras, stimulating imagination and all of the senses."- Julie Brown, Career Consultant, Calgary."The stories touched me in the deepest places ... The whole book is a true human experience, combining and intertwining East and West." - Rafael Sasson, Financial Advisor, New York.
Heaven Has Eyes
"Quietly disquieting, these stories shimmer with unsettling currents ... Philip Holden's prose, meditative and thoughtful, has a sharp bite to it."-Jeremy Tiang, author of State of Emergency, winner of the Singapore Literature PrizeSet in Singapore, Vancouver, London, and the spaces in between, the short stories in Heaven Has Eyes offer an imaginative, penetrating look at the complexities of migration, belonging, and a desire to find a home in the world.This updated edition, containing four new stories, is also charged with speculative daring, grappling with the entangled strands of forgotten or suppressed political histories. Pierre Trudeau and Lee Kuan Yew, later to become the prime ministers of Canada and Singapore respectively, converse as young men over beer in a smoky pub. An ageing politician yearns to reconcile the tough policy choices he made with the socialist ideals he championed in his youth. A young therapist in London tries to help a traumatized political exile from Singapore. Couples in transnational marriages struggle to make sense of where they belong-or where they want to belong-while venturing out to raucous political rallies, into abandoned mines, and on fraught plane journeys.In tender, luminous writing, Philip Holden explores piercing psychological questions about what it is like to be haunted by one's past. Deeply moving and emotionally rich, the stories weave together love, loss, grief, miscommunication, forgetting, and remembering- pushing the boundaries of realism, making and unmaking our sense of home.
Tales from the Irish Club
Tales from the Irish Club contains 11 wry accounts of an enclave of Irish Americans in Pittsburgh during and after World War II. In this first collection of short stories by Lester Goran are the often comic, sometimes tragic tales of Jack Lanahan, the transcendental artist who carves nothing but wooden roosters; Long Conall O'Brien, haunted by the ghosts of prostitutes he has known world-wide; Mrs. Pauline Conlon, famous as the woman who outlives three husbands--until she meets Sailor Kiernan; and the night an image of the Madonna appears on the wall of Local No. 9 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Ranging from the grimly realistic to the fantastic, Goran's stories examine lives so unheralded that only the Irish Club, Forbes Field--where the Pirates break their hearts, and St. Agnes Church--where they attend school and prepare for eternity--know their joys and sorrows. "Tales from the Irish Club presents a group of stories so well imagined that one can hardly tell them apart from life...They are meant to overheard, not heard, as if the reader were a child at a wedding eavesdropping on someone's loquacious, slightly drunken aunt...I abandoned the Hibernian world of Lester Goran's Pittsburgh with a sense of loss. Closing his book felt like driving away from my own boyhood city after a large Thanksgiving dinner, with improbable stories still echoing in my head. Tales from the Irish Club is a memorable work."--New York Times Book Review
Wyrd Tales for Woeful Times
Could you tell a funny, entertaining, meaningful story with a twist in 500 words? How about in 100 words with just 24 hours to write it? Writing this kind of flash fiction is what kept author Aoife Anastasia occupied and mostly sane through the woeful times of the pandemic lockdowns and a cancer diagnosis. The result is an unpredictable, sometimes fun and sometimes twisted collection of twenty-one stories and two narrative poems that include adult fairy tales, science fiction, horror, comedy, and romance. Each story includes one of Aoife's quirky drawings, the original writing prompt, and the woe that helped weave each tale.In Wyrd Tales for Woeful Times, among other amazing characters, you will meet a "mature" Dorothy who has been shacking up with Scarecrow for the last few decades, a flatulent Queen Victoria in a bathtub, a murderer of a murderer, a seductive Gaugin in love with Van Gogh, six martyrs, a hoodlum tooth fairy, two hopeless Panda Sexuality consultants, several treasure hunters, and Adam's Eve: a woman who knows what she wants. This is a collection of weird/wyrd, wonderful, whimsical, wyld stories that cannot be put in a box-except that all were written in a frenetic 24 hours, and all will make you look at the world a little differently than you did before.
For Dear Life
Reintroduces readers to the voice of a strong and compelling Southern writer The republication of this novel reintroduces readers to a strong southern writer, an interesting female voice, and a compelling story. This realistic portrayal of life among the rural poor of the early twentieth century shows the struggle of a tough-minded woman who fought her entire life to overcome the obstacles that confronted women and the working poor. Presented here with two previously unpublished short stories, For Dear Life, edited by Virginia Pruitt and Howard Faulkner, will appeal to those interested in women's studies, social history, and American studies, as well as to anyone who enjoys quality fiction.
