American Short

To Chinese American teenager Chuntao, New Lake is a beautiful haven where she can hunt for treasures once swallowed up by a big flood. But when she’s caught scavenging by her biology teacher, a woman whose own past has been swept away, Chuntao is faced with an imponderable question: Which world was better - the ideal one she never knew or the destroyed one that now belongs to her?

Available as a value box amazon.com/dp/B07Y2B5HJG (copy and paste the link into your browser) Join Emily from Marshall Manor as she prepares for a wedding she doesn’t want to go through with and find out what happens when her entire life changes in a span of a week. It’s a crisp autumn evening and the weather in Chicago is not the only reason for the chill in the air. Promised to an older man when she was just a young girl, Emily has now come of age and is forced to face a long-delayed reality. Living in Marshall Manor has been an exceptional blessing for Emily and her fellow orphan ...

In the Finale, you’ll learn karma is real, and just because you share the same blood doesn’t necessarily make you family.

Rodeo star Chance Whitaker returns home after an injury, tasked with managing his family’s struggling ranch and wedding venue. There he crosses paths again with Seren Goodwin, his gorgeous former classmate who now runs the local floral shop. Though Serena initially bristles at Chance’s cocky charms, trusting him means taking the ultimate risk. As a relentless unwanted suitor threatens Serena, Chance is determined to break through her walls and prove he’s always been her best match in their quaint small town. But will this playboy-turned-rancher win her heart for good?

In a town struggling to survive, can love bring two people together? At the tender age of eight, Christmas Macy’s life takes a dramatic turn when her parents suddenly die. She’s forced to live in an orphanage near Denver, Colorado, with a woman who doesn’t take kindly to children, and most definitely not to Christmas. Now in her twenties, Christmas is heartbroken. The place she’s called home for over fourteen years is being stripped away, along with her best friend. She travels to the drought-ridden town, not knowing what her future holds. Being told over and over she’s unworthy ...

In the title story of Walk Between the Raindrops, a woman sits down next to a man at a bar and claims she has ESP. In “Thirteen Days,” passengers on a cruise line are quarantined, to horrifying and hilarious effect. And “Hyena” begins simply: “That was the day the hyena came for him, and never mind that there were no hyenas in the South of France, and especially not in Pont-Saint-Esprit—it was there and it came for him.”

In episode five of Confessions of a Police Officer, Trent and Officer Justin Landon try to keep their rendezvous a secret but it's hard when they are both under the same roof as Officer Landon's live in girlfriend, Natalie. Will she find out about her boyfriend's proclivities or will be be successful maintaining their illicit affair. Take the bribe, and I’ll let you slide deep inside. I’m Officer Landon, a straight police officer who fantasizes about being with black men. I desire to be with them intimately and romantically, but I never indulge because I’m straight, shy, and have a ...

What a difference a hand extended with love can make! After Hester's terrible and unexpected outburst at the double wedding of Joy and Darla's wedding to their prospective husbands, Hildie extends a hand of love and forgiveness by placing a chair next to hers and walks Hester back to a seat of honor to watch her daughter, Darla be married. The wedding celebration carries on as if nothing unusual had interrupted it...and everyone follows Hildie's lead of love and welcoming friendship to Hester Newson. The couples leave for their honeymoons and slowly Hildie continues to bury the hurt and ...

Living in the same neighborhood sometimes brings people together. Even when there was a time that you thought you had absolutely nothing in common with someone. Damiko was home, fresh off doing a 12-year stretch in the penitentiary. Things had changed drastically. Everybody from the old days were gone. The hood was now run by a bunch of faces that he did not recognize. He did run into two recognizable faces from the days of old though. Mack and Armani. They were not actually friends back in the day, but being the last of a dying breed bought the three together. The three were feeling the ...

On Ash Wednesday in 1908, Swiss German immigrant Fritz Hirter arrives at his children’s school, where he is the lone custodian. But soon after lessons start, a fast-moving fire breaks out—its cause is unknown, but its effects are horrifying. Although Fritz is soon cleared of any responsibility for the catastrophe, the community continues to suspect him, supremely testing Fritz and his family.

