Showing titles in Short Stories

A series of suspicious deaths in a retirement home draws Nameless into the confidence of a terrified former resident - and into the dark heart of a shocking conspiracy. In part five of the Nameless series, it’s time to hunt. Oakshore Park is Michigan’s most exclusive assisted-living community. Presided over by two killer angels of mercy, it’s also THE go-to facility in assisted dying. For a cut, they make impatient heirs happy. Nameless must concoct a scheme just as cunning.

Originally published under the title: Conceived & Deceived by Abbie Grace (author) For the Longest Time I Thought These Kinds of Things Only Happened to Other People But... Surprise! And the surprises just keep coming on a day that would be ordinarily just another day. I just got the promotion of a lifetime at my dream job... It should have been the happiest time in my life... only it wasn't. There is something I want more. But the odds are not in my favor. You might say I'm up against impossible odds, the kind of odds that can never be overcome the way I wish they could. There's only one ...

Andre Monroe is ready to move on from heartbreak, and the first step is bringing home his rescue pup. He’d bonded instantly with the playful Zeus and was already planning their first adventures. But one thing he definitely hadn’t daydreamed about was Zeus accidentally being promised to someone else - or that he might go home empty-handed and brokenhearted all over again.

In the chaos of a maternity ward, memories of tragedy and grief come rushing back for an anxious mother-to-be as she struggles to balance her child’s needs with her own healing. Rushed into an emergency cesarean section, a woman finds herself in the same hospital where her suicidal mother died. She’s buried the trauma of her mother’s last hours--and also the dread that she might be just as vulnerable to breaking. As the new mother relives one crisis in the midst of another, prize-winning author Julie Orringer turns the joyous event of birth into a harrowing, poignant short story.

Thirteen terrifying tales from the master of horror who created the nationally bestselling Necroscope series. The title story, "Fruiting Bodies," in which a small village slowly disappears, won the British Fantasy Award.

Rip Van Winkle lived in a quiet colonial town, and had a habit of attending to everyone else's chores. Henpecked and poor, he goes squirrel hunting in the woods one day, only to exit twenty years later.

A grieving mother makes a spreadsheet of everyone she’s lost. Elsewhere, a professor develops a troubled intimacy with her hairdresser. And every year, a restless woman receives an email from a strange man twice her age and several states away. In Yiyun Li’s stories, people strive for an ordinary existence until doing so becomes unsustainable, until the surface cracks and the grand mysterious forces—death, violence, estrangement—come to light. And even everyday life is laden with meaning, studded with indelible details.

In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders - where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks.

A powerful, eerily unsettling story collection from a major international literary star. Unearthly and unexpected, the stories in Mouthful of Birds burrow their way into your psyche and don't let go. Samanta Schweblin haunts and mesmerizes in this extraordinary, masterful collection. Schweblin's stories have the feel of a sleepless night, where every shadow and bump in the dark take on huge implications, leaving your pulse racing, and the line between the real and the strange blur.

In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: "You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently make myself and know well, the journey between Edinburgh and London. It is best read on a train, preferably that one."

In a town where the corrupt are protected, a bereaved mother seeks retribution for an arsonist’s crimes. Only Nameless can help ease the burden of her grief - and satisfy her rage - in part four of this thrilling series. After a suspicious house fire, Regina Belmont lost her two children, was left disfigured, and was abandoned by her gutless husband. Brokenhearted and bullied into silence by corrupt officials, Regina’s only recourse for truth and justice is Nameless. There’s something about this case that’s breaking Nameless’s heart as well. But can he bear to remember why?

I wasn’t a good person. Even amnesia couldn’t erase the fact that deep inside, there was a darkness I couldn’t deny. Flashes of strangers—of violence—heighten a mystery impossible to unravel. The man I called my best friend landed an ax in my head trying to save himself. He says I’m dangerous. He may be right.

The publication of a new book by William Trevor is a true literary event. One of our finest chroniclers of the human condition, Trevor's precise and unflinching insights into the lives of ordinary people are evidenced once again in this stunning collection of twelve stories. Subtle yet powerful, these exquisitely nuanced tales of regret, deception, adultery, aging, and forgiveness are a rare pleasure, and they confirm Trevor's reputation as a master of the form.

For over 1,000 years, Order and Chaos have molded the island of Recluce. The Saga of Recluce chronicles the history of this world through 18 books, L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s longest and best-selling fantasy series. Recluce Tales: Stories from the World of Recluce collects 17 new short stories and four popular reprints spanning the thousand-year history of Recluce.

Carpe Diem is more than just a catchy phrase to Stacey Mallory. At least it was, until the near-fatal accident that took the use of her legs and changed her life forever. Stacey would do anything to dive once again into cool blue waters from a towering cliff, or feel the wind in her face as she opens up the throttle of her sleek, sporty motorcycle. To dance under the moonlight in the arms of a strong, sexy man. To escape her new reality, Stacey reinvents herself as Salienne Dulcette, the reclusive author of steamy erotic romances, and lives life vicariously through her characters.

Wrong place, wrong time. Eighteen voices share their harrowing encounters with the uncanny, the grotesque, and the utterly inexplicable. Stories of old gods and new nightmares, of the evil men do, and of the terrors lingering in the dark.

The award-winning writer, whose stories have appeared in four consecutive editions of The Best American Short Stories, returns with a highly anticipated collection. A reality show producer manipulates two contestants into falling in love, even as her own relationship falls apart. Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young boy has a revelation about his father’s past. When the prized elephant of a traveling circus keels over dead, the small-town minister tasked with burying its remains comes to question his own faith.

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

Travel on an unpredictable and unforgettable literary journey. Find a horrified mother who gives birth to a strange blue pyramid. Encounter an amazing Electrical Grandmother who comes to live with a grieving family. Meet an old parrot who learned over long evenings to imitate the voice of Ernest Hemingway, and becomes the last link to the last link to the great man. Each of these magnificent creations has something to tell us about our own humanity - and all of their fates await you in this collection of 28 classic Bradbury stories and one luscious poem.

Does everyone really deserve a second chance? Of all the people to walk into the clubhouse, it had to be Sean bloody O’Leary. He left seven years ago and broke my heart so bad I swore I’d never let a man get close to me again. Now here he is in the flesh, with his cocky smile and Irish lilt. My body’s reacting to him before my mind can shut it down. He’s begging me for a second chance, but there’s no way I’m giving myself to Sean O’Leary. No way. But when he learns the truth of what really happened seven years ago, it might just break his heart too. The Biker's Second Chance ...