Wyrd Tales for Woeful Times
Could you tell a funny, entertaining, meaningful story with a twist in 500 words? How about in 100 words with just 24 hours to write it? Writing this kind of flash fiction is what kept author Aoife Anastasia occupied and mostly sane through the woeful times of the pandemic lockdowns and a cancer diagnosis. The result is an unpredictable, sometimes fun and sometimes twisted collection of twenty-one stories and two narrative poems that include adult fairy tales, science fiction, horror, comedy, and romance. Each story includes one of Aoife's quirky drawings, the original writing prompt, and the woe that helped weave each tale.In Wyrd Tales for Woeful Times, among other amazing characters, you will meet a "mature" Dorothy who has been shacking up with Scarecrow for the last few decades, a flatulent Queen Victoria in a bathtub, a murderer of a murderer, a seductive Gaugin in love with Van Gogh, six martyrs, a hoodlum tooth fairy, two hopeless Panda Sexuality consultants, several treasure hunters, and Adam's Eve: a woman who knows what she wants. This is a collection of weird/wyrd, wonderful, whimsical, wyld stories that cannot be put in a box-except that all were written in a frenetic 24 hours, and all will make you look at the world a little differently than you did before.
She Loved Me Once, and Other Stories
Lester Goran's first book of short stories, Tales from the Irish Club, was chosen by the New York Times Book Review as a "Notable Book of the Year 1996." This second collection also centers around a group of men and women in an Irish-American enclave in Pittsburgh, primarily during the years surrounding World War II, but extending at times into the eighties. With evocative settings and narratives ranging from the supernatural to the humorous, from bawdy hilarity to richly detailed realism, Goran creates once more his world of poignant and magical times and places within the mundane affairs of ordinary men and women. With his mastery of language and images he shows again what Paul West has termed "the lunatic sadness of things." As the Pittsburgh Post--Gazette noted in its review of Tales from the Irish Club, "His many characters come alive with an immediacy and clarity that makes their stories seem like today's gossip." She Loved Me Once and Other Stories is a worthy successor to that book.
The Pelican Child
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - FINALIST FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD - NAMED A NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST - A razor-sharp new collection of stories of visionary childhood misfits and struggling adult dreamers from this legendary writer of "perfectly indescribable fiction . . . To read Williams is to look into the abyss" (The Atlantic). "An American master is back with crystalline stories that map the personal and political minefields of her unmoored characters. Williams blends everyday dramas with surreal imagery, her voice and range inspiring awe." --Boston Globe "Night was best, for, as everyone knows, but does not tell, the sobbing of the earth is most audible at night." "Men are but unconscious machines and they perform their cruelties so effortlessly." "Caring was a power she'd once possessed but had given up freely." The sentences of Joy Williams are like no other--the coiled wit, the sense of a confused and ruined landscape, even the slight chortle of hope that lurks between the words--for the scrupulous effort of telling, in these eleven stories, has a ravishing beauty that belies their substance. We meet lost souls like the twin-sister heiresses of a dirty industrial fortune in "After the Haiku Period," who must commit a violent act in recompense for their family's deeds; in "Nettle," a newly grown man who still revolves in a dreamscape of his childhood boarding-school innocence; the ghost of George Gurdieff, on an obsessive visit to the Arizona birthplace of the shining Susan Sontag; the "pelican child" who lives with the bony, ill-tempered Baba Yaga in a little hut on chicken legs. All of these characters insist on exploring, often at their peril, an indifferent and caustic world: they struggle against our degradation of the climate, of each other, and of honest human experience ("I try to relate only to what is immediately verifiable," says one narrator ruefully), possibly in vain. But each brief, haunted triumph of understanding is celebrated by Williams, a writer for our time and all time.
Disinheritance
A collection of fiction by the Booker Prize-winning author and "one of the 20th century's great female writers" (The Washington Post), drawn from her ample body of work that has been out of the public eye for decades Ruth Prawer Jhabvala began publishing fiction in 1956 and continued to do so until her death in 2013. Disinheritance showcases some of the finest of these efforts, all demonstrating Jhabvala's powers of keen observation as she examines the westernization of India's middle class, the interplay of social and romantic ambition, and the social mores that plague her characters, regardless of their geographical background. Salman Rushdie has described her as a "rootless intellectual," and John Updike called her an "initiated outsider." All these qualities shine in this very special collection, with stories undiscovered for decades. Including an introduction from the author's 1979 lecture when awarded the Neil Gunn Prize in Scotland, Disinheritance balances a host of cultural influences to showcase Jhabvala's signature voice and her buoyant, satiric fiction.
A Book for Christmas
An enchanting selection of Christmas tales by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish national treasure-now available in English for the first time A Penguin Classics Hardcover A little girl receives a gift to treasure; the creatures of the forest gather to celebrate the New Year; an evil noblewoman schemes against her beautiful niece; a cantankerous gravedigger dines with an unexpected companion on Christmas Eve...In this enchanting selection of winter stories, now available in English for the first time, the beloved writer Selma Lagerl繹f weaves together magic and miracles, Swedish folklore and timeless fables, darkness and light, heartfelt joy and festive wonder.
The Prot矇g矇
A police investigation into an accident on a country road takes an unexpected turn for Inspector George McKlinnon.The Prot矇g矇 forms part of the Case Files series of short crime stories from USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett.Listen to the Case Files: short crime fiction stories podcast on all major streaming services. Find out more at www.shortcrimestories.com.
