American Fiction Short Stories

A mother and daughter negotiate the Oregon Trail with grisly results; an elementary teacher watches the carnage of the Challenger explosion spill over into her own classroom. A possible prospector traveling west is drawn to an isolated inn where no one walks away hungry; a 1950s housewife shares the gruesome repertoire of behavior expected of a proper lady. Prohibition and women’s suffrage, the Civil War and the Vietnam War, the JFK assassination conspiracy and the Y2K hysteria.

Art and life. Each the mirror of the other. This then is the classic definition of what ‘Realism’ as a writing form really is. Some might call it a fancy term for the mundane day to day pursuits but in the hands of an author it comes alive. We are drawn into characters and landscapes that we can empathize with, we can, metaphorically speaking, help shoulder their burden, be on the long trail with them whatever the landscapes, the hurdles, incidents and other people may place in their literary way.

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write. Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years and reflect his primary literary influences.

When Four Stories by American Women was first published by Penguin Classics in 1990, it understandably reflected the second-wave feminist interpretations of that time—a period marked by an impressive recovery of what were then considered to be minor American writers. This updated and expanded volume, Twelve Stories by American Women edited by Arielle Zibrak, offers a more diverse selection of writers—including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, María Cristina Mena, Zitkala-Ša, Sui Sin Far, and Barbara E. Pope.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, renowned marine biologist and co-founder of the All We Can Save climate initiative, compiles the best science and nature writing of the year.

Una fotógrafa comprende algo que hubiera preferido no comprender. Un veterano de la guerra de Corea se enfrenta a su pasado durante un encuentro que parecía inofensivo. Tras el hallazgo por internet de un libro de 1887, un escritor acaba descubriendo la vida de una mujer apasionante.

My Confession: I love my husband, but my therapist touches parts of me that he can't. My husband is a gentleman, but he can't give me what my body needs. After we argued over his performance, he suggested we see a therapist. When we visited our new intimacy therapist named Dr. Lord, he did a demonstration and placed his masculine hand against my dark mocha skin, and at that moment, I knew he had the touch my body craved. I know my husband's therapist should be off limits, but it has always been my dream to be pleased by multiple tall, sexy men that can give my body the ecstasy it deserves. ...

Parks- deep down has always known that the day would come when he had to run, taking his family with him. He thinks has prepared for everything. He is mistaken. After letting his guard down to make his wife and Erie happy, he sees his worst nightmare on the horizon. Can he escape again, or will this be the end of the road for their family. Ember- has always chosen her husband and family over what she knew was right. Her guilt is heavy yet doesn't outweigh the love she has for him and their children. As long as they are all together she can handle it. So, when Erie has a request, she grants ...

Blackfoot storyteller Alex Soop plunges us into a shocking well of imagination in this collection of short stories, Midnight Storm Moonless Sky. From hauntings on the Highway of Tears to fearful gatherings of ghosts and the sorrows of racism, Soop combines the social anxieties of Indigenous life with spellbinding flights and frights of speculative fiction. Through these enthralling stories of reality mixed with terror, listeners get a wicked glimpse into the genre of Indigenous horror.

In the tradition of Calvino’s Italian Folktales, Greg Sarris, author of the award-winning novel Grand Avenue, turns his attention to his ancestral homeland of Sonoma Mountain in Northern California. In 16 interconnected original stories, the twin crows Question Woman and Answer Woman take us through a world unlike yet oddly reminiscent of our own: one that blooms bright with poppies, lupines, and clover; one in which Water Bug kidnaps an entire creek; in which songs have the power to enchant; in which Rain is a beautiful woman who keeps people’s memories in stones.

In New York City, an art student finds an unexpected subject when she moves in with a grandmother from Xi’an, and boundaries are put into question. When a newlywed couple moves to Arizona, adapting to unfamiliar customs keeps their marriage from falling apart. A woman grapples with what it means to care for another, and the limits of that care, when her dying husband returns from Beijing years after abandoning her. And during a rainy summer in Texas, a visitor exposes the unspoken but unburiable history that binds two families together.

Fast-paced, explosive, and packed with unforgettable characters, Detroit Life After 15 Years will keep you hooked from the first page to the last. Enter a world where the line between friend and foe is razor-thin, and trust comes at the ultimate price. Welcome to Detroit—where the streets never forget, and survival is everything. Author: True Story

Traplines is extraordinary fiction that presents the menacing underside of family life. In crackling prose, Eden Robinson describes homes ruled by bullies, psychopaths, and delinquents; families whose conflict resolution techniques range from grand theft to homicide; and kids who just can't get a break.

A Tapestry of Words and Worlds Dive into the vibrant tapestry of the KEAK Anthology, where author Katherine Korkidis collaborates with her father, Artemios Korkidis, to weave a collection that spans genres and generations. 1. Short Stories: A Kaleidoscope of Genres Explore sixteen captivating short stories, ranging from literary fiction to mystery, thriller, historical nonfiction and fiction, romance, science fiction, and realist literature. In "Patient Zero," witness the delicate balance between utopia and dystopia, while "Times Past" entangles you in a web of sudden deaths and hidden ...

"In almost any culture, at any time, you can find food writing,” writes guest editor Mark Bittman in his introduction. “Food means growing and hardship, and health and medicine, and work and holiday. In its abundance it is a gift and a joy, and in its absence a curse and a tragedy. If a culture has writing, that culture has food writing.” The stories in this year’s Best American Food Writing are brilliant, eye-opening windows into the heart of our country’s culture.

Una mujer se enamora de un vecino por cómo cuida las plantas de su terraza. Un hombre organiza una fiesta con todos sus seres queridos para celebrar el final de una larga enfermedad. Una niña acompaña a su madre a ver pisos que nunca podrán permitirse y un padre lleva a su hija adoptada a conocer a su madre biológica....

Following in the successful footsteps of its predecessors, Around the Way Girls 6 features three popular authors presenting their versions of the tough, street-smart girls that everyone loves.

Young Alice leads an ordinary sort of life until, one day, she follows a rabbit down a hole and embarks on a series of adventures with some of the most weird and wonderful characters anyone has ever encountered! She soon discovers that nothing is ordinary in Wonderland, least of all the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Duchess, and the Mock Turtle.

Make your heart merry and unwrap these delightful stories of seasonal romance.

In 1885 Idaho Territory, widow Victoria Hayes would rather face down claim jumpers with her derringer than lose her late husband's star garnet mine. But when a mysterious prospector with a fighter's grace arrives offering help, she must decide if protecting her claim is worth risking her heart. James "Hawk" Davidson has his own reasons for helping the determined widow—as an undercover agent investigating a string of suspicious mining accidents, he believes her husband's death was no accident. Yet the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he admires her courage and faith in the face ...