Now for the first time in English, all of Borges' dazzling fictions are gathered into a single volume, brilliantly translated by Andrew Hurley. From his 1935 debut with The Universal History of Iniquity, through his immensely influential collections Ficciones and The Aleph, these enigmatic, elaborate, imaginative inventions display Borges' talent for turning fiction on its head by playing with form and genre and toying with language. Together these incomparable works comprise the perfect one-volume compendium for all those who have long loved Borges, and a superb introduction to the master's work for those who have yet to discover this singular genius.

    But his range is much broader than that, encompassing stories, novels, essays, reviews, reminiscences, plays, even fake autobiographies. The Essential Ellison, a special limited edition personally signed and numbered by Ellison, contains 74 unabridged works, including such classics as "A Boy and His Dog," "Xenogenesis," and "Mefisto in Onyx."

    Its major themes are language and determinism.

    Included are the familiar masterpieces--"The Kiss," "The Darling," and "The Lady with the Dog"--as well as several brilliant lesser-known tales such as "A Blunder," "Hush!," and "Champagne." These stories, ordered from 1886 to 1899, are drawn from Chekhov's most fruitful years as a short-story writer. A truly balanced selection, they exhibit the qualities that make Chekhov one of the greatest fiction writers of all time: his gift for detail, dialogue, and humor; his emotional perception and compassion; and his understanding that life's most important moments are often the most overlooked."The reason we like Chekhov so much, now at our century's end," writes Ford in his perceptive introduction, "is because his stories from the last century's end feel so modern to us, are so much of our own time and mind." Exquisitely translated by the renowned Constance Garnett, these stories present a wonderful opportunity to introduce yourself--or become reaquainted with--an artist whose genius and influence only increase with every passing generation.

    Novelette.This is the story of the time that Granny Weatherwax didn't win the Witch Trials and was nice about it, too. It was horrifying."It's not right! She's got no right to go around being cheerful at people!"Originally published in the collection Legends Vol. 3.

    His historical importance is indisputable.” Here, in a Library of America volume edited by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, is the fiction that established James Baldwin’s reputation as a writer who fused unblinking realism and rare verbal eloquence.His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), tells the story, rooted in Baldwin’s own experience, of a preacher’s son coming of age in 1930’s Harlem. Ten years in the writing, its exploration of religious, sexual, and generational conflicts was described by Baldwin as “an attempt to exorcise something, to find out what happened to my father, what happened to all of us.”Giovanni’s Room (1956) is a searching, and in its day controversial, treatment of the tragic self-delusions of a young American expatriate at war with his own homosexuality. Another Country (1962), a wide-ranging exploration of America’s racial and sexual boundaries, depicts the suicide of a gifted jazz musician and its ripple effect on those who knew him. Complex in structure and turbulent in mood, it is in many ways Baldwin’s most ambitious novel.Going to Meet the Man (1965) collects Baldwin’s short fiction, including the masterful “Sonny’s Blues,” the unforgettable portrait of a jazz musician struggling with drug addiction in which Baldwin came closest to defining his goal as a writer: “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.”

    "The Depressed Person" was published in Harper's Magazine, January 1998.

    Stories remarkable in their range, emotional force, and dark laughter, and in the sheer beauty and power of their language.From the opening story, "Willing", about a second-rate movie actress in her thirties who has moved back to Chicago, where she makes a seedy motel room her home and becomes involved with a mechanic who has not the least idea of who she is as a human being, Birds of America unfolds a startlingly brilliant series of portraits of the unhinged, the lost, the unsettled of our America. In the story "Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People" ("There is nothing as complex in the world--no flower or stone--as a single hello from a human being"), a woman newly separated from her husband is on a long-planned trip through Ireland with her mother. When they set out on an expedition to kiss the Blarney Stone, the image of wisdom and success that her mother has always put forth slips away to reveal the panicky woman she really is. In "Charades," a family game at Christmas is transformed into a hilarious and insightful (and fundamentally upsetting) revelation of crumbling family ties. In "Community Life,"a shy, almost reclusive, librarian, Transylvania-born and Vermont-bred, moves in with her boyfriend, the local anarchist in a small university town, and all hell breaks loose. And in "Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens," a woman who goes through the stages of grief as she mourns the death of her cat (Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Haagen Dazs, Rage) is seen by her friends as really mourning other issues: the impending death of her parents, the son she never had, Bosnia.In what may be her most stunning book yet, Lorrie Moore explores the personal and the universal, the idiosyncratic and the mundane, with all the wit, brio, and verve that have made her one of the best storytellers of our time.

    Mist-shrouded, wrapped in magic. The legendary island of the Goddess, resting place of Arthur. This mystical island's legacy has remained strong over the centuries, becoming a symbol of hope and wonder.Out of Avalon presents fifteen original stories of magic, adventure, and romance from an era lost to history - yet always remembered by those with imagination...

    The excitement began the moment "The Fourth State of Matter," one of the fourteen extraordinary personal narratives in this book, appeared in the pages of The New Yorker. It increased when the author received a prestigious Whiting Foundation Award in November 1997, & it continued as the hardcover edition of The Boys of My Youth sold out its first printing even before publication. The author writes with perfect pitch as she takes us through one woman's life -- from childhood to marriage & beyond -- & memorably captures the collision of youthful longing & the hard intransigences of time & fate.

    This joyous, inspiring and entertaining Chicken Soup collection relates the unique bonds between animals and the people whose lives they've changed. Such as the dolphins who helped a paralyzed woman heal when doctors offered little hope; the dog who brought life into a failing marriage; the kitten who helped a mother mourn; and the flying squirrel who taught a man the power of laughter. Packed with celebrity pet-lore, Chicken Soup for the Soul relates the unconditional love, loyalty, courage and companionship that only animals possess. Just like our furry, feathered and four-legged friends, this enchanting book will bring a smile to any pet lover's face ... and it's housebroken

    Gathered from around the world, from regions as diverse as sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe, from North and South American Indian cultures and New World settlers, from Asia and the Middle East, these 100 folktales celebrate strong female heroines.Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters is for all women who are searching to define who they are, to redefine the world and shape their collective sensibility. It is for men who want to know more about what it means to be a woman. It is for our daughters and our sons, so that they can learn to value all kinds of courage, courage in battle and the courage of love. It is for all of us to help build a more just vision of woman.

    and anything is possible. In this, Gaiman's first book of short stories, his imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders -- a place where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks. Explore a new reality -- obscured by smoke and darkness, yet brilliantly tangible -- in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.