The Passing of Pete and Other Short Stories
Most of us have at the back of our minds or memories our "Oh yes, I remember whens." These are things from our past, which we have long since forgotten, until someone or something acts as a stimulus to bring them to our minds, whether welcome or possibly even hurtful. Situations which, until something or someone brings them to our mind, come alive at the stimulus, " You remember it as a comment from a friend or even a particular sound or smell. "Oh yes," you say! "I had totally forgotten about that, but now that you mention it, I remember being there and recall when so-and-so said such-and-such..." "How many times have we said to ourselves, 'If only I had recorded and kept a diary of what happened that afternoon!'" If I had done so, I could have written a book on it. But so many of us haven't kept sufficient details to write our magnum opus. But we can try! Instead of trying to write a 100% accurate detail of what transpired, we can include the relevant experiences in a fictional version of what happened. Yes, it all happened, but not strictly as described in this book.
Birds Are Liars
Birds Are Liars is a sharp, lyrical collection of short stories that confronts the fragility and ferocity of a world in crisis. At once timely and timeless, these stories invite the reader to face the end times with intimacy, rather than look away.
single
This collection of short stories explores the complexity of relationships and the myriad ways in which people come together and drift apart. It aims to take the romance out of relationships and expose the guts of the beast.
Final Expense
It is not uncommon for thirteen-year-old girls to have regular babysitting jobs for neighbors. It is not uncommon that these business relationships become more like family connections.When Jared and Lisa Thompson's thirteen-year-old babysitter, Nichole, concludes that Jared may be in trouble, this very smart little girl sets out to help Uncle Jared any way she can.
Annihilation for Beginners
Annihilation for Beginners is a collection of 28 stories set across different terrains of Oregon, where creatures, ancient trees, and bodies of water offer solace and companionship to characters living in various aftermaths, all asking and answering the question of how to go on. Single parents invent their own habitats of home, others reckon with the reality of who their children are turning out to be, and young people outgrow innocence and create their own philosophies of survival. The first story collection from award-winning novelist Charlie J. Stephens, Annihilation for Beginners dauntlessly explores wildernesses within and without.
Pulse
From the award-winning author of The Dig and Cove, a collection of viscerally powerful short stories in which man is pitted against nature, against circumstance, and against himself.A man heads into the snow to hunt down the bear that has been taking stock from farms in the valley. A father tries to make something go right for the son he no longer lives with. A partner is called to help when a cow's labor goes horribly wrong. A fierce storm threatens to bring down a tree on powerlines over a family's home.Fear, vulnerability, tension and resolve course through these arresting and indelible stories from one of the finest British writers at work today.
Tales from the Squirrel Garden
When Jason A. Adams puts fingers to keyboard, the reader never knows what's coming.Come climb the squirrel tree of Jason's imagination.Among its branches, find adventure in the future, the past, and the present.Join galactic billionaires, Appalachian lawmen, mythical monsters in modern cities, and ancient warriors in the first collection of short fiction from Jason.Stories You'll Find Inside: Angel of MercyIn a time of jazz and bootleg liquor, death stalks New Orleans.Captain Ted Mooney must root out the cause of these mysterious deaths.The Green KnightWhat if old myths and legends carry a grain of truth?When he discovers this, Gavin Baddock must keep his head.OppositionalA loving wife, a mysterious patron, and a myriad of dark secrets.Will Phillip DeGranz fall prey to his own desire for knowledge?CupidsSometimes you get more than you bargained for.An old collector. A private moon. A cherub run amok.To Catch a ThiefSheriff Larry Crabtree's quiet community hides a dark secret.Larry must unlearn his common sense and rational ways.MalayaHow well do we ever know our spouses?Sometimes secrets shared mean secrets kept.Swift'sTake a short look through a short story into a world of short ribs.And don't question the source.Birth of the MakmornTwo elderly companions face the return of a menace from before the time of stories.Can strength and loyalty prevail against primordial hate?
