American Literature Collection

For this special edition, Susie Bright has gathered human sexuality in all its diversity: pleasure and desire in all its forms. Featuring erotic stories by: Bret Easton Ellis, Poppy Z. Brite, William Harrison, Michelle Tea, Aimee Bender, and Molly Weatherfield.

This is the ideal collection for all lovers of first-rate erotic literature. Edited by Susie Bright, whom the Utne Reader calls "one of the leading thinkers and visionaries of our time", this fourth annual edition of a best-selling series brings together the most outstanding erotic writing of the year, including peculiarly dark and dangerous takes, as well as cutting-edge forays into the world of cybersex.

Bread and Circus is a hybrid and palimpsestic memoir-in-verse: it combines poetry, photography and spectral imagining to explore the realities of economic necessity and marginal poverty through a personal lens. Examining the experience of the US urban Black community from a variety of perspectives, it draws heavily on the author’s archival research on Adam Smith, the eighteenth-century Scottish economist, as well as his magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations.

Have you been wanting to know more about the significant impact black women had on the world? The Woman Who Invented Weaving is a fascinating audiobook that contains a catalog of several notable inventors and inventions by black women, which include the invention of the bathroom tissue holder, pastry fork, and ironing board, among others.

Winicker Wallace was forced to move to Paris, France, with her family. At first, she hates everything about Paris. It rains too much, Winicker's neighbor is irritatingly perfect, and there is a mean girl in class who makes Winicker want to jet right back to her old house in Massachusetts. It takes a few mishaps for Winicker to warm up to her new home.

Natalie Spencer was giving a dinner. She was not an easy hostess. Like most women of futile lives, she lacked a sense of proportion, and the small and unimportant details of the service absorbed her. Such conversation as she threw at random, to right and left, was trivial and distracted. Yet, the dinner was an unimportant one. It had been given with an eye more to the menu than to the guest list, which was characteristic of Natalie's mental processes.

Have you heard of the Star Maiden, Old Sally Cato, or Sweet Betsey from Pike? Everyone knows about Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Davy Crockett, But have you heard of these larger-than-life women? From Bess Call, who wrestles any and all challengers, to Molly Cottontail, who can outwit any critter in the woods, to Hekeke, who slays a giant singlehandedly, here are 15 funny, stormy, and always entertaining tall tales of legendary American women. They're as difference as can be, but still cut from the same cloth.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st 1819, the third of eight children. At the age of seven, Melville contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. At this time Melville was described as being 'very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension.' His father died when he was 12, leaving the family in very straitened times. Just 14, Melville took a job in a bank paying $150 a year that he obtained via his uncle Peter Gansevoort, who was one of the directors of the New York State Bank.

With its lush settings and a taste for the unknown, Another Time, Another Place is a treat for the adventurous soul. This delicious collection, featuring five of the hottest African-American authors today, brings whole new worlds to life. Led and edited by New York Times best-selling author Zane, Another Time, Another Place transports sensuous and steamy encounters across the world and through history.

Christian Sands, an FBI profiler with unique abilities, is called upon, once again, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of several children from their homes over one night in the small town of Swanton, Vermont. It's been a year since the disappearance, and the town is swamped with media frenzy, law enforcement, and paparazza from every walk of life with their own spin on the disappearance. And as others are discovered mutilated in the nearby forest, the town is a powder keg waiting to explode.

In The Best American Erotica, Volume 11, we learn about the very first penis in science-fiction hotshot Geoffrey Landis's bawdy fairy tale; Touré's breathless prose poem sets us up with an evening's worth of erotic visitors; and in Jerry Stahl's story, a man recalls his boyhood fascination with his mother's friends and their elaborate undergarments.

Robert is the most predictable old man in his mountain town. Ever since June died 20 years ago, his life has marched on with a clockwork cadence. He opens his shop every morning at the same time. He has breakfast every Friday at the same pancake shop. He has the same conversations with his friends. And never misses grandkids’ activities—especially Callie’s soccer matches. In fact, Robert hasn’t even left town since June died. She was an adventure-seeker. Once she was gone, so was Robert’s interest in anything outside his daily routine. But no routine lasts forever.

This small collection of short stories of riveting and dark plots dabbles in politics, religion, martial arts, social identity, and various other facets of life like baby farms, revealing what man proves to be when he tries! Titles include "A Cold One", "Lagos Hustle", "Cornbread, Fried Chicken, and Sauerkraut", "Rest in Peace", "Alpine Nightmare", "My Style Is Better Than Yours", "Furqaan", "Turf", and "The Part: The Re-assassination of Abe Lincoln".

American Fairy Tales, A Collection of 3 Short Stories, #02 contains three stories written in 1901 by L. Frank Baum. This audiobook contains three of Baum's stories: "The Girl Who Owned a Bear", "The Enchanted Types", and "The Laughing Hippopotamus".

This collection brings together the best British writing of the 20th century, narrated by a trio of beloved voices from the stage and screen. From the ghost stories of M.R. James to the intensity of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, as well as the intrigue of Joseph Conrad’s spy thriller, The Secret Agent, these enthralling modern classics will delight every listener. These classic stories are read by The Jewel in the Crown’s Tim Pigott-Smith; legendary Shakespearean actor Sir Michael Hordern; and Sir Ian McKellen.

Ten superbly narrated stories that help explain America by America's best writers.

From “Portrait of the artist, gaslit” to “Portrait of the artist’s ancestors” to “Portrait of the artist reading a newspaper,” the poems in Harbinger reflect the many facets of the artistic self as well as the myriad influences and experiences that contribute to that identity.

From Susie Bright, America's most outrageous and outspoken chronicler of the nation's sexual practices, comes this volume of the crème de la crème of erotic literature of 1999. Edited by Bright, whom the San Francisco Chronicle describes as "the X-rated intellectual" and The New York Times hails as "the voice of sweet reason and literacy", this sixth annual edition of a best-selling series is sure to satisfy old fans and leave newcomers begging for more.

Who Will Cheer for the Young Black Girl is a collection of poetry writings intended to inspire some young woman who is struggling to live up to society’s standard of success as she continues balancing a personal and business life. I believe that words are powerful and can help encourage individuals. It is important to me as a creative writer to paint a picture with words for the enjoyment of my listeners. I hope you as the listener will always be encouraged to continue striving toward your goals in life no matter how dark the path ahead may seem at the moment.

The National Book Award finalist for Refund returns with a new collection of stories that boldly examines the changes in American culture over the last two years through the increasing presence of violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and the emotional costs of living under constant threat. In the title story, the competition between two middle school cellists is affected by a shooting at their school, and it is only years later that they realize how the intrusion of violence affected the course of their lives.