    "A Curtain of Green and Other Stories" (1941), her first book, includes many of her most popular stories, such as "A Worn Path, " "Powerhouse, " and the farcical "Why I Live at the P.O." "The Wide Net and Other Stories" (1943), in which historical figures such as Aaron Burr ("First Love") and John James Audubon ("A Still Moment") appear as characters, shows her evolving mastery as a regional chronicler. "The Golden Apples" (1949) is a series of interrelated stories about the inhabitants of the fictional town of Morgana, Mississippi. It was Welty's favorite among her books. The stories of "The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories" (1955) are set both in the South and in Europe. Also included are two stories from the 1960s, "Where Is the Voice Coming From?," based on the shooting of Medgar Evers, and "The Demonstrators." A selection of nine literary and personal essays includes evocations of the Jackson of her youth that is essential to her work and cogent discussions of literary form.

    From the author of the bestselling 'Night's Dawn' trilogy, a novella and six stories set in the same brilliantly realised universe.

    In this brilliant new collection she takes mainly the lives of women - unruly, ungovernable, unpredictable, unexpected, funny, sexy and completely recognisable - and brings their hidden desires bubbling to the surface. The love of a good woman is not as pure and virtuous as it seems: as in her title story it can be needy and murderous. Here are women behaving badly, leaving husbands and children, running off with unsuitable lovers, pushing everyday life to the limits, and if they don't behave badly, they think surprising and disturbing thoughts.

    bullet wounds, broken necks...(those who have over-dosed are known as 'Juliets').When Mordy, our hero, discovers that his girlfriend from his life before has also 'offed' herself, he sets out to find her, and so follows a strange adventure...Full of the weird and wonderful characters, and the slightly surreal twist of events that we've come to expect from Etgar Keret, this novella is full of humour and comic flashes, but it is also wistful, longing for a better world and perfect love.

    His writing is at once comic and tragic as it explores the loneliness of life and disintegration of civilization.

    . . Viskovitz is each of these animals and many more, possessed by their behaviors, their neuroses, their vanities. And the gorgeous and impossible Ljuba, the object of Viskovitz’s desire, is in turn a sow, a bitch, a gazelle. There is an animal passion between them that lasts from story to story, but it is the fullness of the human condition that is portrayed most vividly in these hilarious metamorphoses. Dazzling beginnings lead into plots full of surprises, ranging from slapstick to Western, from cautionary tale to thriller. Scientific jargon is turned into wordplay and witty aphorism; theatrical reversals and philosophical insights abound. You’re an Animal, Viskovitz! is a triumph of comic inventiveness and intelligence unlike anything we’ve seen before.

    It also contains stories that are funny or just plain silly so kids will know that life's challenges are balanced with joy. Written by kids themselves and adults who haven't forgotten what it's like to be a kid.

    This is the story of one woman's struggle for balance in a world that keeps pitching and rolling under her feet. Dislocated geographically and spiritually, Lucy is prone to the wrong decisions at all the critical times; what's more, natural disasters just seem to find her: an accident on a rafting trip in Cataract Canyon, a grand cayman attack in the Amazon, a hurricane in the Gulf Stream--not to mention a few natural disasters in the form of men. A surprise encounter with Carlos Castenada convinces her that she isn't living the right life, and his cryptic message sends her back to her beloved Rocky Mountains. There, on a ranch, she takes comfort in animals, the jagged landscape of Colorado, and the sage advice of female friends; she even gives a man a try. Most importantly, for the first time she reconnects with parts of herself she didn't remember losing.

    Years later, the writer’s stepson reflects upon his stepmother and the strange stories she used to tell him. Meanwhile, a surgeon’s lover vows to kill him if he does not leave his wife. Before she can follow-through on her crime of passion, though, the surgeon will cross paths with another remarkable woman, a cabaret singer whose heart beats delicately outside of her body. But when the surgeon promises to repair her condition, he sparks the jealousy of another man who would like to preserve the heart in a custom tailored bag. Murderers and mourners, mothers and children, lovers and innocent bystanders—their fates converge in a darkly beautiful web that they are each powerless to escape.Macabre, fiendishly clever, and with a touch of the supernatural, Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge creates a haunting tapestry of death—and the afterlife of the living.

    Mysterious aliens, ruthless terrorists, androids with attitude, genetic manipulation, punch-ups with lasers and giant spaceships! What more do you want?Reprint of The Engineer with three additional stories.The EngineerSpatterjay The OwnerThe Tor-beast's Prison Tiger Tiger

    You'll find 101 more stories to help you deal with a world that seems more and more difficult every day.Jack, Mark and Kimberly's latest batch focuses on love, friendship and tough stuff, along with some great teen-told tales of learning lessons, making a difference and growing up. Like in the first volume of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, you'll find no adults preaching to you about what you should or shouldn't do. Instead, this book if full of teens who share their experiences on learning to accept life, becoming the best person you can be, being happy with who you are, and loving yourself--no matter what. These stories will show you that no matter how difficult your situation may seem, you can make it through the tough times; and that no matter how lonely you may feel, you are never alone.Cover artwork by Robbin O'NeillCover redesign by Andrea Perrine Brower

    The original illustrations combine horror and humour in equal measure.

    In the opening novella, "Christmas Child," 15-year-old Melanie feels cheated when her baby sister, born at Christmastime, lives only a few days. But the brief life of her sister shows Melanie the lasting value of love. Brenda struggles between noble intentions and real desires when she becomes the last chance for happiness for a dying boy in "Last Dance." The final story, "Kathy's Life," describes a girl who appears to have it all. Kathy is beautiful, intelligent, and has the perfect job as a live-in caregiver for a couple's baby boy. But not everything is as perfect as it seems: Should Kathy give up the one person she loves most in the world?

    Flying carpets; subterranean amusement parks; a band of teenage girls who meet secretly in the night in order to do "nothing at all"; a store with departments of Moorish courtyards, volcanoes, and Aztec temples: these are Millhauser's stock-in-trade as a storyteller, and he employs them to characteristically magical effect. As in Millhauser's other books, including Edwin Mullhouse and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Martin Dressler, his subject is nothing less than the faculty of imagination itself. Here, however, the flights of fancy are unencumbered by Martin Dressler's wealth of period detail, and the result is fun-house prose whose pleasures and terrors are equally gossamer. Millhauser possesses the unique ability to render the quotidian strange, so that, emerging from his stories, the reader often feels the world itself an unfamiliar place--as do the shoppers at his department store, that marketplace of skillful illusion: "As we hurry along the sidewalk, we have the absurd sensation that we have entered still another department, composed of ingeniously lifelike streets with artful shadows and reflections--that our destinations lie in a far corner of the same department--that we are condemned to hurry forever through these artificial halls, bright with late afternoon light, in search of the way out."

