Short Stories

Joy Williams has been celebrated as a master of the short story for four decades, her renown passing from one generation to the next even in the shifting landscape of contemporary writing. And at long last the incredible scope of her singular achievement is put on display: 33 stories drawn from three much-lauded collections and another 13 appearing here for the first time in book form.

Stocking stuffers like handknit scarves make the coziest of Christmas gifts—unless they're used as accessories for murder! When grinchy thefts steal the good cheer at a local nursing home, Siobhan O'Sullivan manages to identify one missing item before the tractor parade—a hideous shamrock scarf wrapped around a very dead body. The festivities go cold at Pans 'N' Pancakes the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. Suspects pile up when frosty-tempered Carys Walnutt is found strangled by a handmade scarf auctioned at Arborville's tree-lighting ceremony.

Gathered here in one volume are five stories from The Blissful Short Story Series: Cinderfella and the Flowered Shoe: One reviewer says this is about "the mishaps on the way to love," and that sums it up nicely. Tattoos: The moral of this tale is to think before you ink. The Art Of Parking: Sometimes a romance begins with a simple little road trip on a moonlit night. Breaking Up: Marilee helps others find the right words to say goodbye, but this time her client asks for something extra. Does This Dress Make Me Look As Fat As I Think I Am?: Not everything you see in the mirror is real. All ...

Back in the harness after his abortive retirement to Florida, Rumpole glories in the mushroom pie, rainy day life of the Old Bailey. Here he spars with some old familiars like the venomous Judge Bullingham, and makes the acquaintance of some fresh foes. Six stories.

The Starship Atlantis takes you on an unforgettable journey through the extraordinary. From alien civilizations and rogue AI to desperate missions on the brink of collapse, these stories will transport you across the stars into the heart of the unknown. This anthology features six never-before-published novellas and short stories, plus two exclusive bonus tales.

The Detective Nessa Ainsley Novella Series If you love emotional thrillers with a twist, you'll love the Detective Nessa Ainsley Novella Series, Get complete series of all 4 novellas in one chilling collection! Steal Her Breath, Book One When the body of a young coed is discovered near the local college campus on Nessa Ainsley's first day as a Major Crimes detective, she quickly finds herself on the trail of a vicious predator. Take Her Life, Book Two When hikers find the body of a young woman in the Twisted Pine Forest outside Rosewood, Georgia, Detective Nessa Ainsley soon discovers a ...

Lucy inherits an Oxford knitting shop...and so much more. Like the vampires who live downstairs and pop up to the shop when they run out of wool, or for their late-night knitting club. They've even offered to help Lucy learn how to knit. She discovers she's a witch and has some quirky relatives she never knew about. Her grandmother's supposed to be dead, but keeps showing up. It's enough to send Lucy screaming back to Boston, except there's a mystery to solve and Oxford and her new vampire friends are kind of growing on her....

Meet the swooniest billionaire of all time in one awesome and hilarious romantic-comedy collection. This collection includes Tapping the Billionaire, Tapping Her, and the novella Be My Billionaire Valentine.

Magic and myth inhabit these chapters in figures both familiar and strange. Giant trolls and talking animals are everywhere. The winds take human form. A one-eyed old woman might seem reminiscent of the Norse god Odin. We meet sly aunts, resourceful princesses, and devious robbers. These stories, set in Norway's majestic landscape of towering mountains and dense forests, are filled with humor, mischief, and sometimes surprisingly cruel twists of fate. All are rendered in the deceptively simple narrative style perfected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Never before in audio, these vintage stories are the darkest of the dark, and the best of the best.

Crime fiction fans old and new will delight in rediscovering these taut, character-rich, heart-stopping tales, now on audio for the first time.

Stories of famous monsters in a new horror anthology featuring Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and many others.

Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.

Deep in the Appalachian backwoods, legends don’t just survive—they linger. In this chilling collection of Appalachian horror, step into the shadowy world of mountain people whose lives are steeped in isolation, superstition, and stories that have been whispered for generations. This book features: A haunting short story of a family's descent into madness in The Hollow’s Hunger A detailed exploration of eerie folklore with The Hollow Walkers A gripping first-person account of a terrifying encounter in The Hollow’s Shadow Each tale draws you deeper into the dark hollers, fog-covered ...

A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.

When Jessica Davis is offered the opportunity to be transferred to her employer’s newest location, she decides to make the move. Sure Hawaii sounds like the perfect relocation, but for Jessica it was her family’s rejection of her lesbian lifestyle that sent her packing. Starting her new life alone is more than daunting for Jessica. As soon as she walks in to the new hotel and sees Leilani however, she knows she is where she should be. Leilani, the gorgeous caramel skinned receptionist is quick to make friends with Jessica and within a day they are planning a beach trip. When Leilani and...

Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises.

Although two of his best friends have settled down, Wes Lancaster is determined not to get sucked into some siren's web. As owner of the New York Mavericks football team and wildly successful BAD restaurant, his lifestyle is full as it is. Well, it was, until Winnie Winslow, the new, sexy, stiletto-wearing team physician trash-talks him in the locker room without batting an eye. Now he can't stop himself from wanting her.

Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission: to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman". Ferris' plan for getting inside Suleiman's tent is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: he prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible by recruiting an agent within the enemy's ranks.

J Jackson Bentley and others have contributed their American homeland short stories for this anthology. There are thrillers, murder mysteries and feel good dramas. Beautifully written and descriptive they are each a mini novel in the vein of the traditional and much loved short story writers of yesteryear. JJB kicks off the book with a tribute to the Great American Short Story, reminding us all of the great stories we now take for granted and which have spawned films and TV series that we know and love. The essay also pays homage to graphic novels and comics. There are fifteen stories ...

Stories by: Ramsey Campbell, Brian M Sammons, Glynn Owen Barrass, Lucy A. Snyder, E.A. Black, Chris Kelso, Andrew Coulthard, Stephen Mark Rainey, Kevin Lewis, Richard Alan Scott, Russell Smeaton, J. Edwin Buja, Made in DNA, David Agranoff, Pete Rawlik, Brian C. Short, Michael Housel, John Chadwick, David Voyles, Konstantine Paradias, Love Kölle, Edward Morris, Parry Milton, Phil Breach, Garrett Cook, Andrew Freudenberg, Sarah Walker. The twenty-seven writers whose works appear here mine the rich seams that Lovecraft’s original vision created. However, lest one imagine that this implies ...