Below the Line
Whether it's an immigrant woman who loves to watch American action movies or a young American-born woman who joins a film crew in China, these stories are about Chinese Americans trying to make sense of their divided history and culture. As both the immigrant and the American-raised generations succumb to some deeply American impulses, notions of home and language and self get misplaced, repositioned, changed, and history and memory are reinvented by nostalgia, dreams, and desire."Below the Line is a page-turner, a rich and satisfying collection. The language is lean and elegant, the humor sly, the characters poignant, quirky, and all-too human, moving with jet-set ease from East to West, and back again ... Sara Chin is a smart, welcome new voice in contemporary fiction."--Jessica Hagedorn"Sara Chin, with careful ear, takes the reader below the line, where guttural utterances like eh and nh matter, where sounds of immigrant life intrude on a muted screen filled with American signage and gesture."--Karen Tei Yamashita"Sara Chin writes with subtlety, wit, and feeling ... Which one of us cannot identify in some way with the lonely exile's tragicomic struggle for survival and meaning, like the immigrant father who, having made it though bombings and political upheaval in China, gets frantically lost circling the Washington, D.C. Beltway loop? These wonderful stories express a luminous intelligence and are told with compassion."--Elaine Kim"Alternating between short stories and even shorter glimpses of the world, Below the Line (City Lights) careens dangerously on the edge of breakdown: emotional, linguistic, familial, cultural. Her characters are imbued with the weird and lovely qualities of those living on this precipice."--Lawrence Chua, BOMB Magazine"Chin's themes are compelling, but her pace and language are less so--slow, unmelodious, more akin to script direction than to storytelling. Still, in page-long vignettes before each tale, this first-timer displays her true potential, evoking scenes in a sensitively visual language."--Kirkus ReviewsSara Chin lives and works in San Francisco.
The Wallet and Other Thefts
Closely observed and slyly destabilizing, The Wallet and Other Thefts is a book of short fiction shimmering with mystery and menace. This surreal, precise collection unfolds in a world beyond conventional time and space. Concerned with theft, shame, exile, tourism, masochism, God, and "Nature," these stories are lightly linked--objects, diseases, and landscapes reappear.Gleason's elliptical prose refuses traditional narrative logic, resisting easy resolution. Reminiscent of the work of Anna Kavan, Jane Bowles, and Marie NDiaye, The Wallet and Other Thefts is a work of slipstream fiction that pulses with a sense of something generously withheld.
The Trees Sing
Not all heroes wear capes. Most of them just live down the street.The Trees Sing is an uplifting and heartfelt collection of short stories for anyone who believes in the quiet goodness of people. It celebrates the everyday person, the humble soul, and the extraordinary meaning found in our most ordinary moments. With warmth and a deep belief in humanity, this collection invites you on a quiet visual journey within.This book is for you if you love: ✓ Uplifting, slice-of-life fiction that feels like a warm hug.✓ Characters so real you'll feel you already know them.✓ Contemporary fiction with a heart that finds beauty in simple moments.✓ Imaginative stories that come alive in your mind.✓ A celebration of the small victories we too often overlook.Readers are calling The Trees Sing an unforgettable experience: ★★★★★ "While the stories are short, they stay in your heart for long - Literary Fiction has a new king."★★★★★ "Each story feels a part of me I had forgotten about."★★★★★ "Never expected an Indie author to write in such an engaging way."★★★★★ "The characters feel extremely relatable - because they are me in a different dimension."★★★★★ "True to its soul, these stories are uplifting."★★★★★ "The Trees Sing is a complete experience - the colouring sheets and the journalling pages are all worth it."★★★★★ "The cover feels childlike, but the stories have timeless wisdom in them - perfect for fans of quiet fiction."The Trees Sing is perfect for readers who cherish the beauty of simple storytelling. Scroll up to order your copy today.
Jerks
With Jerks, Sara Lippmann rides the proverbial clutch between wanting and having. Ambivalent mothers, aging suburbanites, restless teens, survivalist parents, and disaffected wives-desire is a live wire, however frayed; a reminder that life, for all its sputtering stall outs, is still worth living. The messy characters in these eighteen stories may hack up their bedsheets with group sex, anonymous sex, infidelity, and a literal handsaw, but there's tenderness, too, among the lust and rage. With crisp precision, ample honesty and desperate humor, Lippmann delivers an irresistibly fraught cast of characters at various stages of undress.
Show Don't Tell
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The bestselling author of Eligible and Romantic Comedy "blends acerbic wit, shrewd insight and sharp-eyed observation [in this] bravura collection" (The Washington Post), including a story that revisits the main character from her iconic novel Prep "Each of these witty, intelligent stories is a slice of modern life."--People A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - A DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEARIn her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she's as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long held beliefs are overturned. In "The Patron Saints of Middle Age," a woman visits two friends she hasn't seen since her divorce. In "A for Alone," a married artist embarks on a creative project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and men can't spend time alone together without lusting after each other. And in "Lost but Not Forgotten," Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel Prep a window into the world of her beloved character Lee Fiora, decades later, when Lee attends an alumni reunion at her boarding school. Hilarious, thought-provoking, and full of tenderness for her characters, Sittenfeld's stories peel back layer after layer of our inner lives, keeping us riveted to the page with her utterly distinctive voice.
The Soul Box
Abby Sewell is a brilliant inventor with the world at her fingertips. When her dad passes away, she wants nothing more than to speak with him again. She finds a way to cheat death... but death always cheats those who don't play by the rules.Marshall de Vorr, historian extraordinaire, uses ground-breaking technology to unlock the secrets of his ancestor. Sometimes the past is best left in the dust.Alan Dewkes-Hall has become disenchanted with life and just wants the tedium to pass him by. He finds a watch that has the power to do exactly that... but play with time and pay the price.Ed Miller walks on eggshells every day of his life. He wants to know the dangers of his future, and a new discovery in his house helps with the tough decisions of what has, could and will happen.A loyal company man wants his free virtual vacation to last forever. The system gives him everything he needs for the holiday of a lifetime, so why should it end?In a world of emergent technologies be careful what you wish for. These five Sci-Fi short stories explore human desire, hope, revenge and weakness and ask how the simplest, often innocent intentions can spiral into life changing consequences.