    This edition includes Poe's most famous tales and poems, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Purloined Letter," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Raven," "Lenore," and "Annabel Lee."

    This surreal collection features such storylines as: a young man is persuaded to donate his heart to his dying mother; a girl comes of age in strange suburbia; and a man and a woman conduct a passionate love affair on a park bench.

    "Hilarious as well as absurd."-Book Links

    Award-winning author Bruce Coville believes in unicorns, and his mission is to make believers out of all of us with this collection of stories by distinguished fantasy writers.The guardian of memory / Bruce Coville Tearing down the unicorns / Janni Lee Simner Beyond the fringe / Gregory Maguire Stealing dreams / Ruth O'Neill The dream-child / Nancy Varian Berberick The ugly unicorn / Jessica Amanda Salmonson Story hour / Katherine Coville The unicorns of Kabustan / Alethea Eason A song for Croaker Nordge / Nancy Varian Berberick and Greg Labarbera The healing truth / Kathryn Lay Child of faerie / Gail Kimberly The new girl / Sean Stewart

    A Vietnam Vet swims alone across the English Channel to maintain the 'edge' that kept him alive in wartime. A young amateur fighter stoically endures repetitive beatings because he knows boxing shields him from the even crueller world beyond the ring. An unemployed man performs gruesome experiments on mice. No one writes better or more vividly than Jones about private apocalypses, about lives that swing between pain and sensual gratification, confusion and visionary clarity.

    Through 101 timeless tales and inspiring bits of wisdom, Canfield and Hansen invite readers to enjoy "Chicken Soup" in whatever way they find most comforting--by the spoonful, by the bowl, or the whole pot in one sitting.

    It was one of the few books that dared to look at how radical feminism could and should shape the future; and one whose predictions (the cybernetic revolution, for example) proved startlingly prescient of issues today. Published by Semiotext(e) in 1998, Airless Spaces, Firestone's first work of fiction, is a collection of short stories written by Firestone as she found herself drifting from the professional career path she'd been on and into what she describes as a new airless space. These deadpan stories, set among the disappeared and darkened sectors of New York City, are about losers who fall prey to an increasingly bureaucratized poverty and find themselves in an out of (mental) hospitals. But what gives characters such as SCUM-Manifesto author Valerie Solanas their depth and charge, is their the small crises that trigger an awareness that they're in trouble. Some time later, after I had moved to St. Mark's Place, I saw Valerie in the street. She asked me for a quarter, and I saw that she was begging. She had lost her apartment, and presumably her welfare. Later, a friend of mine who ran a store on St. Mark's Place said that Valerie had approached him for shelter. She was covered with sores, and wearing only a blanket to beg in. She had been out on the street approximately three months without shelter. Not long after that, she disappeared from the street entirely.

    He was erudite, cranky, Jewish, wildly creative, and sold most of his wonderful stories to pulp magazines. They are wonderful.Now his estate and his friends have brought together a definitive collection of his finest work, each story introduced by an SF luminary: writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Guy Davenport, Peter S. Beagle, Gregory Benford, Thomas M. Disch, and dozens of others. This is a volume every lover of fantasy will need to own.

    "Excitability" collects the best of Diane Williams' bold, often hilarious stories of love, sex, death, and the family.

    Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series has always featured the best in contemporary women's fantasy, and this outstanding new volume carries on the tradition! These original stories of brave, talented, and heroic women will take readers through enchanted realms of the imagination into danger both physical and mystical, where the only way to survive is through the power of sword and spell.

    Simpson is a true Alaskan who lives all of the adventures and traverses the wild places of her essays. Her subjects range from a sobering introduction to the ways of trapping in "Killing Wolves" to a meditation on the terror of disappearing into the Alaskan outback in "The Book of Being Lost". With a clear-eyed, unsentimental appreciation of the great northern place, this writer expresses a commanding view of Alaska.

    Here are its people, their lives driven by love, faith, and duty, surviving in a culture that blends tradition with transformation.

    A selection of fifty stories from Jeff Noon's head, each one strange, telling, disturbing, or sometimes just plain wierd.From the breakdown zones of the mediasphere and the margins of music culture, Jeff Noon samples the image mix. Product recalls, adverts for mad gadjets, dubcut prose remixes, urban fairytales, instructions for lost machines, almost-true tales, dreamy one-pagers, word-dizzy roller coasters. With new stories from the Vurt cycle and other revelations, including the discovery of an 'off' switch for the human body this newly revised edition marks the first time that Pixel Juice has been made available digitally.

    From the love affair between a missionary and a drunkard to the mystery surrounding a death at sea, this collection gives a warm and humourous insight into life and history of life in the colonies and stands as a superbly entertaining and compelling testament to Maugham's skill and power as a short story writer.For an alternate cover edition see: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

    This triumphant collection includes thirty-six of the finest stories of her career including eight new pieces that have not appeared in a book before. Beattie's characters embark on stoned cross-country odysseys with lovers who may leave them before the engine cools. They comfort each other amid the ashes of failed relationships and in hospital waiting rooms. They try to locate themselves in a world where all the old landmarks have been turned into theme parks. Funny and sorrowful, fiercely compressed yet emotionallyexpansive, Park City is dazzling.

    Feeling empowered by his success, he opens a clinic to help other children give up their own blankets. He’s in for a surprise, though—as his first client, Randolph, is not exactly what he seems.Charles Schulz’ Peanuts comic strip charmed and delighted millions of fans—both kids and adults—for more than 40 years. In November 2015, a new 3D Peanuts movie will be released—the first in 35 years.Just in time for the new movie, this new ebook edition introduces the memorable Peanuts gang—Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Marcie, Schroder, Woodstock, and Charlie Brown—to a whole new generation of readers.

    His arrival in the town coincides with the annual enactment of the Danse Macabre, or Dance of Death, wherein thirteen monks from the abbey don skeleton costumes and proceed through the streets. When Mr Metfield returns to the crypt, however, he is horrified to find that only twelve skeletons remain. Where is the thirteenth? And how many figures are taking part in the Dance of Death in the streets outside?In ‘The Ossuary’ and fifteen other stories in this new collection, Steve Duffy evokes the Golden Age of the ghost story with practised ease. Set mainly in the period between the Wars, the stories in The Night Comes On are consciously ‘Jamesian’ in style and setting. They feature libraries and academics and great old country houses, colleges and branch railway-stations and cathedrals; and, of course, any number of things less easily defined, which lie in wait for the foolish, the unwary, or the unlucky. The protagonists come through their adventures alive—though not always. And while they may be more or less intact in physical terms, they usually have a new insight into things for which they once had little time and less respect.Ash-Tree Press is proud to be publishing the work of startling new talent Steve Duffy. His stories will thrill lovers of the classic ghost story and will, undoubtedly, become classics in their own right.Jacket art by Douglas Walters.Contents: Introduction by Steve Duffy; ‘The Night Comes On’; ‘Out of the Water, Out of the Earth’; ‘The Close at Chadminster’; ‘The Last of the Scarisfields’; ‘The Hunter and His Quarry’; ‘The Ossuary’; ‘Running Dogs’; ‘One Over’; ‘Figures on a Hillside’; ‘Ex Libris’; ‘The Story of a Malediction’; ‘The Vicar of Wryde St Luke’; ‘The Marsh Warden’; ‘The Return Journey’; ‘Nigrendo’; ‘Tidesend’; Notes on the Stories.

