Showing titles in Short Stories

In these extraordinary stories, we meet a man who is forced to defend himself by taking another’s life - and must pay for his actions in a most punishing manner; a young thrill-seeker who finally finds a place he can call home, and vows to stay there - regardless of the man who tries to stand in his way; and a drifter who honors a deathbed promise to a stranger by embarking on an unlikely mission of mercy.

Zadie Smith has established herself as one of the most iconic, critically respected, and popular writers of her generation. In her first short story collection, she combines her power of observation and her inimitable voice to mine the fraught and complex experience of life in the modern world. Interleaving 11 completely new and unpublished stories with some of her best-loved pieces from The New Yorker and elsewhere, Smith presents a dizzyingly rich and varied collection of fiction.

A grand treasure for fans of the grande dame of mystery, The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories brings together nine rare and brilliant Christie tales of murder and detection that span nearly half a century of her storytelling genius. In "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," Hercule Poirot unravels the psychological conundrums that motivate a killer.... In "The Actress," a great star's shady past becomes the plaything of a blackmailer.... In "The Harlequin Tea Set," Mr. Harley Quin helps a man save his loved ones from the greedy hand of murder.

The nine stories and one poem in this volume formed the basis for the astonishingly original film Short Cuts, directed by Robert Altman. Collected altogether in this volume, these stories form a searing and indelible portrait of American innocence and loss. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of "one of the true contemporary masters" ( The New York Review of Books).

Yumi Parr is the new project coordinator of a Manhattan design agency. Set apart from her coworkers by their race, salaries, alma maters, perfect teeth, and waistbands, Yumi bears their grunt work. After one microaggression too many, she decides to implement a change. Either senior white employees with their mouthfuls of wokespeak will comply or Yumi will learn a difficult lesson about the realities of modern business culture.

It’s just one thing after another for magician Eli Marks: The bizarre death of a barista. Performing close-up magic at a funeral. A homicidal husband looking for ideas. An unexpected customer encounter. An impossible stabbing during a show. A Halloween murder. A life-changing magic lesson. A mystifying murder/suicide. A puzzling jewel heist and an even odder painting theft. And more! A dozen new Eli Marks short stories (10 never-before published), which means you now have a dozen more reasons to spend some quality time with Eli Marks.

A busybody aunt who disapproves of hair removal; a pair of door-to-door saleswomen hawking portable lanterns; a cheerful lover who visits every night to take a luxurious bath. Where the Wild Ladies Are is populated by these and many other spirited women - who also happen to be ghosts. This is a realm in which jealousy, stubbornness, and other excessive “feminine” passions are not to be feared or suppressed, but rather cultivated; and, chances are, a man named Mr. Tei will notice your talents and recruit you, dead or alive (preferably dead), to join his mysterious company.

Ursula K. Le Guin has enthralled fans with her imagination, clarity, and moral vision. The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, and five Hugo and five Nebula Awards, this renowned writer has created a provocative, ever-evolving universe filled with diverse worlds and rich characters reminiscent of our earthly selves. Now, in The Birthday of the World, this gifted artist returns to these worlds in eight brilliant short works, including a never-before-published novella, each of which probes the essence of humanity.

Let’s hear it for the Mommies! The Mommies of Maple Street, that is. Zach is struggling to accept himself as a Little. How could he not be, after that Little nature broke up his marriage? His ex just couldn’t accept that side of him. Now, he’s on his own. Then, one day, the most beautiful woman in the world wanders into his shop. He’s crazy about Destiny! It might even be love at first sight, as far as Zach is concerned. Hot on her heels is her friend, Heather, who just happens to be a Mommy. Sensing that Zach is too shy—and too plagued by self-doubt—to ask Destiny out, she ...

A dazzling collection of eleven interconnected stories from the bestselling, award-winning author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life, with everything that listeners love about her novels—the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations on human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop.

Vivid, vibrant, and unwaveringly affecting, The Best Possible Experience brings us intimate, impeccably realized accounts of individuals living in one of the most populous countries in the world, and its American diaspora, all haunted, in every sense of the word, by a loss of home. Classically elegant in prose and consistently modern in outlook, Injam’s stories question what it means to have a home, to return home, and show, above all, that home is not a place so much as a people ready to accept you as you are.

OVER 500 PAGES OF ENCOUNTERS WITH THE SCARIEST MONSTERS AND CRYPTIDS KNOWN! In, The Mega Monster Book, Volume 5, Ethan Hayes once more delves into the dark and terrifying legends that have haunted humanity for centuries. This installment features harrowing encounters with malevolent Wendigos, the nightmarish Rakes, and the unsettling Black-Eyed Kids. With firsthand accounts from the very people who experienced these monsters, Hayes presents each tale without much alteration. Prepare for a spine-tingling exploration of the unknown in this compelling volume.

In the biggest wedding of the decade, triplets Eden, Jasmine, and Phoebe Alexandria Rose prepare to marry the men who've captured their hearts. Invitations have gone out, and The Who's who in the city of Chicago will be in attendance, including local and national media. However, after coming up with what seemed to be a brilliant plan for the sister's wedding night, those ideas backfire and the ladies lean on each other for support in an effort to hold it together - all the way to the altar.

New York Times best-selling author Sara Paretsky is the master of twisting suspense and propulsive plot. She has been hailed by the crime community as "a legend" (Harlan Coben) and "one of the all-time greats" (Karin Slaughter). Her acclaimed novels featuring detective V.I. Warshawski rank among the most celebrated crime series in modern fiction. Now in this spellbinding collection, Paretsky showcases her extraordinary talents with 14 short stories, eight of which feature the indomitable detective - and a new V.I. story.

In a daring and chilling debut, Brad Thor draws us into a sinister labyrinth of political intrigue and international terrorism, serving up an explosive cocktail of unrelenting action and a shattering climax, as one man is pushed to the edge.

On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the unthinkable has just become a nightmarish reality. Thirty Secret Service agents have been viciously executed, and the vacationing president of the United States has been kidnapped.

What do church ladies really think? Composed and often so quiet as to be thought invisible, church ladies have secret powers to change the world. What are those special powers? They love well. They give well. They can often cook! And they play an essential role in a great rescue operation for mankind. For although they appear to have Ninja warrior strengths (and can be invisible!), they are helpers to the only Superhero who ever really saved the world and mankind. They know His name and will tell you. And they can show you what it's like to brought to life and empowered to love instead of ...

The best and most revered works of famed poet and author, Edgar Allen Poe.

Mr. Mulliner, the irrepressible raconteur and sage of the bar-parlour of the Angler's Rest public house, narrates nine tales of his extraordinary family.

Mrs. Packington felt alone, helpless, and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in the Times that read: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne." Equally adept at putting together the fragments of a murder mystery or the pieces of a broken marriage, Mr. Parker Pyne is possibly the world's most unconventional private investigator. Armed with just his intuitive knowledge of human nature, he is an Englishman abroad, traveling the globe to solve and undo crime and misdemeanor.

From the titular story about a married woman who takes a trip to the city with a single purpose in mind—to sleep with another man—Antarctica draws listeners into a world of obsession, betrayal, and fragile relationships. Cordelia wakes on the last day of the twentieth century and sets off to keep a date nine years in the waiting. Frank Corso mourns the curious disappearance of his daughter and tries desperately to reach out to his shattered wife. Throughout the collection, Keegan's characters inhabit a world where dreams, memory, and chance can have crippling consequences.