Bayou Coeur and Other Stories
Larry Gray leads us through this unique culture like a skilled cajun accordionist laying down his chords and pursuing a melodic line that evokes nostalgia and mystery and resolves into surprising harmonies. -Bill Dowie, author of critical biographies of Peter Matthiessen and James Salter in the Twayne U.S. Authors Series
Florida Keys Short Stories
"Wayne Kadar's Florida Keys Short Stories captures the local character of real folks doing what they regularly do justto end with a sudden, unexpected outcome..." -Dick Wall, EditorThe Florida Keys are often called the "Caribbean of the Unites States." They truly are a paradise rich in history, folk lore, mystery, colorful characters, natural geological creations and tropical splendor.The short stories contained here are a glimpse into the history of the Florida Keys, its points of interest, its natural beauty, places where man touched the tropical paradise for the good and not so good reasons. The collection of short stories are the fabrication of the mind of the author, a long time Keys history buff. The stories are interspersed with facts of the sunny islands and shady characters.
My Side of the World and Other Tales of Death
Death takes the lead in this collection of eight disparate tales, exploring how the loss of loved ones affects us, how surviving close calls with death shape us, how the fear of death motivates us, and how we can be either lifted up or let down by our communities in dealing with lingering grief. The genres vary between stories, including science fiction, magical realism, and suspense. My Life with Death: A child becomes friends with Death and later serves as Death's assistant, constantly grappling with how much her relationship with Death limits her ability to enjoy her own life. The Patron Saint of Pianos: A 1980's homicide detective, exhausted by working on too many cartel and gang-related deaths, moves from the southern border to a quiet, one-stoplight northern town for a fresh start.My Husband's Fathers: A marriage strained by a husband habitually using the death of his mother to dismiss anyone else's pain or trauma endures a new challenge when the couple fosters two young brothers.The Girl Who Sold the World: Humanity faces an existential threat when an alien collective arrives at Earth to judge the worthiness of all species on the planet. My Sister Agnes: A 1990's suburb is shaken by an unexpected death, which brings neighbors together for one summer, and forever shapes one of the families. The Shattered Glass Girl: A teenage girl in the 1920's dies due to her father's cruel discipline, leaving her spirit bonded to the house, enabling her to have a second chance at happiness when a new family moves in. My Side of the World: A married woman in her midlife discovers evidence that a former paramour may be dead, leading her to obsess over confirming his demise in the present, while also reexamining her past and the influence he had in shaping her present life. The Red Lights: When a young girl has a recurring nightmare of being murdered, her grandmother convinces her that it is a factual depiction of what will happen.
My Side of the World and Other Tales of Death
Death takes the lead in this collection of eight disparate tales, exploring how the loss of loved ones affects us, how surviving close calls with death shape us, how the fear of death motivates us, and how we can be either lifted up or let down by our communities in dealing with lingering grief. The genres vary between stories, including science fiction, magical realism, and suspense. My Life with Death: A child becomes friends with Death and later serves as Death's assistant, constantly grappling with how much her relationship with Death limits her ability to enjoy her own life. The Patron Saint of Pianos: A 1980's homicide detective, exhausted by working on too many cartel and gang-related deaths, moves from the southern border to a quiet, one-stoplight northern town for a fresh start.My Husband's Fathers: A marriage strained by a husband habitually using the death of his mother to dismiss anyone else's pain or trauma endures a new challenge when the couple fosters two young brothers.The Girl Who Sold the World: Humanity faces an existential threat when an alien collective arrives at Earth to judge the worthiness of all species on the planet. My Sister Agnes: A 1990's suburb is shaken by an unexpected death, which brings neighbors together for one summer, and forever shapes one of the families. The Shattered Glass Girl: A teenage girl in the 1920's dies due to her father's cruel discipline, leaving her spirit bonded to the house, enabling her to have a second chance at happiness when a new family moves in. My Side of the World: A married woman in her midlife discovers evidence that a former paramour may be dead, leading her to obsess over confirming his demise in the present, while also reexamining her past and the influence he had in shaping her present life. The Red Lights: When a young girl has a recurring nightmare of being murdered, her grandmother convinces her that it is a factual depiction of what will happen.
What Mennonite Girls Are Good for
A Debutiful Best Debut Short Story Collection of 2025In these eleven stories, a Mennonite minister's daughter moves from a youthful, exuberant understanding of her family's faith toward religious doubt. Stumbling comically at times, Ruthie navigates life with and without the rules in which she's been raised. Always physical, often sexual, Ruthie's search for personal truth leads her from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in northern Indiana and central Kansas, a vandalized Native American site, women's healthcare clinics, and lingerie shops on the secular, melancholy East Coast. Ultimately, these stories consider how faith and identity intertwine, the cost of abandoning one's cultural heritage, and the complicated longing for return.