    She gives them out for good spelling, attendance, and even for drinking milk. But Peppermint Patty has never gotten a gold star—and she wants one. But then the teacher’s box of treasured gold stars goes missing, and Peppermint Patty is the main suspect. She enlists the help of Snoopy, the “world-famous attorney,” and goes undercover. She is determined to find the real culprit and earn a gold star fair and square.Charles Schulz’ Peanuts comic strip charmed and delighted millions of fans—both kids and adults—for more than 40 years. In November 2015, a new 3D Peanuts movie will be released—the first in 35 years.Just in time for the new movie, this new ebook edition introduces the memorable Peanuts gang—Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Marcie, Schroder, Woodstock, and Charlie Brown—to a whole new generation of readers.

    These are stories of savvy, sharp women—women who know the score—women who may be bitter, but who are resigned to the choices they’re about to make. These are women—and men—who are all making good time, because the strongest thing going for them is an unrelenting belief in themselves.

    The anthology also includes an invaluable summation about the state of the science fiction publishing field, and a list of honorable mentions (think of them as almost-made-its) for 1997.Contents xi • Summation: 1997 • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Beauty in the Night • (1997) • novelette by Robert Silverberg30 • Second Skin • (1997) • shortstory by Paul J. McAuley49 • Steamship Soldier on the Information Front • (1997) • novelette by Nancy Kress69 • Reasons to Be Cheerful • (1997) • novelette by Greg Egan95 • Moon Six • (1997) • novelette by Stephen Baxter122 • We Will Drink a Fish Together . . . • (1997) • novelette by Bill Johnson155 • Escape Route • [Confederation Universe Stories] • (1997) • novella by Peter F. Hamilton197 • Itsy Bitsy Spider • (1997) • shortstory by James Patrick Kelly207 • A Spy in Europa • [Revelation Space] • (1997) • shortstory by Alastair Reynolds224 • The Undiscovered • (1997) • novelette by William Sanders245 • Echoes • (1997) • novelette by Alan Brennert267 • Getting to Know You • [North American future] • (1997) • novelette by David Marusek288 • Balinese Dancer • (1997) • shortstory by Gwyneth Jones306 • Marrow • [The Great Ship Universe] • (1997) • novella by Robert Reed348 • Heart of Whitenesse • (1997) • shortstory by Howard Waldrop364 • The Wisdom of Old Earth • (1997) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick373 • The Pipes of Pan • (1997) • novelette by Brian Stableford391 • Crossing Chao Meng Fu • (1997) • novelette by G. David Nordley418 • Yeyuka • (1997) • shortstory by Greg Egan432 • Frost Painting • (1997) • shortstory by Carolyn Ives Gilman447 • Lethe • (1997) • novelette by Walter Jon Williams474 • Winter Fire • (1997) • shortstory by Geoffrey A. Landis488 • Nevermore • (1997) • novelette by Ian R. MacLeod505 • Open Veins • (1997) • shortstory by Simon Ings520 • After Kerry • (1997) • novelette by Ian McDonald543 • The Masque of Agamemnon • [Troy Stories] • (1997) • novelette by Sean Williams and Simon Brown565 • Gulliver at Home • (1997) • novelette by John Kessel576 • A Cold Dry Cradle • (1997) • novella by Elisabeth Malartre and Gregory Benford617 • Honorable Mentions: 1997 • essay by Gardner Dozois

    Described by "Publishers Weekly" as "easily Gilchrist's best book in years, " this collection of stories gives readers a taste of her gifted sense of the language and the humor of human foibles.

    Chekhov lived during the last years of the Czars, and most of his stories are approximately of that time period. The book gives an excellent view of Russian life in czarist Russia, as well as entertaining plots and style.A Day in the CountryOld AgeKashtankaOn the WayVankaLa CigaleGriefAn InadvertenceThe Black MonkThe KissIn ExileA Work of ArtDreamsetc

    The veterinarian voyeur of "Now You See Her" harbors erotic illusions about the beautiful woman next door - desires shared by his teenaged son. "Poker" acknowledges the power of card games and canines to mend a broken heart, while "Sleeping with My Dog" finds the humor and pathos in the unspoken boundaries between men and women. And in "Tenant, " an orphaned German shepherd leads a man to ponder his landlady's legacy. By turns unpredictable and wise, sorrowful and triumphant, Dogfight and Other Stories reveals the transformative power of life's small struggles.

    Each of the writers was asked to write a new story based on one of his or her most famous series. Stephen King tells a tale of Roland, the Gunslinger, in the world of The Dark Tower, in "The Little Sisters of Eluria."Terry Pratchett relates an amusing incident in Discworld, of a magical contest and the witch Granny Weatherwax, in "The Sea and Little Fishes"Terry Goodkind tells of the origin of the Border between realms in the world of The Sword of Truth, in "Debt of Bones."Orson Scott Card spins a yarn of Alvin and his apprentice from the Tales of Alvin Maker, in "Grinning Man."Robert Silverberg returns to Majipoor and to Lord Valentine's adventure in an ancient tomb, in "the Seventh Shrine."Ursual K. Le Guin adds a sequel to her famous books of Earthsea, portraying a woman who wants to learn magic, in "Dragonfly."Tad Williams tells a dark and enthralling story of a great and haunted castle in the age before Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, in "The Burning Man."George R.R. Martin sets his piece a generation before his epic, A Song of Ice and Fire, in the adventure of "The Hedge Knight."Ann McCaffrey, the poet of Pern, returns once again to her world of romance and adventure in "Runner of Pern."Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga is the setting of the tale of "The Wood Boy."Robert Jordan, in "New Spring," tells of crucial events in the years leading up to The Wheel of Time, of the meeting of Lan and Moiraine and the beginning of the search for the child who must grow to lead in the Last Battle.

    Culled from the best of a wide variety of sources, this eleventh annual collection of fantasy fiction features contributions by Kim Newman, Joyce Carol Oates, Ellen Kushner, Jack Womack, Karen Joy Fowler, and others.