"Dizzy & Gillespie" unfolds as an emotionally rich mystery, intertwining the lives of a devoted daughter and her aging mother. Within their once-grand, now-fading New York City apartment, they face the relentless challenges of poverty, the encroaching tides of gentrification, and the relentless passage of time. Their bond, tested by life's struggles and their community's transformation, finds a glimmer of hope with the arrival of two rescue kittens, Dizzy and Gillespie. However, the actions of a new neighbor soon set off a chain of events that will alter their lives forever. This story ...

Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers traces the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled—messily, violently, but still beautifully—into the present. Cutting between clear-eyed realism and tongue-in-cheek magical realism, Chen’s stories coalesce into a portrait of a people striving for openings where mobility is limited.

In her debut collection of short stories, Islands of Decolonial Love, renowned writer and activist Leanne Simpson vividly explores the lives of contemporary Indigenous Peoples and communities, especially those of her own Nishnaabeg nation. Found on reserves, in cities and small towns, in bars and curling rinks, canoes and community centres, doctors offices and pickup trucks, Simpson's characters confront the often heartbreaking challenge of pairing the desire to live loving and observant lives with a constant struggle to simply survive....

Gay marriage has steadily gained traction in America. As recently as the 2004 Presidential elections the issue was so politically toxic that it helped sway the election. Now as we entered the midpoint of the 21st century's second decade, the tide against gay marriage has ebbed. Why? C. Edward Baldwin attempts to answer that question with his explosive essay on two unlikely adversaries in the fight for same sex equality, the writers Franz Kafka & James Baldwin.

Two adventurous souls, Nadia and Keith, embark on a journey of sensual exploration as they discover their mutual desire for each other. From passionate encounters in the park to steamy roleplaying sessions at home, their love knows no bounds. They push the limits of their boundaries, indulging in various erotic acts that heighten their pleasure and deepen their connection. Their intense physical connections is complemented by an emotional bond that grows stronger with every shared moment of intimacy. As their relationship evolves, they continue to explore new ways to satisfy each other's ...

Set in Northern New Mexico, an astonishing, beautifully rendered debut about living in a landscape shaped by love, loss, and violence. With intensity, dark humor, and emotional precision, Kirstin Valdez Quade's unforgettable stories plunge us into the fierce, troubled hearts of characters torn between their desires to escape the past and to plumb its depths.

Milo is a free spirit that does what he wants and can have who he wants. But he wants to start a life with Bailey and she's not ready. He doesn't understand why he can't have her but he'll find out one way or another. Bailey is young and full of life. The twinkle of everyone's eye especially the love of her life, Milo. But she keeps many secrets that are slowly killing her. She needs to rid herself of her demons before it's too late. Kierra is Bailey's best friend and a single mother who just wants to come up by any means necessary. But all money isn't good money and she knows this. Will ...

Afice is the last of nine generations of women who have survived enslavement, sickness, and hunger. Alone at age seventeen, she sets out through the Louisiana swamps to follow the trail of her ancestors and hear their songs anew. On this journey, Afice must decide how to honor her ancestors while embracing her own future.

These 13 stories by the author of The Invisible Man "approach the elegance of Chekhov" ( The Washington Post) and provide "early explorations of [Ellison's] lifelong fascination with the 'complex fate' and 'beautiful absurdity' of American identity" (John Callahan).

Split into five sections - Reading, Being, Seeing, Feeling, and Remembering - Changing My Mind finds Zadie Smith casting an acute eye over material both personal and cultural. This engaging collection of essays, some published here for the first time, reveals Smith as a passionate and precise essayist, equally at home in the world of great books and bad movies, family and philosophy, British comedians, and Italian divas. Changing My Mind is journalism at its most expansive, intelligent, and funny - a gift to readers and writers both.