Thank You For Staring Into The Void, Your Scream Is Important To Us
From the author of the multi-award-winning Gothics Undead trilogy, a superb new collection of short stories to freeze the blood. A family with horrible secrets lurking in the walls of their home; a Victorian lost in multiple realities; a club where those down on their luck can find an even worse fate; the dawn of a frightening New World Order; an artist whose work is hungry for blood; a man whose phobias are the stuff of nightmare; and more! By turns disturbing, thoughtful, moving and hilarious, here are tales which range from gruesome and terrifying to laugh-out-loud funny.Praise for Gothics Undead: "Brings the squalor of Victorian London to life" - The Guardian"Superbly atmospheric... full of action and very exciting" - Rubery Award for Fiction judging panel"A masterclass in suspense... entirely original in the way he takes on the journeys, the characters, and the deadly, hidden threat" - GoodreadsPraise for The Burn Street Haunting: "Draws you in, holding you tighter as you try to escape. A truly captivating horror" - James Kinsley, author of Greyskin"A terrifying, action packed, and excellently written story... a fantastic novel... I highly recommend it!" - Horror Reads"Imagine Stephen King's IT filtered through the sensibilities of Thomas Ligotti and Ramsey Campbell, and you'll still be nowhere near prepared for where this ends up. Brilliant and unsettling" - Goodreads
I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Clause and Other Cursed Christmas Stories
Jim Krueger, one of the biggest names in comics, whose work has influenced many of the Marvel Movies, turns his talents for humorous insights, powerfully emotional character pieces and ingenious plots towards Book Two In his O' Haunted Night series. In this, he completes another 12 haunted yarns in his goal of 25 short Christmas stories, an advent calendar of holiday horror for the whole family. Well, maybe not grandma. From Ghosts of Christmas Presents to Creatures that are indeed Stirring, to a town where everyone is naughty, these stories are meant to remind us all that Christmas is sometimes for those who deserve it the least. Even the monsters amongst us. And look for O' Haunted Night Book One, ' The Frankincense Monster and Other Haunted Christmas Stories.' Yule Love it!
The Cabin and other stories
This is a collection of stories, some long, some short, many recognizably ordinary, some fanciful or allegorical. They are set in a wide variety of times and places, most in the present but some in ancient times, most in North America but some in other places. They explore a wide variety of themes, human, biblical, and theological. At their heart are people, young Victor and old John, young couples and loners, simple folk and a few odd university professors. If there is a common theme, it is that all of these people, in various times and places, are surprised by grace. The title story, "The Cabin," is centered on John, an old man who shows up in church one morning and who seemingly lives a simple life in a log cabin; however, there is much more going on under the surface. The final story, "Dead Man," is John Smyth murder mystery.
Passages in the Real World
The Changes That Redefine Us AllAn Impossible Task Filled with LoveTransitions Revealing More Than We ExpectWhen Family Secrets Turn PoisonousOn Certain Days, the Hurt Feels Brand NewA Truth Too Hard to FaceSometimes Everybody Needs RecoveryAll the years of life bring change. Beginnings and endings. Differences we welcome or dread. Many unavoidable, no matter how bitter or sweet.Every one bringing an in-between time that sometimes feels endless. And sometimes passes in a flash.Join storyteller Kari Kilgore as she explores the passages a lifetime brings.Includes On Choosing the Perfect Peach Dress, The Worry Trap, An Overdue Truce, At the Heart of It All, What Breaks a Man, and Traditions Worth KeepingA choice too big for a broken heartThe reality of the loss of one of the most important people in his life clenched up Michael's chest and made his throat ache.Revisiting childhood, and so much more..."Hang on, Mom," Marlene said, leaving her memories with her footprints and catching up. "That last step is tricky.""I guess I know how to go into my own house, Marlene. Even if I don't live here anymore."Digging Out the Toxins of the PastSean had quietly wondered why his mother didn't get the house, or any kind of spousal support that anyone knew of.Sean figured then and now he just didn't understand.Brad figured their father had weaseled out of it.The Day All Her Best Defenses FailEven if she spent October in a technology and communication void, she'd know.Some part of Sara knew exactly what day it was.Every single year.How many last chances does one man deserve?The last time Reggie heard Scotty's voice was the day he'd left home a few months short of high school graduation. A last grand screaming match, and his son disappeared from his house and his life.Learning to Trust Again, Especially HerselfThe next breaker rolling in on Lucy's rising guilt tide was how many huge liquor stores were probably still open, and perfectly willing to take her little brother's money.And his fragile new sobriety right along with it.