    Drawing from the remnants of real-life anecdotes--from Edgar Allan Poe's final days to the agonizing tale of Idilia Dubb--these stories are imagined descents into death's supreme indifference. A true modern inheritor of the legacy of the French Decadent writers, Wittkop spins these tales with her trademark macabre elegance and chilling humor, maneuvering in an uncertain space between dark Romanticism, Gothic Expressionism and Sadean cruelty. "Death is life's most important moment," Wittkop claimed; Exemplary Departures offers five particularly important moments for the English reader's delectation. First published as a set of three novellas in 1995, this translation is of the 2012 edition of five novellas, which include the previously unpublished "Mr. T.'s Last Secret" and "Claude and Hippolyte.

    And he loves the stories because they help him know himself better. These eight tales in Brian Hodge's renowned second collection advance the cause a little further.Full of gods and devils, tormentors and deliverers, Falling Idols is a twisting, harrowing path toward the state of being that poet Kahlil Gibran describes as being able "to bless the darkness as we have blessed the light."Includes:"Stick Around, It Gets Worse" - The universe creates what it needs, even in a gritty urban Hell."A Loaf Of Bread, A Jug Of Wine" - A threatened village in World War II France has an unlikely defender: the allegedly soulless creation of Victor Frankenstein."The Dripping Of Sundered Wineskins" - A trio of immortal Sisters catapults an Irish stigmatic toward his destiny of being either a saint or a butcher. World Fantasy Award finalist."Cenotaph" - While exploring the fantastical sculptures at an ancient English church, a photographer discovers what really guided her ancestor's hammer and chisels."As Above, So Below" - A lifetime of searching that began deep inside a derelict railroad tunnel leads a very old soul to a desert town, for his final revelations in sacrifice, miracles, and love. Selected for The Century's Best Horror Fiction.

    Remember when you spilled that scalding coffee in your lap at the drive-thru? L.A.'s scrappy young poetry mag Caffeine has packaged that wonderful feeling in a steaming anthology that features over fifty contributors and five unpublished poems by Charles Bukowski.

    Haunting illustrations complement the text beautifully.

    Every tale returns to the most basic question: What is fair?With tales from Africa, Asia, and Europe, from Irish, Jews, and Muslims, from American schools and courtrooms, The Cow of No Color is truly an international gathering. Ranging from tricks to watch for in playground games to big issues to ponder for a lifetime, here is a book with insights and challenges for every member of every family.

    The basis for the film A Fantastic Fear of Everything.

    For Ages 5+This Enid Blyton book contains the stories:The Little Old ToymakerThe Three Lovely PresentsThe Cross Little TadpoleBottom of the Class!Impy Plays a TrickA Tale of Two Boys and a KittenIt Grew and It GrewDown the Rabbit-HoleSly-One Buys His ApplesThe Little Sewing MachineThe Empty Doll's-HouseThe Pig with a Straight TailThe Grand Birthday CakeClever Old ShaggyThe Enchanted Book

    Bambert, a sweet but shy man, decides to send 11 stories out into the world. He attaches them to little hot-air balloons and lets them go on windy nights with a letter asking that whoever finds them send them back. Wherever the stories are returned from is where they will be set. The 11th story is blank—Bambert hopes it will write itself. Slowly the stories come back, with postmarks from all over the world, including one from the past. All that’s left is the last one, the one that has to write itself. . . . In this magical little story with a twist, the power of kindness, stories, and hope is woven together to create a soul-warming, poignant tale that readers will want to read again and again.Praise for Dreaming in Black and White:“A short, quiet, yet memorable, novel that challenges its audience with questions worth asking.”—BooklistFrom the Hardcover edition.

    This is her life.

    The lives of women on the edge and beyond the margins have seldom been explored with as much power or insight as in these brilliant stories by award-winning novelist and poet Kate Braverman. In a world without succor, Braverman’s characters grope for meaning and solutions to their dilemmas. Our Lady of the 43 Sorrows must meet the bizarre needs of her severely brain-damaged mother as her own career as a soap-opera actress declines. The protagonist of "Pagan Night" waits with her unnamed and unwanted infant in a shabby zoo in Idaho while her partner buys dope and makes plans to reconstitute their failed rock band. And the precocious, awkward adolescent narrator of the title story watches as her elegant grandmother confronts the illness that will soon end the colorful life she has so enjoyed. Abandonment, in these wrenching stories, comes in many forms, and freedom is elusive and sometimes fraught with pain and terror. Braverman’s language is ripe, intense, as vivid as the sun-drenched California landscape, and her characters are contrary, unpredictable, and unforgettable. These haunting stories evoke the glittering expectations and shattering disappointments of the postmodern West.

    Three beloved Arabesque authors celebrate fatherhood in this collection of poignant and unforgettable stories about remarkable dads in search of love...and the women who give them their hearts.

    In this captivating and heartwarming book, America's premier pet columnist, Michael Capuzzo, shares astonishing true tales celebrating the unique and unbreakable relationship between people and their cats.  Drawn from history and literature as well as from cat lovers--both famous and not so famous-- from all walks of life all over the world, here are unforgettable tales that take us behind the cool, independent facade of the cat to reveal the sweet, sensitive, devoted creature within.  Here are just a few of the cats guaranteed to catch your heart: Priscilla, who meowed at her apartment door for two days.  Finally her owners thought to check on their elderly neighbor and discovered that she had broken her hip and was unable to move.Pearl and Skittles, the Keystone Cats, who watched over their household with total vigilance.  Any problem--a clogged drain in the kitchen, a stereo left on at night--and they sounded the alarm, waking everyone in the house.Murry, the cat who became the constant companion and protector of a young boy suffering from cystic fibrosis.  His devotion was so great that when the boy's health began to fail, Murry seemed to lose his own will to live.Nicholas, who every day fed the family pit bull; he jumped up on the kitchen table, grabbed a dog bone, and dropped it down to his pal.  Later each day, as if to repay Nicholas, the pit bull happily licked the cat's head for ten minutes.  Subway, the beautiful orange tabby who not only survived being shot with a shotgun, but later, apparently killed in an accident, jumped out of the box he was to be buried in and frolicked among the guests at his own funeral.In Cat Caught My Heart you will see cats in all their glory--their unique personalities, their irrepressible spirits, their gentle souls.  You'll laugh at their antics, weep at their passing, and thank the heavens that these remarkable creatures are part of our lives.From the Hardcover edition.

    Kathryn Chetkovich's stories detail the lives of women finding their way in a contemporary world where the traditional maps of love, family, and community are no longer particularly reliable.

