American Short

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes. Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous while others are devastatingly poignant. Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship.

En Barcelona, una prostituta que va entrando en la vejez entrena a su perro para llorar ante la tumba que ha escogido para sí misma. En Viena, una mujer se vale de su don de ver el futuro para convertirse en la adivina de una familia rica. En Ginebra, el conductor de una ambulancia y su esposa acogen al abandonado y aparentemente moribundo ex presidente de un país caribeño, solo para descubrir que sus ambiciones políticas siguen intactas.

Over the last generation, historians have broadened our understanding of colonial America by adopting both a trans-Atlantic and a trans-continental perspective, examining the interplay of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the flow of goods, people, plants, animals, capital, and ideas. In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Taylor presents an engaging overview of the best of this new scholarship.

Some of the best-known and most influential pieces of crime fiction have been from African American writers. Be it Walter Mosley's great Detective Easy Rawlins, or the mean streets of Harlem at the hands of Chester Himes, the stories and characters in this anthology have shaped the mystery genre with their own unique viewpoints and styles. Contributors to the collection include Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright.

Said Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as “a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain”. His new collection of stories are set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to fans of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles - a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction - even as they are battered by the larger, often invisible, economic and political forces of American society.

In episode six of Confessions of a Straight Police Officer, Things get interesting when Natalie, Officer Landon’s girl, admits she’s open to a threesome. But when Officer Justin Landon chooses Trent as the guy he’d like to be the third wheel, things take a turn in a direction neither one of them could anticipate. Is their relationship ready for a threesome or is someone going to get jealous? Take the bribe and I’ll let you slide deep inside. I’m Officer Landon and I'm a straight police officer who fantasizes about being with men. My weakness is black men. I desire to be with them ...

Melody Ramsey has a daring and dangerous thirst for adventure in this inspirational Civil War romance. A governor’s daughter, she is in the unique position of meeting President Abraham Lincoln when news of the war breaks out. In fact, her father, the Governor of Minnesota, is the first to offer troops to Lincoln in response to his proclamation to put down the Confederate rebellion. She has no idea how she’ll accomplish the mission in her heart, but she has a courageous if not overly zealous idea to become a spy before she settles down into becoming a teacher. Since she doesn’t see how...

A Spicy BWWM Interracial Romance Jazmine: Of all the things I thought I would be doing at twenty-four, hiring a male escort was not one of them, but it was the only thing I could think of to help me prepare for my big date and little did I know, how life-changing it would be. Daniel: I tried to tell myself that she was just a client but she wasn't. The moment I saw Jazmine, I knew what I was feeling was different. I didn't want to be her practice, I wanted her to be mine. A Spicy & Sweet Interracial Love Story Love Practice is a steamy interracial instalove romance that will make the ...

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.

WARNING: This is the second in a series of short, erotic stories which contain explicit sex scenes and can be read in any order. Stephanie wasn't expecting visitors, but the late-night arrrival of a package from her best friend meant opening her door for a hunky delivery guy. And when his vehicle breaks down due to inclement weather, she doesn't mind playing host until a tow truck arrives. But as they get to know each other, the night quickly progresses in a manner neither had anticipated outside their wildest fantasies...

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 ...

"Con Men and Carved Birds! Lawmen and artists! Aebelskivers and cabbage. Spur-Award winner Richard Prosch has roped together an exciting new collection of stories with themes as vast as the wide open frontier and as close as the human heart. Waking Face - A sleepless man is tortured by the lost face of his wife's killer-a visage he can't remember, but at the same time, will never forget. Hard Times for the Vanilla Cream Kid - a would-be bank robber invents the perfect heist, but does he have the stomach for it? The Magic of Summerland - Nine year-old enemies of a long gone war forge a ...

A mysterious inheritance. A haunted castle. And a dark romance that will unravel secrets long buried. Amelia Whitmore’s life is far from ideal. Struggling financially and desperate for a new start, she receives an unexpected summons that could change everything: an inheritance from a distant relative she barely knew, tied to the enigmatic and reclusive owner of Cadworth Castle, Lucien Blackwood. With little to lose, Amelia journeys to the foreboding castle, hoping for a fresh beginning—but instead, she steps into a world filled with shadowed secrets. Lucien, the brooding and mysterious ...

In the bustling streets of Harborview, where whispers of romance dance on the salty breeze, one woman stands at the helm of her destiny. Meet Alice, the determined owner of Seaside Pages, Harborview's beloved bookshop where stories come to life and dreams take flight. For Alice, love is but a distant memory, buried beneath the weight of duty and independence. But when Captain Nathan Reynolds, a charming sailor with eyes as deep as the ocean, walks into her shop, Alice finds herself swept away by a tempest of emotions she thought long dormant. As Nathan's presence ignites a spark within her,...

As the star basketball player at EU, I was used to the stares that I'd get from women, however, this look from her beautiful grey eyes was different. It shocked me to my core. I'd never been denied before, but she was the first to do it. My teammates bet me that I couldn't sleep with her in four weeks. I bet them I could. In reality, all I wanted was her. I had to have her at any cost. Was it fate that brought us together or just the simple fact that we had the same first name? This other Jackie was one good looking man, but he was dangerous. I saw the way women acted around him. They ...

A finalist for the National Book Award, Lost in the City features 15 poignant short stories, each set in Washington, D.C. Far removed from marble monuments and the offices of rich politicians, the nation's capital that Jones captures is inhabited by self-willed African-Americans struggling to live their lives as best they can.

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.

The American women’s movement has been shrouded in myths, argue three leading scholars in this bold and revisionist history. Eschewing the conventional wisdom that places the origins of the American women’s movement in the nostalgic glow of the late 1960s, Feminism Unfinished traces the beginnings of this seminal American social movement to the 1920s, in the process creating an expanded, historical narrative that dramatically rewrites a century of American women’s history.

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 ...

The Aesir call a Wild Hunt when a man crosses the ocean towards Asgard. Jormungander, the Midgard Serpent, should be stopping him but is missing. Is the man an advance scout for an invasion? What has happened to Jormungander? It’s up to Thor to solve this mystery.