Inked
A bold, genre-blending collection of short stories and poems exploring love, grief, myth, identity, and the strange edges of the everyday. From modern fables and speculative myths to reflections on motherhood, memory, and revenge, Inked journeys through darkness, hope, unknown galaxies, and the power of words to remake the self.These tales and poems show that what instinctively makes us human transcends time, place, and genre and reveal that the most important truths, are universal.Featuring the Award-Winning Short Story, The Bench (2024)
Past, Present, Future
Past, Present, Future is a collection of captivating stories that trace the shifting edges of time and the quiet complexities of being human.Across twenty-eight gorgeously illustrated pieces, some original, others drawn from Dr Craig's longer works, these stories move through mystery, memory, and imagination. They capture the tenderness of ordinary lives, the echoes of history, and the possibilities that lie ahead.From the pathos of Requiem and Checking Out to the reimagined pasts of Genesis and Without Sin, and the eerie beauty of The Valley and The Girl in the Attic, each tale reveals something elemental about love, loss, and our search for meaning.At once intimate and expansive, Past, Present, Future invites readers to linger on the moments that connect us: those fleeting instances when time stands still and the extraordinary emerges from the everyday.
Pack Rats
Pack Rats: Twisted Tales, a collection of short stories, carries a bit of everything found on the street in life. A crumb of mystery, a smidge of horror, and a piece of tragedy with some romance mixed in can all be found in the rat's sack.
Brown Voodoo Messiah
Brown Voodoo Messiah is Ran Walker's love letter to D'Angelo--the sound, the silence, and the spirit that lingers between them. In twenty-five 100-word stories arranged like a double-sided vinyl album, Walker channels the pulse of Brown Sugar, the mystic funk of Voodoo, and the revolutionary hum of Black Messiah. Each piece carries the rhythm of devotion, translating melody into memory and groove into grace. With precision and reverence, Walker reimagines what it means to write with soul, crafting stories that feel sung as much as written. This collection doesn't just honor D'Angelo's music--it vibrates in tune with his legacy.
Westsiders
A Collection Of Short Stories: The Ardent And Tragicomic Lives Of Those In Old Corner Brook West, Newfoundland, 1940s - 1950sLike a ship in the mist, there emerges from these tragicomic lives, fraught with desires and delusions, a recognition of ourselves.
An Ordinary Kind of Strange
An Ordinary Kind of Strange is a collection of short stories where the everyday world is laced with the uncanny. Within these pages, caf矇s breathe with their own secrets, roses bloom with memory, and ordinary lives slip unexpectedly into the extraordinary.Each story draws on the traditions of magic realism and gothic storytelling, weaving the familiar with the surreal. A supper shared with the dead and a woman whose presence unsettles machines are only a glimpse of the worlds contained here.These tales linger at the edges of reality, exploring grief, belonging, and transformation with quiet intensity. Perfect for readers who enjoy contemporary voices in magic realism, An Ordinary Kind of Strange offers glimpses of wonder and unease in equal measure.Fans of Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, or Aimee Bender will find echoes here, yet these voices are uniquely their own.
Leave Our Bones Where They Lay
Every solstice, Jupi--just as his father did before him, and his before him--must make a nearly impossible pilgrimage to light an oil lamp at the base of a remote cliff. There he must wait for Kipik, an ancient being who has bound Jupi's family to a mammoth task: share a story every visit that appeases the fickle Kipik, or suffer unthinkable consequences. For decades Jupi has made the trek, growing grey and exhausted carrying this burden. Nearing the end of his life, Jupi knows he must name a successor, someone from his bloodline who can carry this weight and pass it on to future generations. But Jupi's life has not been easy. His three children, one deceased, one incarcerated, one addicted, are not suitable successors. So Jupi must connect with a granddaughter he barely knows, whose language he barely speaks, and convince her to carry the weight of their family, perhaps their whole community, for the rest of her life. This moving collection explores shifting definitions of what it means to be accountable to others, how family and community are defined, and how the spirits and demons of the past (both personal and legendary) are very much alive today.
Freak Weather
From a nurse who sees a rattlesnake in the pediatric ICU to an animal control officer convinced she's found her abducted daughter in the house of a dog hoarder, the thirteen stories in Freak Weather are as unpredictable as the atmospheric changes that give this collection its name. With dark and raucous humor, Mary Kuryla creates female characters who, at times, combine a violent urgency with lack of introspection as they struggle to get out from under the thumb of a perceived authority. The intricate language is inseparable from the narrator's conviction; the characters lie with such bravado they're soon tangled up in their own webs. This brand of romanticism in a female character is little tolerated, and Freak Weather's mission-Kuryla's artistic mission overall-is to scratch at the intolerable. Call it bad instructions for moral behavior.