    Four stories of millenial obsession, sadistic violence and metamorphic eroticism plus the full texts of his stage plays Depravity and Red King Rising.

    The variety of tales captured here is stunning. Readers will find stories such as A Yom Kippur Scandal by Sholem Aleichem, the father of Yiddish literature; Before the Law by Franz Kafka; Looking for Mr. Green by Saul Bellow; The Spinoza of Market Street by Isaac Bashevis Singer; and Midrash on Happiness by Grace Paley. Stavans has included many pieces by Americans, including such markedly different writers as Cynthia Ozick, Bernard Malamud, Moacyr Seliar, Stanley Elkin, Delmore Schwartz, Dan Jacobson, Francine Prose, Allegra Goodman, and Philip Roth. And here too are pieces from around the globe, by writers no less varied: Isaac Babel, Italo Svevo, Primo Levi, Elias Canetti, Amos Oz, and Danilo Kis. What emerges in the end is proof of an observation by Ba'al Makshoves--that the Jews may have many languages and a dozen echoes in foreign tongues, but only one literature. And it is one of the finest in the world.The many marvelous tales that fill The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories affirm that a shared identity can exist without sterile uniformity--and that writers can engage their religious and cultural heritage without losing touch with those rich, complex ambiguities that inhabit the heart.

    This collection of stories -- much praised upon its hardcover publication in 1992 -- offers the best of Anderson's mature work.Anderson profoundly changed the American short story, transforming it from light, popular entertainment into literature of the highest quality. His art belonged as much to an oral as a written tradition, and, as this collection shows, the best of his stories echo the language and the pace of a man talking to his friends. They explore with penetrating compassion the isolation of the individual and capture the emotional undercurrents hidden beneath ordinary events.

    Included here are such unforgettable pieces as "The Little Disturbances of Man" (1959), "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute" (1974), and "Later the Same Day" (1985). With her quirky, boisterous characters, lavish use of language, and timely reflections on the ebb and flow of our culture, Grace Paley is a voice in American short fiction that simply must be heard.

    Armed with patience and the immense power of his never-wavering love, Ben works toward--and waits for--his most cherished goal."A Dog Of My Own "is a tender story of the healing power of love -- one that will long live in the hearts of all little souls."This heartwarming story was beautifully illustrated by Katya Krenina, whose stylized, contemporary illustrations have been lavishly praised by reviewers and heralded as "stunning" by the" New York Times Book Review. Publishers Weekly" has compared her style to that of Chagall, for its intuitive, dreamlike quality."

    Twelve scary stories from the northeast woodland Native Americans.

    From Neil Gaiman's short story and poem collection, "Smoke and Mirrors."After all the dreaming is over, after you wake, and leave the world of madness and glory for the mundane day-lit daily grind, through the wreckage of your abandoned fancies walks the sweeper of dreams."

    But things begin to change for Izzy when she started to do Give-back Time with Grandpa Mike and meets the Braids Girl.

    The tale of an adulterous liaison, set in Yalta, it shows to greatest effect Chekhov's propensity for the conjuring of mood and atmosphere. The tale's modernity is displayed too in its anticlimactic conclusion of poignant open-endedness: ' ...and it was clear to both that the end was still far, far off and that the most complicated and difficult part was only beginning.'Edited with introduction, notes & vocabulary by Patrick Waddington.

    Cold Comfort is his temperamental tribute to the city of Duluth, Minnesota, where bears wander the streets and canoe racks are standard equipment.

    

    In “Bed and Breakfast,” the concept of salvation is explored through material possessions—a collection of kitsch—as a traveling businessman is slowly swamped by the sheer surfeit of matter in a small Illinois town. In “Emma Enters a Sentence of Elizabeth Bishop’s,” a young woman growing up in rural Iowa finds herself losing touch with the physical world as she loses herself in the work of her favorite poet. And in “The Master of Secret Revenges,” God appears in the form of a demon to a young man named Luther, whose progress from devilish youth to satanic manhood is recounted with relish and horror.A profound exploration of good and evil, philosophy and action, marked by the wit and style that has always defined the work of William Gass.

    Set largely in the small Newfoundland mining town of Black Rock, but straying as far west as Vancouver and as far east as China, these stories are subtle, stark portrayals of people alternately looking for or trying desperately to escape their place in the world.A young boy confuses love and allegiance, then stumbles into the complexities of adulthood; a brother and sister fall in love with the same woman; a frustrated wife protests her husband’s neglect by going on strike with the miners’ union; a lover’s drug habit reunites a woman with the sister she has lost.Anchor Books is proud to publish an expanded edition of Michael Crummey’s brilliant collection Flesh and Blood, which includes three original stories written just for this edition. Graceful, affecting, and generous of spirit, these stories are unforgettable.

    Miyake is an older man with an obsession in building the perfect bonfire. He befriends Junko, a young woman who lives with her boyfriend Keisuke and is estranged from her family. Whenever Miyake is going to light a bonfire, he calls Junko to come down and watch it burn; and the two of them have an unusual connection. Junko’s boyfriend, Keisuke, is a musician who lives in the here and now and has difficulty understanding Miyake and Junko’s relationship.Much of the story revolves around a philosophical discussion between Miyake and Junko. It is important to understand that Murakami wrote this story shortly after the Kobe earthquake; and the themes of death, an uncertain future and the larger meaning of life resonate throughout the prose.

    Instead they concern another Binscombe, linked to the first by subtle—but invisible—bridges of ‘what if?’. This other Binscombe is a place rich in history, where strangers are welcome, but not always safe; a place where watching a video is not as harmless a pursuit as it might seem, where waiting for the bus may take much longer than expected, and where churchgoers are advised to pay very close attention during the midnight service on Christmas Eve. It is, in short, a place which takes its history very seriously: and with good reason, as the unwary are apt to find out to their cost.No one takes Binscombe and its history more seriously than Mr Disvan, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the village and its past seems to have been acquired through more than simply reading history books. We see Mr Disvan and Binscombe life through the eyes of Mr Oakley, a newcomer whose family has long had roots there, and who thus proves the truth of a local saying: ‘They always come back’. This local connection gives Mr Oakley an opportunity to see some of the stranger side of life in Binscombe, with Mr Disvan as his guide; but it also shows him that once you come back, it isn’t always possible to leave again.John Whitbourn’s Binscombe Tales have been entertaining readers since 1987. This, the first in a two-volume set from Ash-Tree Press, which will collect all the tales in the saga, contains fifteen stories, seven of which are published here for the first time.Jacket art by Alan Hunter.Contents: Introscript by John Whitbourn; Introduction by Professor E. Griffiths; ‘Another Place’; ‘Wating for a Bus’; ‘Till Death Do Us Part’; ‘’Only One Careful Owner’; ‘All Roads Lead to Rome’; ‘The Will to Live’; ‘Hello Dolly’; ‘Reggie Suntan’; ‘Here Is My Resignation’; ‘A Video Nasty, or, The Sins of the Fathers’; ‘Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Most Men’; ‘Binscombe Jihad’; ‘His Holiness Commands’; ‘Roots’; ‘The More it Changes . . .’

    If a heavy load proved wearying, a friend could share the weight. In just the same way, we are called to bear each other's burdens. The Burden Basket helps us care for others-even when we don't know what to say. Over 120 short, real-life essays-all in a Western theme-share God's loving care with those who are facing difficult times. This gorgeously illustrated book is the perfect encouraging gift for hurting people.

    The stories in Mark Brazaitis' The River of Lost Voices capture both the magic and the sorrow of life in Santa Cruz Verapaz, a small town in the northern mountains of Guatemala. In stories such as Jose del Rio and Bathwater, ' Brazaitis blends magical realism with political intrigue to realize the impact of the country's civil war and its roots in the Spanish Conquest. A Detective's Story reveals the influence of the United States in the shaping of Guatemalan politics. In a dreamlike story entitled The Whale, the narrator laments the destructive nature of homophobia in Guatemalan society. Yet this prize-winning collection is not a political work. Rather, it is a book about men and women struggling to overcome hardship and misfortune in their own lives. In each of these stories, Brazaitis gives voice to Guatemala's indigenous population -- people who speak Pokomchi and Cakchiquel, languages and cultures often buried in the crush of assimilation. Through their voices, the author uncovers stories of lives redeemed and lost in the tumult of history and circumstance.

    At its heart are characters full of longing, trapped by circumstance and unable to reach out or connect with one another. Whether it's Margaret in the basement and her neighbours above, or two couples working out their family melodramas over dinner, there is always the presence of others but rarely a connection between them. By twists and turns Berry subverts what we know to be normal and arrives at something, though strange, more real than we like to admit.

    InWhere I'm Calling From, his highly acclaimed short story collection, Carver displays an astonishing genius. His stories are populated by characters living in an unforgivable world, suffering the burdens of displacement, divorce, despair. These people snarl and bark and speak in bursts of rough-and-tumble dialogue. They are everybody, anybody, nobody. A final testament to Carver's towering talent, Where I'm Calling From is a mesmerizing masterpiece of fiction drama, and poetry.The Stories of John Cheever, read by Maria Tucci"[John Cheever is] a master storyteller." - TimeA selection of the incomparable short fiction that has, together with his novels, secured John Cheever's place among the foremost writers of our time. The stories included on this AudioBook are "The Enormous Radio", "O Youth and Beauty!", "Just One More Time", "A Woman Without a Country", and "The Worm in the Apple".Selected Stories by John Updike, read by the AuthorJohn Updike reads six stories, including "A&P", recounting a moral crisis at the checkout counter; "Pigeon Feathers"; "The Family Meadow"; " The Witness"; "The Alligators" and "Separating," which recounts the June day when Richard andJoanMaple separate, in front of their children. Mr. Updike, when asked to describe his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things described, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its won."The method works beautifully.* American Masters also includes a 30-minute audio sampler of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, performed by Jeremy Irons

    Introduction by Richard Dalby 'Nightmare Jack''The Double Admiral''The Smoking Leg''The Grey House''The Tunnel''The Bad Lands''Mr Meldrum's Mania''Time-Fuse''Mortmain''Funeral March of a Marionette''Brenner's Boy''Not There''"Beyondaril"''The Firing-Chamber''The Renegade''The Childish Thing''The Feasting Dead'Afterword, 'A Forgotten Man' by Alexis Lykiard.

    The preeminent short fiction series since 1915, The Best American Short Stories is the only volume that annually offers the finest works chosen by a distinguished best-selling author.Hermit's story / Rick Bass --Sun, the moon, the stars / Junot Diaz --Mrs. Dutta writes a letter / Chitra Divakaruni --Kansas / Stephen Dobyns --Tumblers / Nathan Englander --Piano tuner / Tim Gautreaux --Uncharted heart / Melissa Hardy --The 5:22 / George Harrar --Islands / A. Hemon --Best girlfriend you never had / Pam Houston --In the kindergarten / Ha Jin --Marry the one who gets there first / Heidi Julavits --Live life king-sized / Hester Kaplan --Africans / Sheila Kohler --Interpreter of maladies / Jhumpa Lahiri --Real estate / Lorrie Moore --Save the reaper / Alice Munro --Bunchgrass edge of the world / Annie Proulx --Robbers of Karnataka / James Spencer --Good shopkeeper / Samrat Upadhyay --Rest of her life / Steve Yarbrough

    Sometimes amusing, sometimes frightening, Wilson's short fiction is as eclectic as his cartooning. "Campfire Story" mixes nostalgia with unease. "The Marble Boy" is a story from the oral tradition - a tale to be told during a sleepover. "It Twineth Round Thee in Thy Joy" might have appeared in the science fiction pulps of the thirties. These tales and the twenty others that fill out this collection are entertaining and unnerving. To add to readers' enjoyment, "The Cleft and Other Odd Tales" contains more than two dozen original Gahan Wilson illustrations.

    This volume comprises the classic selection edited by Birkett and Struve, in Russian, here furnished with a new bibliography, and complements the stories and plays by Chekhov already available in the BCP Russian Texts series. The twelve stories, which date from 1883 to 1896, range from miniatures of comic levity such as Tolsttyi i tonkii to stories of sophisticated maturity such as Dom s mezoninom. The stories included are as follows (titles given in English translation): Fat Man and Thin Man; The Boys; A Test for Rank; A Failure; A Little Joke; The Blank Catch; The Beauties; The Student; At Yuletide; An Incident in Practice; Anna Round the Neck; The House with the Mezzanine.