7 best short stories - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Step into the dazzling world of F. Scott Fitzgerald, where glamour masks heartbreak and ambition dances with ruin. This collection captures the roaring beauty and quiet despair of the Jazz Age - through characters who chase dreams, fall from grace, and navigate the fine line between illusion and reality. Fitzgerald's prose shimmers with elegance and irony, exposing the hidden fractures beneath polished lives. These stories reveal not just an era, but the timeless struggles of love, identity, and fate.This book includes: The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: A young man visits a friend's secret mansion and discovers unimaginable wealth-and an even more unbelievable secret.The Jelly-Bean: A drifting young man meets an impulsive, charming girl on a wild Southern night that might change how he sees the world-and himself.May Day: In postwar New York, lives collide in a whirlwind of parties, protests, and heartbreak-one unforgettable night where everything unravels.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Born with the appearance of an old man, Benjamin lives life in reverse-a strange, moving journey through time, love, and inevitable solitude.Bernice Bobs Her Hair: A shy girl reinvents herself to gain popularity-but the game of appearances leads to a sharp and surprising revenge.Head and Shoulders: A brilliant scholar's world flips upside down when he meets a bold dancer-what starts with books ends in acrobatics.The Cut-Glass Bowl: A poisoned gift follows a woman through life, reflecting not just light, but secrets, sorrow, and the heavy cost of her choices.
The Short Story Grind
The Short Story GrindA Mimetic Sequence - Volume I: Pressureby C.P. KochOnce, literature could shake the ground. Now it's softened, streamlined, and forgotten before the cover closes. The Short Story Grind resists that erosion.Seven stories. All pressure. No padding.From Depression-era barbershops to ghost-riddled bookshops, from mountain hostels to digital mainframes-these stories haunt the margins of memory and system. Quietly disruptive, structurally subversive, they hold their ground without asking permission.This isn't a protest. It's a pulse.The first volume in Koch's Mimetic Sequence, The Short Story Grind sets the tone: Low-signal. High-pressure. Built to endure.Perfect for readers of Borges, Carver, Ligotti, and anyone who believes short fiction should still leave bruises.
7 best short stories - Thomas Hardy
Step into the universe of Thomas Hardy, where fate weaves its threads with a somber beauty, and the rural life of England hides hearts at the mercy of fatalism and social conventions. Known for his novels of profound fatalism and social criticism, Hardy constructs in his tales a fictional world, Wessex, in which his characters confront impersonal forces that irrevocably shape their paths.This collection brings together seven stories that capture the melancholy, the irony of destiny, and the individual's struggle against the inflexible laws of the universe, revealing Hardy's mastery as a chronicler of the human condition.This book includes: The Withered Arm: A terrifying tale of jealousy, curse, and rural superstition, where a young bride is afflicted by a mysterious ailment that manifests in her arm.The Three Strangers: During a christening party in an isolated cottage, the unexpected arrival of three outsiders reveals a fugitive, a hangman, and a fatal coincidence that shatters the night's celebration.Fellow-townsmen: The story of two friends, Downe and Barnet, and the irony of time and choice. An act of generosity and sacrifice reverses one man's fortune, only for life to deny him the love he had long delayed.A Tragedy of Two Ambitions: The ambitious rise of two brothers, Joshua and Cornelius Halborough, who work tirelessly to overcome their modest origins and secure the social success of their beloved sister, until their past threatens to engulf all their hopes.On the Western Circuit: A tale of vicarious love and mistaken identity, where a sophisticated woman writes passionate letters on behalf of her naive maid to a young barrister, with devastating consequences for all involved.The Imaginative Woman: Ella Marchmill, unhappily married, finds solace in poetry and develops an intense platonic passion for a poet she has never seen, a love that leads to a tragic obsession and a fantasy of a connection more intimate than reality.Barbara of the House of Grebe: A wealthy heiress's marriage for love is disrupted by an accident. Her cruel, high-born second husband attempts to cure her lasting affection for the first using a work of art, with disturbing and permanent results.
Under the Sky of Gaza
A bi-lingual short story set in war-ravaged Gaza, written by Manar Samir while she lives under constant threat of genocide, hunger, displacement, and bombs. All proceeds from this short story will directly support Manar and her family. The story is presented first in English and then In Arabic.Under the Sky of GazaA poignant short story that combines love, resilience, and hope in the shadow of war. It revolves around Adam, a child who found a haven of peace in the sea and learned to express his feelings and dreams through his notebooks. In the market, he meets Salma, a girl with sadness and determination in her eyes. A deep friendship begins between them, which eventually turns into love.But war is merciless; explosions and destruction separate them, leaving Adam searching everywhere for her until he finds her words in her notebook, which give him the strength to carry on.In the end, Adam realizes that life and hope endure through words, and that love and resilience are born under the skies of Gaza despite all the difficulties.A message from the author: "I wrote this while crying with hunger and crying with fear for my only daughter, Marseille. I hope you like it."
Another Class Act
The Tin hat Centre in Selston, a small community in Nottinghamshire, hosts a creative writing class which has thrived for nearly fifteen years, and many students have found their writing skills and 'voice' here. This selection of stories and poems, written by regular class members, showcases the talent to be found among ordinary people, from every walk of life and age group.We hope you enjoy our efforts, and if this work prompts anyone to begin writing prose or poetry, whether old or young, we shall feel rewarded.