    His penchant for in-your-face horror is tempered, though, by the underlying moral tone in his fiction. The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard contains 12 short stories (six original to this volume) and a personal essay about the author's encounter with Henry Miller. "The Rifle," the best in the bunch, is a heartbreaking, provocative fable about a gun in the hands of a kid gone bad. It would serve well as a reading assignment for a group discussing the problem of shootings by school children. The other stories include one reminiscent of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, one about random violence on a freeway, three tales in which a villain gets his or her comeuppance, a story about snake phobia, a fantasy fable set in the wintry north, and others that use paranoia, cynicism, and humor in different combinations. (Some readers may find the humor a bit lame.) Also included is a well-crafted Romero-zombie story that was apparently intended for a Skipp-and-Spector Book of the Dead anthology that never materialized. The essay, "Henry Miller and the Push," is a brilliant finale. In the early 1980s Ketchum (Dallas Mayr) found himself in the position of representing Henry Miller for a New York literary agency. His description of the poignant encounter between the young and aspiring writer and the 85-year-old Miller is a real treat. This edition includes several black-and-white illustrations and two beautiful color illustrations on the front and back of the dust jacket by horror artist Alan M. Clark. The introduction is by Richard Laymon and all the stories have short blurbs by Ketchum. --Fiona Webster

    He is handsome, rich, successful in his law practice, respected in the community and an idealized husband and father. And yet, as we move ahead through the various episodes of his life, it is apparent that his good fortune has also brought him growing dissatisfaction and unease. He is disturbed by the crassness of the changes taking place in his city; by the eroding standards of his lifelong friends; by the alienation he feels from his wife and children. Seeking fulfillment he takes a mistress; he becomes involved in good works; he tries to expand his intellectual capacities while, throughout, continuing to protect the "good name" which family and position have thrust on him. He is, and must always be, a gentleman. But perhaps, as the play so poignantly suggests, it is this very fact that leads Richard Cory, the glittering paragon so envied by all, to go home one fine day and put a bullet through his head.

    You'll be amazed at the home remedies brought to mind by these recollections of a time when the medicine show still made stops in small towns and the country doctor was paid in chickens and geese.

    This collection of short stories, drawn from a lifetime's work, shows Reed at the top of her form. First published in venues ranging from The Missouri Review to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, these twenty stories deal with women's lives and feminist issues from the kitchen sink and pink dishmop era through the warlike years of the women's movement to the uneasy accommodation of the present.Contents:The Wait (1958)The New You (1962)Cynosure (1964)Winter (1969)The Food Farm (1967)In Behalf of the Product (1973)Songs of War (1974)The Weremother (1979)Chicken Soup (1980)Pilots of the Purple Twilight (1981)Frontiers (1982)The Bride of Bigfoot (1984)The Hall of New Faces (1992)Like My Dress (1993)Last Fridays (1998)Unlimited (1998)The Mothers of Shark Island (1998)Mommy Nearest (1998)Whoever (1996)

    San Souci. The tales are adapted from people like Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Brothers Grimm, and Lafcadio Hearn and cultures like Russia, Costa Rica, and Iceland. Among the 30 short stories are: The Robber Bridegroom Jack Frost The Waterfall of Ghosts The Soldier and the Vampire The Death Waltz The Halloween PonyRead them all -- if you dare!

    Her work--often based upon her own personal experiences, and showing keen insight into divisive social issues from the Korean partition to the position of women in Korean society--has touched readers for over forty years. In this collection, meditations upon life in old age come to the fore--at its best, accompanied by great beauty and compassion; at its worst by a cynicism that nonetheless turns a bitter smile upon the changing world.

    Offering a most distinctive take on its subject, Love lets us walk hand in hand through the twentieth century with some of its most famous couples. Their desire might have been to make a private world together, but they are also among those who have reformulated our ideas of what relationships could be, who have found equal status as independent but supportive partners, both making a difference to their times. Sometimes seen as threatening, they nevertheless show that, whether heterosexual or gay, there is no secret recipe to emotional success, no genetic elixir save commitment and trust. Presented in the context of their age, year by year and couple by couple, we watch the world change through their eyes, and learn at the same time about related topics like the Kinsey Report, psychoanalysis, lingerie, the role of the church, femmes fatales, and sex in pop music and the cinema. Whether you're JFK and Jackie O, Kurt and Courtney or Hillary and Bill, success in love remains the great unknown, and whether you're after lust or dreamy romance, you'll love this book.

    Homes as the 1997 Winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, these stories portray the modern family as one that refuses to be fashionably dysfunctional. In the hyphenated, divorced, and step-parented context of the late twentieth century, Hagenston reminds us, it is the minister and his wife in a small town in Maryland who are unconventional. These stories, conveyed with spirited, conversational prose, prove that the meaning of family prevails. In "Holding the Fort," a husband's infidelity dissolves his marriage but not the couple's emotional ties. And in "A Gram of Mars," an adult daughter responds to her divorced father's anguish upon learning of his ex-wife's remarriage, and the whole fractured family reconvenes for an evening: "Beside me, my father is breathing slow and regular as a child, and I wonder suddenly if he's fallen asleep. But his eyes are open, fixed on the road. For a moment, I believe I know what he's thinking-he has seen the woman he loves, and his daughter is beside him, and for now everything is just as simple as that. . . . When he sighs, I lean back in my seat and try to think of nothing. The sky vaults over us and silence settles down, like a pact we've made together, like a precious, immeasurable weight."Hagenston manages, with subtle emotional logic, to turn the joke of the dysfunctional family on its head. As one character says, "If something can begin millions of years ago on Mars and somehow, miraculously, find its way to my father-then why not something simpler, like happiness, which happens every day right here on earth?"Becky Hagenston grew up in Maryland and received her MFA from the University of Arizona. Her stories have appeared in or are forthcoming from such journals as TriQuarterly, Shenandoah, The Crescent Review, Antietam Review, Folio, Press, and Carolina Quarterly. One of her stories was included in Prize Stories 1996: The O'Henry Awards. She lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

    Issue 387367 words.

    From the author of the bestselling Tortured for Christ come the stories of ordinary people showing exemplary faith in times of difficult circumstances.

    And with this collection of stories, Anthony Giardina takes his place among the finest writers of short fiction in America today. His work has appeared in Harper's, Esquire, GQ, and The New York Times Magazine and has been showcased alongside the work of such contemporary giants as Tobias Wolff and Robert Stone. He is that rare artist whose stories will endure.The Country of Marriage shows, with frightening clarity, that the most ordinary lives are fraught with secret dreams and frustrations that can both support and sabotage everyday love. Giardina looks at our relationships--with an eye capable of clinical precision but never devoid of compassion--and gives voice to the emotions that lie unexplored and unexpressed beneath their seemingly placid surface.In "Days with Cecilia,'' a highly articulate shop teacher reveals by attrition the sexual secret of his marriage. In "The Lake," a young fireman confronts his complicity in the murder of his best friend's wife. And in "The Films of Richard Egan," the aborted career of an almost-was film star finds its echo in a suburban boy's life.These are emotional landscapes at once familiar and unsettling, with characters who are instantly recognizable but endlessly surprising. Brilliantly observed and masterfully told, The Country of Marriage is an unforgettable montage of lives of dwindling promise, of stubborn hope, of emotional atrophy, and of the courage to take root in the indifferent soil of modern existence.